vinyasa

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What I’ve learned about yoga so far-Part I

Posted by scalesonfire on March 4, 2011
Posted in: Yoga. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Yoga can help you find a lot of things, peace and solutions are just a couple

I’ve dedicated the first part of 2011 to yoga and understanding it better.  When everyone was making new year’s resolutions, I was dwelling on the things I’d need to achieve peak physical condition within this year.  I thought, I’d need to run like a maniac, maybe one thousand miles in this calendar year.  Well, that was going to destroy my knees because I’ve got flat feet.  So I’d need to do lots of yoga also to repair what I’m destroying.  I also thought I’d need to do tons of speed and strength training,  all of which would diminish my flexibility.  So I’d need to do lots of yoga to stay flexible.  I also thought I’d go through all sorts of spells of laziness during the process, and to me, laziness isn’t just lying in bed not wanting to get up, or skipping days because I don’t feel perfect.  Its also losing mental focus while I’m exercising, so I’d need to do lots of yoga to condition my mind to stay on task.

To that point, I’d only practiced Bikram yoga formally (like in a studio, not TV yoga) and I’d done well with it, but I knew that saving every penny to stack up monthly unlimiteds at a Bikram studio wasn’t what I needed.  I needed to understand yoga and what it meant to me and other people.  I took what I’d already known and created a home practice.  This was one of the most productive things I’ve ever done in my life.  That twenty-two minute vinyasa program I made up changed my view of yoga, and a few other things changed, like my body.  My body was slimmer, leaner, and stronger than it had ever been.  I’ve always been an early bird, and it was easy for me to wake up at 6am to get it done every day.

Then I followed up on an idea I’d been cultivating for a while: reviewing yoga studios.  At first, I wanted to review Bikram studios in New York City, but when I saw and felt the results of my unheated home practice, I became brave enough to try different sorts of yoga.  The result was a tremendous week at YogaWorks.  In taking a variety of classes at each of their four New York City locations, I got to try many of the elements of yoga that had always scared me, like:

  • Yoga without a mirror
  • Inversions
  • Chanting
  • Wood floors
  • Binds
  • Unfamiliar styles
  • Yoga blocks and straps

    What I ended up with was a totally different view of yoga than what I got when I started Bikram in August of 2008.  At the time, I saw Bikram as a godsend form of fitness that I would attack and master.  Now I see it as this corporate entity, more of a structured pyramid scheme created by a man who’s carefully calculated his business to scare Americans into thinking that his yoga is the only type that exists.  I don’t blame him, in one of my favorite movies, “Apocalypse Now,” Harrison Ford says in the briefing room that its difficult to resist the impulse to play God.  Well, I came to learn that most yoga provides a deep, existential feeling, and if Americans are introduced to this feeling through Bikram yoga, then the American impulse is not to question it, but to become loyal to something they don’t fully understand and the person who has created it.  Its the same way we can all cook or be crafty but we’re loyal to Emeril or Martha.  We can all invest money but we’re loyal to Jim Cramer.  We can all vote and be politically aware but we’re loyal to Glen Beck, Bill O’Reilly, and Rachel Maddow.  Americans, even with all of their so-called freedoms, have made this an incredibly easy place to play God and build a following.

    Bikram Choudhury, enjoying a beverage, yes, gods and rock stars get thirsty too.

    It became obvious to me that Bikram Choudhury created his yoga to be effective, challenging, and attractive to Americans.  Even though I had a great deal of confidence in the effectiveness of his yoga, I learned more in one week of practicing regular yoga than I’d learned in years of practicing Bikram yoga.  I also came to understand that the yoga body, like all of the lean, strong, slender bodies I saw were the norm at regular yoga studios, and there were a lot more in the regular yoga studios I saw than at Bikram yoga studios, even without the heat and sweating.  The yogis I met all ate better, lived better, and practiced more than the Bikram yogis I’d known.  Aside from the hardcore Bikram yogis I know who take their practices and subsequently, their lives, more seriously, Bikram studios are full of “Yoga Riff Raff” or people who are practicing for some dumb reason, like weight loss, and treat it like a sweaty aerobics class.  They never bring any of the more basic elements of discipline to the practice and hence, they see only a small weight loss and none of the real benefits.  When I take Bikram classes with these individuals and they’re huffing and puffing because they’re out of breath or they’re disregarding stillness or they’re doing anything else that ruins the basic premise of the yoga, I can’t lie, it steals my peace.   I encountered no Yoga Riff Raff at YogaWorks, but I did find the opposite-”Yoga Snobs.”

    As bad as it sounds, its a privilege to be a Yoga Snob.  It means that you’re so serious about your practice that you’re looking to shoo away the Yoga Riff Raff with the negative energy broom.  In a positive sense though, it means real discipline, dedication, and proficiency.   Whenever I struggled around these yogis and teachers, I always tried to do more to show that I was willing to work at my weaknesses because to me, that is all that separated us attending those classes from those who just wanted to look better.  All of these people already looked good, and had achieved that through their quests to erase their weaknesses.  In the words of Yoga Guru Baron Baptiste, “Yoga doesn’t work, PEOPLE work, and the yoga comes to life.”  When we can get Americans to understand that, we can all understand yoga a little better.

    But there’s another reason we can’t really grasp it: We think it will interfere with our religious beliefs.  That’s another topic for another blog.  Maybe for part two of this discussion.

    The Exercise Odyssey

    Posted by scalesonfire on February 15, 2011
    Posted in: Product Review/Endorsement. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

    A yoga studio with a computer lounge? Welcome to YogaWorks Soho

    Usually, I call these things I do “exercise odysseys.”  It’s the complete opposite of finding a quick fix to target a body part, or seeking out the most fun thing to do to lose weight.  In fact, I’m generally looking for the tasks that the public would consider to be least fun in hopes that I can understand a sort of discipline that scares the average person.  I’d also like to come back from each quest with a much deeper knowledge of the task or activity than I’ve ever had.  We will officially make this “Exercise Odyssey #1″

    With all those inspirational words written, and one day of yoga at YogaWorks in the books, I failed on Sunday February 13, 2011.  I was supposed to attend the Yoga  Blend class at their Union Square location but the A train was painfully slow all weekend and I arrived late.  Being late for yoga means to me that I didn’t make it important enough, and in my personal set of yoga guidelines, this is a massive failure.  I checked the schedules at their other locations and decided to move on to the Soho location for two classes.  Sometimes, failure is good.

    The Soho YogaWorks location is a nice place.  Like upscale health club nice, like the W is a nice place to grab lunch with a buddy, like Cowboys stadium has a nice video screen.  Everything is masterfully done or designed, from the chairs to the locker rooms.

    The first class I took was Vinyasa Flow with Elizabeth Neuse.  I was apprehensive about taking another vinyasa class because I’d taken one on Saturday at the Eastside location, but when they say that the program varies, it does.  I won’t say that Ms. Neuse’s program was more or less challenging, just different, and I can honestly say that after another trying New York City commute (even on the weekends, the MTA is terrible) I didn’t put my full focus into my yoga.  Ms. Neuse is a tremendous instructor though, and she elaborated on something that I’ve come to love about places like YogaWorks.  You see, even as a trainer, I encourage my clients to practice yoga.  Not only with me, and not just to be fit.  I think that yoga is like prayer for fit people, and I won’t openly discourage a person from practicing yoga.  Ms. Neuse, on various occasions during class indicated that if we were in her class, a “level two” type class, then we should have extensive home practices.  Even though I already practice at home, I started this based on examining yoga culture, but hearing it, and hearing it encouraged by a teacher made me realize that YogaWorks is about helping people practice yoga properly, and not about selling yoga to people.

    I set up closer to the front of the room, and for no other reason than the fact that I’m uncomfortable finding a good spot in a long and narrow yoga space.  The meditation and chanting portions kept me focused, but that was at the beginning and end.  Otherwise, my mind drifted many times, and I never found a way to take control of the breath.  I executed all of the postures except the headstand, which Ms. Neuse instructed in a different and more difficult way than I’d learned the day before. Overall, my physical strength helped me through the class, and my fellow yogis propped me up, but if I was practicing alone, I would have gotten a plethora of corrections.

    My real problem was finding the next class.  You see, on top of being a nice place, YogaWorks Soho is also a big place.  From what I can surmise so far, this location is the only one with in New York City with multiple floors.  By the time I’d gotten a firm answer on where my class was, it was starting.

    That class was Yoga Blend with Maya Ray-Schoenfeld.  This was my first class using yoga blocks, and I’m happy I opened my mind to using props.  This class, a “level one” practice was a perfect complement to the semi-strenuous vinyasa class I’d taken right before, and after the yogis in the vinyasa class held me up, I realized that I was one of the more advanced practioners in this room.  This doesn’t mean that I wowed everyone with my feats of strength, it means that when I released power to the instructor, taking and applying the  simplest directions and corrections, I could feel the subtle areas where I’d usually lose focus or wasn’t executing fully.  These experiences are far more valuable than mastering a physically demanding practice.

    Day two ended with me feeling the way I did on day one: tired, hungry, and on an extended yoga high.  I’m slowly getting used to the soreness that comes with practicing every day, and the appetite that comes with burning that many calories daily.  I like knowing that my body is craving food, or craving sleep, instead of me just feeding it so that its fed, or resting it because I like rest (which I don’t).  In two days, I’ve made activity so important that it dictates these things.

    Cold Yoga

    Posted by scalesonfire on February 14, 2011
    Posted in: Product Review/Endorsement. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 1 comment

    My first day at YogaWorks (eastside location). A lesson in yoga without heat.

    Until Saturday, February 13, 2011 I’d only practiced yoga at studios that offered Bikram yoga or other “hot” yoga styles.  I’ve gone almost three years renting towels, sweating like a maniac, hearing that other yoga styles were evil, and practicing in classes with a few people who haven’t totally put yoga in the right perspective.  This yoga project I’m working on is all about not limiting myself, and after one day at YogaWorks, I realized that I could more easily become the yogi I want to be at this sort of studio.  Its not that I want to bash Bikram yoga as ineffective, because I believe the opposite.  There are however, some turnoffs about some Bikram yoga studios:

    First, I’m a 6’2″ man with a big frame.  I’m going to sweat, I’ll need towels.   I’m also going to need a good amount of water if I’m going into a hot room.  Please don’t make me pay for either.  Americans love creating necessity, and this is why I think Bikram yoga is right up their alleys.  Of course people will need water and towels, so charge them.  Of course people won’t want to bring their filthy mats home, so charge them for mat storage.  I think studios generate enough money, and create the need for towels and water in order to sell them.  This is probably included in the franchising strategies of Bikram Choudhury himself.  I know its how studios keep their sponsorship deals with Coca-Cola and Glaceau.  I just don’t want to practice yoga after thinking about money so many times.

    Also, when you’re in a class near some reactive, overweight person near you, someone waiting for the yoga to change them, its annoying.  Its annoying when everyone isn’t focused on executing the yoga and it shows.  You can also hear the sighs.  Once, a man behind me yelled out “ugh, oh no” when the “floor bow” posture arrived in the Bikram series.  As tedious as the Bikram process is, its far less strict than people think, and it invites a great deal of individuals who could care less about control and discipline.

     

    So practicing at YogaWorks has changed my mind about what practicing at a studio means.  I think that hot yoga is overall more difficult not because of the hot room or a challenging series, but because of the mixture of negativity, each studio’s cute little rules to take your money, and the lack of real discipline beyond the front row.  In the Vinyasa Flow class I attended at YogaWorks Eastside with Timothy Bish I was surrounded by yogis of all levels who still understood that the yoga wouldn’t stop for them, so they’d need to dedicate themselves to keeping the pace, and I was in yoga heaven.

    The studio is at 1319 Third Avenue in Manhattan, on the second floor, above a Free People store.  There are low-profile slots for shoes at the top of the stairs, and even more no-frills hangers and racks for coats (I missed both walking in). Evan, the yoga receptionist was very helpful in explaining all of the foreign things I encountered, like people bringing their belongings into the studio or the water cooler.  I remember wanting to say ‘you mean, water isn’t two or three dollars?’ but I didn’t want to sound hokey.  Then I realized that there weren’t any “official” water breaks.  In fact, in a day of firsts, this was the first time I’d practiced at a studio where I took water before and after class, but not during.  A prenatal yoga class preceded mine, and although I’d seen that on the schedule, it’s a different experience seeing thirty round bellies fill and then clear a lobby.  From what I could see, I was only part of a handful who brought a change of clothes for my class, and I’m glad I arrived early to sign in, because it was nice and crowded.

    But unlike my other experiences, the crowd didn’t create hostility.  In fact, I didn’t feel any particular emotions upon starting the class.  I was focused and I’d already told myself to make this a class of release.  Mr. Bish’s class was flawless, and although I didn’t know the series, I had little trouble staying with the pace.  This place was oozing that Yoga “energy,” that communal, existential feeling that allows for everyone practicing in a room to feel the same rush as say, eighty-thousand fans at a football game or a worshiping church congregation on Sunday.  There were a few times when I’d struggled, but my morning home practice, full of vinyasas and one that I made to flow without stopping is the only thing that I can say kept me strong enough to battle through the tough times with a straight face.

    I could have focused more though.  When my mind would begin to drift It would take me real determination to properly connect the breath to each movement as Mr. Bish continued to instruct.  This may have had a lot to do with my setting up near the back wall, too close to the back wall.  I also thought a great deal about using the yoga blocks, blankets and straps offered.  I’m not at all a fan of yoga props, but I quickly realized that I was one of the few who didn’t use them in class.  I’d only been to one studio that even allowed these things, and I immediately dismissed these things as signs a practitioner was weak mentally and didn’t want to fully explore the yoga.  It was also my first time chanting in a yoga class, something I’d always dismissed as unnecessary.  Surprisingly, it made breathing much easier to control and relaxing before and after even easier.  Maybe I was wrong, but I’d like to be proven wrong about yoga many times, its the only way to learn the things I’m looking to learn.

    I also completed the “shoulder stand” portion of the class, but not the headstand, although I finally know how to begin a headstand practice properly.