Last Tuesday, our teacher Pio Baquiran, started class with an announcement that from then on, we would thank God both at the beginning and end of classes.

While we did meditations once in a while, skipping them sometimes when time was short, he told us that from now on, meditation was going to form a regular part of our classes so that it puts us in the proper frame of mind for the rest of the asanas. Thanking God for allowing us this time should always precede and end our classes. He told us that our thanksgiving could be done out loud or silently in our hearts. I think we were all too shy that night because we all chose to do our thanks in silence.

Pio also said that he was modifying our sequences to follow more closely the teachings of the great Krisnamacharya, under whose tutelage the likes of B.K.S. Iyengar (Iyengar yoga), Bikram Choudhury (Bikram or hot yoga), Pattabhi Jois (Ashtanga yoga) studied under.

In a subsequent post, I will try to write about this new flow compared to the sequence we had been used to. Suffice it to say, I came out of that class feeling all warm and glowing. It was tough. Many of the asanas were deeper variations, challenging us beyond what we had been used to. But the effect on me was exhilarating and calming. I had one of the best nights of sleep ever.