Yoga East Meets West Spring 2018

This week, I went to a hot yoga class at my gym.  The teacher who normally teaches was not there so there was a substitute in for her.  Just after walking in, I could tell that this teacher was going to be harder than the one who is normally there, the teacher was very nice and friendly while everyone was making their way into the room but there was something about her made me feel that this class was going to be harder.  I wasn't intimidated, I was actually excited because that morning I woke up, did not feel groggy and wanted a challenge in class.  We started off with sun salutations, the teacher told us we had to awaken our body and our mind and this was the perfect way to do it.  I noticed that my body was starting to warm up and the heat in the room was becoming more noticeable and my body was moving more freely as it was warming up.  This class was not as fast paced as other hot yoga classes that I have been to in the past but I still enjoyed it becau...

The practice we participated on March 8th in class was called Sivananda Yoga.  The instructor who taught our class was very patient with us, this practice was one I was not familiar with but I enjoyed the practice a lot. Sivananda yoga is a non-proprietary form of hatha yoga in which the training focuses on preserving the health and wellness of the practitioner which is why we took breaks, I liked the breaks we got to take during the practice because it gave everyone a chance to breathe and reconnect with themselves before moving on to the next pose or poses we did.  At the end of practice i felt very relaxed, I liked the way the teacher taught this type of yoga and explained to us before starting the history of Swami Sivananda and why he began to do this practice and when.  I wasn't used to setting our mats up the way we did and doing the practice while being directly in front of someone with them looking in my direction the entire time, it was a little strange at first...

Today, I went to class at Yoga 9 where Laurie was the teacher.  I was a little nervous coming into the class because I have never taken a class with her but the nerves dissipated shortly after the class started.  I barely pay attention to my body placement and where certain body parts are during class because I'm too focused on keeping up or how others in the class look and if I am doing a certain pose right.  Laurie came over several times and helped me with the placement of my shoulders which I never knew were too close to my ears and my foot placement, whether it be on the ground or if I just needed to flex my foot while in a pose.  Doing so lead me to actually feel the stretch where I was supposed to feel it during the poses where she moved me.  I could tell that this class was focusing more on the anatomy and anatomical positions of the body and to make sure that our legs and shoulders and elbows were in the right spot to get into the pose correctly.  ...

Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga is a style of yoga codified and popularized by Pattabhi Jois during the 20th century which is often promoted as a modern-day form of classical Indian Yoga. I personally enjoyed this type of yoga more than any other type of yoga I have done recently.  Even though this was more fast paced, I noticed myself paying attention to small details about my body during the practice.  I was focusing more on my breathing and the breathing pattern that Lauren told us to do in the beginning of class and I felt that the breathing style helped me get deeper into the stretch of each pose we did. I was motivated to try to get into new poses that Lauren demonstrated even if I have never tried them before.  The meditation at the end was something I wasn't used to doing after a class and I felt like it helped my body relax and cool down after such a fast paced class.  I felt a lot calmer and relaxed and thinking about the class after meditating made me realize that ...

This week I switched it up and went to a hot yoga class that is offered on Sunday mornings at a local gym.  This class was more fast pace than the ones I have been to before so you could not really focus on your poses as much as I would have liked to.  I felt as if I wasn't getting a lot out of the class like I normally would but it was a nice change of pace and scenery than what I was used to.  The teacher made anyone that was new introduce themselves before we began which made me feel more comfortable during class.  This yoga was harder than others that I've done before but I did feel more stretched out at the end of class. The teacher really wanted us to focus on our breathing and kept telling us to remember to breath and it was the most important part of the class.  We had a longer savasana where the teacher came around and rubbed our temples and talked to us in a soothing voice which was very relaxing an helped get my heart rate down after doing hot yoga fo...

On Friday morning I attended a yoga class once again at Yoga 9 with Paige.  The teacher was much different than the last teacher in the ways they taught but i still really enjoyed the class.  We focused a lot on our breaths and finding out own breaths during the practice.  She told us not to let our breaths get away and it helped with more difficult poses.  During class, she let us all try poses that we've never done before and helped us get into them.  I felt really comfortable trying them in a new environment with people I have just met.  This weeks pace was a lot more sped up than last weeks but I liked the change of pace and how refreshed I felt after the class was over. The teacher made us feel like it was okay to try new things, to stretch further than you think you can and to try poses that you don't think you can get into.  It was a really fun and interactive class and I would definitely take another class with her.