Michael Gannon Day - Part Two

We worked throught the primary series, and apart from asking me to grab my toe in trikonasana, there were no adjustments.  This was strange, because I could see and hear him walking around the room.  Half way through the practice, I broke dristi, and saw him forcefully adjusting the other girls.  Well I'm not going to judge, but it was a bit uncool that he would adjust them and not me.  I'd paid the same as everyone else.  He was really getting into the adjustments too, arms and legs!

After Navasana, he was distracted, and when he said jump forward, the advanced girl beside me jumped to sitting.  She must not have been the only one, because he asked the class "who knows what position is next?" and I automatically shouted out "Bujapidasana", before realising that I was the only voice to ring out.  Oops.  Then I heard the thumps of everyone moving up into the position, so felt somewhat validated.  There are benefits to being (as one of my yoga teachers says) "1% practice, 99% theory". Jaja.

Coco was directly in front of me, and on one of her jump-backs, she strayed over my mat, and kicked me in the forehead!  It didn't hurt, but it was funny.

We stayed in padmasana for a very long time.  This is difficult for me because the lotus is painful, and so after about 5min I had to take my legs out and sit cross-legged.  While moving my legs, I looked up to see MG taking photos of the class.  Oops!  I just ruined his photos.

Photo taken by Michael Gannon, Coco in front of me

Savasana was long.  I mean long-long, probably a good twenty minutes, and I loved it.  My mind has been really jumbled of late, and I took about fifteen minutes for me to get into the posture properly.

One thing that bugged me was the constant advertising.  I understand that he's an ex marketing/advertising executive, but he laid it on pretty thickly in the 4 hours we were with him, even up to sliding glossy postcards under our mats while in Savasana, advertising his retreats, his teacher training, his new DVD...

We all went back into Coco's house for a smoothie.  Her house is just amazing, really big and light and beautiful.   I managed to get a few minutes with him then, and he seems to be a really nice guy.  He answered a couple of questions I had about yoga.

Coco and MG then made us the smoothies.  Here's the recipe:
- Mamae
- Dates
- Almond butter
- coco powder
- coconut water

By the end of the day, I was able to reflect on the whole experience.  These are my reflections:

Michael is a nice guy, and his lead practice was fine, apart from the lack of adjustments.  Before seeing him, I was aware of him due to his iphone app, DVDs, courses etc.  I think he had a mystical air to him, being well-known, and having studied with Guruji for so long etc.  After the day, I can see that he is just a regular guy.  He hasn't got any special powers to improve my practice, but is just another yoga teacher.

What I really learned, is how good my current teacher is.  The things he was saying in class were exactly the same as she says.  Also when they spoke to each other, it wasn't a sort of teacher-student relationship, as Coco had suggested before in her modesty, but rather, they were just two colleagues.  Perhaps by starting my practice here, in a backwater of Mexico, I had thought on some level that I was missing out on something.  Perhaps I hadn't fully submitted to the hallowed student-teacher relationship that is Ashtanga.  Right now, having received classes from both Coco and Michael, I certainly prefer Coco's class.  I prefer her style of teaching, and her relaxed personality.  As well as this, I probably won't study with Michael again unless I have a specific reason to do so.