If you live in Los Angeles (or Puerto Rico?) and you've never taken a class from this woman...you should.
There are a few of my favorite teachers at Still with whom I haven't been able to take class in awhile, primarily because I've been teaching myself or doing my own practice or taking other yoga studios out on dates (don't tell!), and Maria Cristina is one of them. But yesterday I got to take from her not once, but TWICE...and it was heaven.
Maria Cristina is not one of those teachers where you're going to walk away feeling like you had your ass kicked, that's not the kind of awesome she is (and way too often I feel like that's a measure of a great teacher, at least among those of us who tend to use achievement as the measure of our own worth)...no, no, Maria Cristina is awesome in an entirely different way.
First of all she, as a person, just beams with sweetness...she's quick to laugh and refers often to her students as "my chickens". She cracks jokes, makes fun of her own love of reality television, and generally just creates an atmosphere that's love-er-ly to be in while in class. Which is all great. But that's not why I love her. I love her because she speaks directly from her heart. Which I think is rather large and soft and seems to have enough room for the whole class to climb inside of. There have been several classes which I've taken from her where I feel a lump rising to my throat AS SOON as she starts speaking. Which I'm sure is because she is communicating from her sweetness, from the center of herself, and it just reaches right out, zaps across the room, and flips on the lights in my own sometimes darkened insides. And THAT is what I consider a great yoga class...
So, if you're around: take from her! Doooo it. Or you can just read her blog here.
(And thank you, MC, for two super great classes yesterday...)
2 comments:
Hey YogaLia, it's so great to hear somebody else describe Maria Cristina EXACTLY as I feel about her. Every thought you used about her is so accurate, but I do have one slight difference: your initial comments about her as a person (her sweetness, her self-deprecating honesty, her unabashed vulnerability) all which create that atmosphere of "loverly", also create an environment of safety, trust, openness and pure lila (Sanskrit for PLAY") that I strongly feel set her apart from other great teachers and make her such an inspiration. And like you say, when she starts speaking from her selfless heart I often cannot stop smiling, engulfed in gratitude for the waves of grace -- and light -- she sends throughout the room.
Marc, I am in total and utter agreement! She is one of a kind, and I ALWAYS feel safe in her class to do and to play and to risk...
Thank you so much for your lovely response!
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