Distracting?

Okay, this photo is of when I was pregnant over a year ago, but it is the only one I have on file of me all propped up. For those of you who come to my public classes you know I love to use props. Not just to use them, but to teach something of value. For this same reason I love to practice with them. They are my teacher.

This morning, after 5 days of the stomach virus, I got a chance to go to the studio and practice. I went to The Yoga Workshop, my second home, and did morning "mysore" practice. "Mysore" refers to a place in Southern India and to a specific sequence of poses done in a room with a teacher who assists you through out your practice. You go at your own pace so everyone in the room is at a different part of the sequence.

I start with the sunsalutes, all the standing sequence.........then I start to think about my twisting workshop this Sat. and do some exploratory positions on the wall. Then I pull out the HUGE backbender and do a few poses there to open my spine and hips. Then I decide I better not use all my energy before 9 am, I still have the whole day with my toddler! So I do a long shoulderstand with the chair, strap and bolster and a reclining pose to open the lungs and rest the legs (supta virasana) on the heart bench. ( a cool wood structure that opens the chest) Then relaxation pose.(corpse) on the heart bench also.

Okay, now the point. I am thinking afterwards that my practice with the props may be distracting to others. (Very few props are used in the Ashtanga practice. But, I think again, wouldn't someone with stinky feet or a loud breath also be distracting? Can't we just practice and trust that the teacher and the student will make the right choices in the moment to support that student?