Paychecks, shoes and a video

I picked up my first yoga paycheck this week. Yes! I also might have just ordered some new shoes. No! I hope this is not a trend.

I've been on the night shift at work this week, which means I get into the office at 3:30 p.m. The best thing about the wacky schedule is I can practice every morning without interruption. Other things I do: make soup, blog, shop online. Oops. In my productive moments, I go into mega yoga nerd mode. I've started mapping out poses and writing down new and improved ways to explain what I want students to do in poses: hug, expand, grow, lift. I heart Thesaurus.com.

I also am trying to watch videos of master teachers to listen to how they explain postures, and stumbled on a video of an up-and-coming teacher posted on Yoga Dawg, a blog that lately has been mocking videos of Bikram yoga contests. The commentary that accompanied the video of Sarah Tomson Beyer was "The Next Shiva Rea" and "Woof Woof."  I've heard only rave reviews from friends who have practiced with Park City-based Sarah and adore her Flowmotion style, but no matter how far I go in my yoga teaching career, I don't imagine myself ever making a video like this one. Among the reasons: wind machine, flexibility, washboard abs, or lack thereof. I didn't learn any new yoga words, but was kind of riveted.