Back in the summer when I was staring down a very busy Autumn term with tonnes of courses and grant deadlines, I thought it might be good to have something to look forward to, and also nurture/develop some non-work interests. I ended up singing up for a Restorative Yoga teacher training with Lizzie Lasater, the daughter of Judith Lasater, a physiotherapist who trained with Iyengar and developed the modern restorative yoga practice. I learned about restorative yoga in Saskatoon with Marie Brown Berg, a wonderful yoga teacher who encouraged me to take teacher training and let me teach her class when she was away helping Judith. When I saw there was a 30-hour course in Paris for 5 days in November (after the grants and most of the exams were over), I signed up.
Unfortunately, less than a week before the course start, Lizzie had a family emergency and cancelled the course. I decided to go anyway, to get a one-week pass at the studio and take a bunch of different classes and still get some inspiration for my own practice and teaching. Since it is not the special workshop, nearly all classes are en Français! (C’est absolutment un défi).
Wait! Isn’t Paris on fire? Well… Lots of streets were closed Saturday. I walked around the neibourhoods, and towards some public squares and there are many shops with boarded up windows – I think this is prophylactic since the windows were still intact. Around lunch time I saw more cops in riot gear than I have ever seen together in one place. Police vans were parked in the avenues leading into place de la Republique like it was the BC ferry lineup. No guns, but smoke grenades attached to their Vests. I stood behind two of the cops at the bakery, one had an almond croissant and one got blueberry cheesecake, it was very humanizing. My first thought was that they are on the ‘better safe than sorry’ preparedness plan, acting as a deterrent after the property damage and chaos of the last few weeks. However, I did an evening yoga class and went to bed early, so I missed the evening crackdown at Place de la Nation.
More to come!