Rodney and Colleen Yee Workshop
When I walked into the ‘Grand Ballroom East’ for my first workshop of the conference it was buzzing with energy, the room was huge, with big windows that looked out onto the beach and templates taped out on the carpet to accommodate hundreds of yoga mats. There were about 60 students there, chattering in hushed tones, laying in supta badhakonsana and unpacking their props, many of them with note books at the ready, they was a keen sense of anticipation as we awaited the arrival of yoga rockstar- Rodney Yee.
When he and Colleen (who i didn’t know of before this workshop, but who is an amazing teacher in her own right) did arrive, they looked relaxed and slightly tousled like they had just come from the beach, they sat cross legged on the stage and casually introduced themselves.
The whole workshop had quite a loose, laid back feel- both were obviously really experienced presenters and they had four great assistants (who all owned their own studios) who gave spot on adjustments, so even though there were a lot of students, i felt like i got a lot of individual attention. They smoothly shared the teaching, so one teacher was on the stage at a time and the other was among the students, occasionally making their own contribution.
Both Rodney and Colleen also have incredibly calming voices and were very grounded in their own practice, teaching with humour and imparting their complex ideas in a really simple accessible way. There was lots of anatomical detail and focus on freeing up the hips and the groins as a base for spinal alignment when twisting. They also noted that many of the hip stretches in yoga are external rotation, and they really emphasised internal rotation and stretching the hip flexors for balance.
They started by introducing two of the Vayus- Apanavayu, the flow of waste down and out, also menstruation and childbirth and Pranavayu responsible for respiration and the ascending flow of energy and consciousness. In each of the poses they reminded us to check in with what was rising up and what was grounding down. By reminding us to tune into what parts of the body connected with the earth, they encouraged us to get out of our heads (it was a very informative workshop- with lots to think about) and back down into our bodies, keeping our awareness in the present.
There was also lots of instruction about deep postural muscles- Colleen asked us to ‘draw the sitbones away from the skin’ in many postures as a way of activating pelvic floor.
Alignment was approached in different ways, Rodney described how when we start practicing yoga, alignment is often about creating straight lines (like rays of light), but as we gain a deeper understanding, it becomes an awareness of subtle curves and spirals. Rodney shared his ‘aha’ yoga moment- of practicing in the forest, under huge california redwoods, that look so straight when you are far away, but when you lay beneath them are actually climbing upwards in very subtle spirals. Colleen added that there may have been LSD involved and they shared a shoulder shrugging, eye rolling, couple’s moment.
A philosophical thread running through the workshop, was that the practice shouldn’t be you battling your restrictions, because then your life will also be a strain and a battle, instead embracing and exploring where you are now.
During one of the many Baddha Konasanas, Rodney got us to ‘spiderwalk’ the hands forwards and see the arch of the hands, the arch of the feet, the lift of the pelvic floor, the lift of the belly and the lift of the roof of the mouth. All the asana instruction was very integrative.
There was also lots of talk about the hip/jaw connection, apparently Olympic commentators can see who is about to lose a race by the tension in the jaw, and often in the middle of an intense hip stretch the jaw clenches. They kept reminding us to relax the jaw, relax the skin at the temples and to see the humour in the moment when we were all doing our hip stretches with very serious faces.
Colleen told us a beautiful story about her son visiting her ill father, shaking his hand and being told “you can’t go through life with a handshake like that” and then instructing him on the perfect handshake- not too aggressive, not too limp and making that connection with the other shaker. She encouraged us to do each pose like the perfect handshake.
There was lots of focus on not rushing into poses, they are often a few breathes in transitional asana on the way to the pose- was a good way to keep the experience of each asana really fresh (not just moving from habit) but each of their transitions also really helped alignment in the final pose. One particularly good one was on the way to Marichiasana 1. Start sitting in Dandasana, bend right knee and take the right foot to the ground beside the left hip, reach the left hand forward and hold on to the outstretched foot for a few breaths.
Another ‘transition’ which they held- was to start sitting cross legged and then draw both knees into the chest- it’s incredibly core strengthening when you hold it for a couple of breaths!
We returned many times to a quick flow between Badhakonasana (cobblers pose), upavistakonasana, (wide legged forward bend), dandasana (staff pose), navasana (boat pose) and ardha navasana (canoe pose), usually four or so times in row- it warms up really quickly!
It was really rewarding as each time it felt a little easier- especially when we knew it was the last round!
Most of the workshop was seated and laying postures, but there was so much core work and a few arm balances and i felt well and truly reading for relaxation at the end of the two hour session.
After savasana, there was a bit of shuffling in bags, and few of us produced our cameras- Colleen and Rodney graciously invited everyone up for quick photo session- like the grounded yoga rock stars that they are!
