Privates Do What Regulars Can’t

Chona called me a few weeks ago to ask if I would like to join them in a 5-some private class with Tesa of Pulse Yoga. She and Joy were the planners since they had already tried a week of unlimited classes there. Sure, I said. It would be interesting and most likely fun, since we were all yogamates at Vinyasa Yoga Center, to start with.

While Joy made the reservation at Pulse, Chona and I took turns confirming with Tesa, and we arranged for a session on power yoga.

Last Friday, 4 of us met up for class (Joy, Crissy, Lomen and I). Chona unfortunately went on an out-of-town working trip and had to cancel out.

We used a shala which was just small enough to accommodate 5 practitioners comfortably. Four black yoga mats were already laid out for us with rolled-up white towels beside each one. As was my usual routine, I had my own yoga mat with me. But I immediately noticed that the black mats were clean. No signs of anyone else before me having used them. Thought bubble: Thank goodness! Because if there were footprints-in-the sand marks on them I would have insisted on using Sandy!

I won’t go into the details of our class with Tesa. Every class is different, every instructor has his/her own style and sequence.

But this is one thing I can say. THERE ARE JUST SOME THINGS YOU GET OUT OF PRIVATE CLASSES THAT YOU MAY NOT GET IN A REGULAR CLASS.

What are some differences, you may ask?

1. If you have any special needs (injuries, health conditions, personal yoga development goals) doing privates may be your answer. – In a regular class, you most often need to follow the set sequence of the teacher. Unless you are the type of person who does prior research into the asanas which are good/bad for your condition, you may end up doing asanas which you shouldn’t, or worse, injuring yourself.

2. Privates work best with a maximum group of 5 people. In classes which have 10 or more students, the teacher cannot watch all of you all the time. Nor will there be time to adjust each and every one. Regular classes need some set pacing in order to get the routine done in an hour and a half. Privates have more flexibility in terms of start-stops.

3. Practitioners can ask questions. This is the beauty of privates. You are free to interrupt the teacher and ask specific questions about a pose or your condition. In a regular class, you would hesitate to do so as you could be disruptive of the flow of the class.

4. Adjustments of alignments will always have a personal touch – One advantage Tesa has is that she is TALL and has the STRENGTH. And for the 4 of us last Friday, it paid off that she was a WOMAN! After all, no male yogi teacher would EVER attempt to do what she did to moi below!

During downward dogs, she stepped on my hands as she pushed my tailbone back, then from behind, held me around the thighs and pulled this way and that.

Three of us were doing down dogs a little differently, with our spines curved into a “U” so Tesa showed us how she wanted us to do it. As she said, it didn’t mean one way was right, the other wrong. That’s just how she taught down dogs. And you know what? Doing it HER way eased up somewhat on the wrist pressure and that was a relief since I had been having wrist pains for some time now (another blog post on that coming up).

5. Assistance with challenging asanas – As it was a power yoga class, many poses were more difficult than the usual. That night, Tesa made us do headstands WITHOUT THE WALL. I used to do this but always against the wall. I would kick up, rest my legs against the wall, then when I was confident of my balance, take both legs slowly off and balance unaided. Tesa said that method did not allow me to use my core. So we were to try it wall-less this time — no security!

I had to go down on my forearms, hands clasped, in V-formation. Then she made me walk my feet closer and closer to my hands until I was an inverted V. Then, using my core, she helped ease me up into the pose. As she was keeping me balanced, she kept reminding about using my core, not collapsing, finding that equilibrium. And at one point, she even lifted me completely off the ground! Gosh, what strength this lady has!!!

As I was unable to have my pic taken doing the headstand, Crissy has graciously agreed to be the model for what we did that night. Thanks, Crissy!!!

If you have never done privates before, consider it in between your regular practice but do them with a good teacher. You just may find out that your progress in your yoga practice accelerates with good techniques being pointed out. You can also unlearn bad alignment and correct them BEFORE they become more difficult to change.

Namaste.