I had been looking forward to last weekend for months. I’m not exaggerating…months. One of my favorite yogi’s, Kathryn Budig, came to Wichita to do a series of workshops over the weekend. Wichita is only 2.5-3 hours from Norman, so I decided I would make the drive.
Kathryn Budig. Photo from yogajournal.com
I have to tell you the back story here…
I started asking yoga friends of mine several weeks ago if they wanted to go with me. When all of my fellow yogis turned me down, I put a desperate plea on Facebook… no luck. One week before the workshop, I decided to ask one of my Barre girls, Amber, who just started practicing yoga regularly. She gave me an enthusiastic, YES!!! Amber even picked us up another barre-holic, Kelly.
Now…to register. There were 4 workshops total – 1 Friday, 2 Saturday, and 1 Sunday. By the time I called to pay for my spot they were completely full except for Sunday’s workshop, I was devastated. I called Amber and said Wichita was a “no go.” Leave it to Amber to make things happen! She called and begged and pleaded with the studio to let us in. The studio owner, Nickki, must have been feeling really bad for us, because she let us in to Friday’s workshop! We were going to be 2 extras thrown in at the back. Good enough for me! So we were in Friday and Sunday, and were just going to hang out in Wichita on Saturday.
Oklahoma girls with our new BFF, Nickki! Seriously. We have matching bracelets and everything.
Throughout last week, we psycho-called the studio to see if there were any cancellations. Thankfully, Nickki is a real treat (or maybe she was just getting tired of us calling), but we swindled our way into EVERY. SINGLE. WORKSHOP!
Before Friday night class
The weekend started with a 2 hour non-stop flow. I absolutely love these extra long classes. It’s amazing how great you feel after completely exhausting yourself, and then laying in restorative poses for 15 minutes. I felt like I took 3 shots of espresso…and a shower.
Sweaty mess after Friday night class.
Saturday morning was all about bakasana (crow pose). Before the class I was thinking “How are we going to practice crow for 2.5hrs.?!” Well, we did. I have the bruises on the backs of my arms to prove it. And, my knee… strange. I must not be doing something right.
Pressing from crow to crane (straight arms).
Getting upside down with Amber.
Kathryn’s Saturday afternoon session turned my world upside down. Literally. We worked on inversions. It was all about handstands, forearm stands, and different variations of both. SO FUN!!! I fell hard for yoga when I started practicing inversions. It makes me feel like I’m 8 years old going to gymnastics class. I LOVE IT!
Saturday Inversion Workshop.
Sunday was backbend day. I have a love/hate relationship with backbends. They are my least favorite part of a practice, and I signed up to practice them for 2.5 hours! What was I thinking?! I was a little hesitant walking into the studio that morning. Kathryn warmed us up for about an hour before we started getting into really deep backbends. I had some SERIOUS breakthroughs. I was able to grab my foot in some poses, or touch my head with my toes. That had never happened to me before! Well, not since my early gymnastic days…
Breakthrough! Almost. I don’t have a good picture grabbing my toes.
I left feeling like I had glitter running through my veins…and then proceeded to crash once I made it home. It was such an amazing weekend, and I met so many cool people. If you’re ever in Wichita, go visit Firefly Yoga Studio! They are THE BEST!
HUGE thank you to Amber for nearly every single picture in this blog. Good thing I’m not paying her royalties… 😉
#teamfirefly – such a fun weekend!
We were wearing matching pants. That means we’re soul sisters.
Awesome post! I’m so glad I got to go with you! Let’s do it again!! 🙂