One thing that I’ve noticed over the past few weeks is how interested I have become in the philosophy and teachings behind the yoga practice. This past week we spent our Friday night class discussing the ideas of the Kundalini and the energy chakras in the body. I’ve found all of this to be incredibly fascinating. Ironically, after spending two hours talking about the energy that we can produce and give off, I rushed over to the Fox Theater in Oakland to see Girl Talk perform.

I had gotten there about 15 minutes after he had started and was immediately overwhelmed by the vibe the minute I walked in the door. As I’m entering the Mezzanine level, a stranger with a huge smile on his face walks by me with his hand raised saying “High Five, Brother!!” I look over the balcony and see a sea of bodies rushing to the music and everyone on the mezzanine dancing, jumping, going crazy as Gregg Gillis (Girl Talk) worked his magic.

You could feel the “energy” in the theater. Much like we had talked about earlier in class, there was something in the air that everyone could sense. Much like the rest of this past week, the evening was incredibly synchronous. Here’s where the conflict comes in.

» Read more: Teacher Training: My Inner Struggle

Another weekend has come and gone and I’m starting to realize that I’d have a hard time telling you whether I prefer the philosophy or alignment classes. This Friday night’s class focused on the Yoga Sutra and The 8 Limbs. I knew little of these ideas before, however, I really enjoyed learning about these concepts.

I find it particularly interesting to learn why these ancient philosophers explain why yoga makes you feel the way it does. Explaining why it is that you leave a yoga class with that “high” or “blissful” feeling and how to take what you learn during class and apply it to your day-to-day life.

We talked for a bit about meditation and the concepts of being a witness of your own mind in the present moment. To be able to sit patiently by as your mind does its thing, each time you drift off slowly bringing your attention back to the clarity. You can think of it as though the skill you are practicing is learning how to bring your mind back from these distractions — not to never get distracted.

Take today’s alignment class, for example. I don’t know if other people felt it, but I felt as though there was an incredible sense of peace in the room today. We started with a 10 minute meditation — and for whatever reason — I was able to completely let go, feeling completely relaxed in a trance-like state. Other times, though, I struggle to count to two before thinking about something else. It doesn’t matter, though, as long as you’re able to practice letting go.

After the meditation, we continued talking about external rotations of the hip and how this relates to standing poses. We then had a great hour-long practice where Chrisandra talked us into some very detailed standing pose variations. She would describe very specific muscle groups and you could pinpoint them tweaking your poses with very precise movements. The combination of the clarity from my meditation and this very focused practice made me very aware of my body and how it moves.

I attended Christopher Love’s hatha flow class afterwards — which was a great way to end the evening. I never felt I was struggling too much in any pose — I had a very strong sense of Sthiram Sukham Asanam throughout the practice and never felt as though I was pushing myself too far. Especially when we worked on the standing poses — being able to put into use what we had just learned was exciting.

I still have a ton of reading to do this week — though it’s always interesting. Another very intense and insightful weekend — I loved every minute of it.