jodie rufty

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YogaWorks-A Review

Posted by scalesonfire on February 23, 2011
Posted in: Product Review/Endorsement. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

I’d like to take this post to thank everyone at YogaWorks for a great week.

I realize now that things that are lifelong explorations are the only things that interest me.  I will always choose the discipline-building old thing over the cool new thing.  I think that breeding a culture of individuals who are only about the cool new thing will make this a pointless society full of people with no value-humans who are simply born to die.  But there’s a reason that the more the yogi surrenders to their practice, the more alive they feel.  A yogi, practicing every day, eager to turn weakness into strength, determined to release society-created tensions, operating free of reactivity, is a powerful and alive being.  The ability to do a mental “house-cleaning” daily is a feat within itself.  Turning that cleaning physical and connecting the two is yoga.

I came to understand this and many other things in my short time at YogaWorks.  It didn’t come from their business model, a specific teacher, or a fellow practitioner.  There was just a lunch-pail sort of vibe at each studio.  Whereas other places might stress the idea that everyone is at different levels, YogaWorks seemed to be more about encouraging students to find new levels through working at each posture.  Hence, even though I entered with an enthusiastic attitude, I ended up trying many more things than I expected.  The more something I tried frustrated me, the more I realized that I might not have been so eager to try it in another situation, with other teachers, and at other studios.  Here are some thoughts on the four YogaWorks locations in New York City.

Eastside

This is a smaller location with two yoga spaces, on Third Avenue.  I attended two classes here, one on the weekend, and one on a weekday afternoon.  Although the scheduled class was the same each time, the class sizes were completely different.  When crowded, space and maneuvering in the lobby and changing rooms was a pain, but I saw the policy of bringing your belongings into the room as a plus.  This location is a friendly, cozy, neighborhood-type studio.  Its the sort of place where you buy a package of classes for and practice say once per week in addition to practicing at home.  There’s nothing wrong with that at all, especially since the schedule, price, and size don’t support much else.

Westside

This is a “hidden gem” sort of studio.  You wouldn’t tell from the outside of this Lincoln Square-ish location that there is a top-notch yoga studio upstairs, but there is.  A stellar one.  There are multiple yoga spaces, a friendly and efficient staff (all the staff members work very well together, from the front desk to the teachers), and a cool, lounge-like vibe.  It feels less like a yoga studio and more like an expensive childrens’ playroom, and its easy to get kids to try new things when everything around them is properly placed and painted the right colors.  What we don’t realize is that these things are important to most adults as well, they just usually disregard them.  This is the sort of studio where, if you live or work close by, it would be quite easy to do all of your yoga practice here.  The schedule, diverse amount of classes, and size all support it.

Union Square

I had trouble making it to enough classes at this location, but it was quite similar to the Eastside location.  It did though offer more changing rooms, which made the entering and leaving process much more smooth than at Eastside.  This is quite important at a small studio being that there are never places to just sit (or stand) and hang out other than on your mat in the yoga space.  If you’ve ever had to be jarred from your yoga high and forced to wait on line holding all your things while some lady takes forever pulling up her tights, then you understand.  Like Eastside, this may not be the place to do ALL of your yoga, but you could still get the benefits from two to four classes per week here.

Soho

This is obviously the jewel of the YogaWorks locations in New York.  This place has everything.  Its the size of a Dave & Busters.  The locker rooms and lounges trump anything I’ve seen so far.  The yoga schedule is hefty: some days have eighteen classes scheduled.  The stars here though are the teachers.  Although I learned a great deal about yoga at the other locations, I learned a great deal about class energy, self-control, and determination at the Soho locations.  I credit the teachers for that and although I dubbed them all “yoga snobs” at first, I realized that I wasn’t looking for comforting and coddling tones, I was there to find all of the proper approaches to yoga.  When I realized that this was the aim at YogaWorks and especially Soho, I was compelled to take more challenging classes, even if I knew I’d have to deal with some harsh corrections.  I found my yoga confidence at Soho.

I’d like to thank these teachers for making this such a fulfilling experience:

Jodie Rufty

Timothy Bish

Cleandra Martin-Waldron

Maya Ray

Elizabeth Neuse

Sherman Morris

Aarona Pichinson

I’d also like to thank these individuals who helped make this a great experience:

Caitlin Culp

John Ford

Laura Henry

In retrospect, my only regret is not taking YogaWorks’ “Barworks” and “YW Slim” classes to simply know what they’re about.  Otherwise, this was an amazing experience, one that will shape the way I practice and view yoga forever.

Getting to Carnegie Hall

Posted by scalesonfire on February 18, 2011
Posted in: Product Review/Endorsement, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Can practicing yoga get you there too?

As a trainer, one thing I always try to keep in mind is that I’m a teacher first.  I’m trying to provide knowledge to a person who will need to use it in the future.  For this reason, YogaWorks is right up my alley.  I decided to take two classes on Wednesday, February 16, 2011 and both were quite unique experiences.  I had taken both classes before.  At the Westside location, I took Jodie Rufty’s 10:45am Yoga Works level 1 & 2 class.  As much as I learned in this class on Monday, even more postures were explained this time (including a standing “downward dog” I’d hadn’t quite seen before).  I left that class and hurried to the Eastside location where I attended Timothy Bish’s 1:30pm Vinyasa Flow class, a similar one to the first class I’d taken on Saturday.  But this class was very different.  The lunch time start made for a five-person class, and even though small classes aren’t my favorite, this one was different.  Mr. Bish took the smaller class as an opportunity to help each of us individually, showing us modifications and ways to improve different postures in our practice.

Although it costs decent money to practice at YogaWorks, I think that this approach to teaching yoga is invaluable, and all of their instructors seem to use it.  If a person is doing something wrong, or with an ineffective effort, or their mind is elsewhere, they are told, and corrected, and helped without hostility.  All mistakes seem to be opportunities to teach.  Every class, every posture, every movement is scrutinized if they aren’t executed to the person’s full potential.  Ms. Rufty’s class had two student observers from the YogaWorks 300-hour teacher training.  Their notepads were full by the end of class.  Mr. Bish broke the flow of his vinyasa class to take the small class to the wall to find new ways to practice headstands.

In my short time practicing there, YogaWorks has not once given me that “you’re a straight guy doing yoga and we hate you” vibe that other men seem to feel.  Since my first day, they’ve seemed committed to teaching me more about practicing yoga regularly.  I’ve heard more phrases like “If you already have a … practice… do …” than I ever have.  It’s helped me look at “practice” as a word that should be used far more often.  The YogaWorks website stresses the importance of “practicing” yoga over “doing” yoga.  I think that on a broader level, that’s because individuals looking to develop things like strength, discipline, controlled relaxation, or anything without a tangible monetary value, need to practice.  It’s helped me bring further dedication to the things I practice, like say, push-ups or sit-ups, and why these things are different from my formal workouts.  I can take rest days, make adjustments with workouts, but the things I practice, they must happen daily, and I must explore my full potential in them daily.  It’s the only way to learn about my abilities.

Being Wrong and Happy

Posted by scalesonfire on February 16, 2011
Posted in: Product Review/Endorsement. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 1 comment

This room is where I had my most important yoga experience to date.

I believe that every time you’re proven to be wrong about something you also learn something.  With that said, I’m learning a lot at YogaWorks this week.  Honestly, before starting this project, this “Exercise Odyssey,” I was curious about these sorts of yoga studios.  I’d been reading all about Tara Stiles and Strala Yoga and how yoga is turning into a fitness fix for so many.  When I saw the YogaWorks website, and their pictures and testimonials, I thought it was more of the same.  I expected to go to these locations and find students and teachers who talked about yoga positions that “target certain areas” or that were “great for losing that pesky ten pounds.”  When I say I was wrong, I was massively wrong.  By Monday February 14, 2011, I’d learned more about yoga in three days than I’d every known.  It was Valentine’s Day when I decided to try one of their “Yoga Works signature classes” which I thought would be an in-house compilation of postures they’d put together to brand their own type of yoga.

Again, I was wrong.  But let’s start earlier than that.  I’d scheduled that day’s class at Yoga Works Westside location, a fourth floor location near Lincoln Center with above average facilities and a beautiful lounge area for the amount of space they’re dealing with.  Upon entering the room, I set up my mat as the others did, in normal rows, then our instructor, Jodie Rufty swept into the room in a whirlwind of blond hair and energy, immediately commanding our attention, and instructed everyone to bring their mats to the wall, grab two blocks and two blankets.  I had no idea what was going on.  My first two thoughts were “huh, we’re going to use the wall?” and “no, sorry, I don’t need blocks or blankets.”  I’m glad I understand that any negative stigma about yoga always leads to a stupid question, so I kept my mouth shut and played along.  What happened was a different sort of yoga class than I’d ever attended.  We did some very simple postures, but we did them many times in different ways.  At first, we used the wall, then blocks, then nothing.  I learned the proper positioning for postures I’d usually just muscle through.  We did many things that people see with their eyes and execute wrong, but this was a situation where, based on the nature of the class, it was impossible to execute the postures wrong.

There was also a whole lot of chanting, more than I expected.  There was a lot more closed-eyed meditation than I expected.  The deliberate manner in which Ms. Rufty teaches brought me into the sort of yoga that I’ve been searching for, one that brings you into a different state of consciousness-where the mind simply moves the body (or keeps the body still) without any clutter or detours in between.  I can truly say that in my three days at YogaWorks, this was the most centered and focused I’d been.  I also did so many things correctly that I left feeling taller, leaner, and calmer.  I commend Ms. Rufty, the Yoga Works practice, and my fellow practitioners for an awesome class.

It was a fun day because after that 10:45am-12:15pm class, I had to eat right away to make a 5:30 Bikram Yoga class at Hot Yoga New Jersey’s Westwood location.  They were gracious enough to offer me a free class for my birthday, which was last week.    So after heading to Willamsburg to Oasis, a tremendous falafel spot right off Bedford Avenue, I took a yoga class and a hot yoga class in the same day.  My experience was stellar.  Of all the Bikram Yoga classes I’ve taken, this was the most focused, relaxed, and in control of my breathing that I’ve ever been.  The result was a nearly perfect class, and I could see the mental benefits of my practice at YogaWorks.  I’ve learned a great deal about moving with breath, budgeting my energy, and keeping a clear mind as I move through any yoga.  I do miss Bikram Yoga though, it is both refreshing and personally challenging, and it’s also the yoga that introduced me to yoga.  It also has my aching knees feeling great.  Valentine’s Day was a day that made me wish I could take three yoga classes a day.