yogaworks

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

Posted by scalesonfire on March 4, 2011
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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.

    YogaWorks-A Review

    Posted by scalesonfire on February 23, 2011
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    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.

    Yoga Hell

    Posted by scalesonfire on February 22, 2011
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    "Welcome to Yoga Hell. My name is Sherman Morris. You may hang your soul at the door."

    Maybe its just the soreness talking, but the last three days at YogaWorks were ten times as challenging as the first four.  On my seventh day, February 19, 2011, I went to Sherman Morris’ 6pm Power Yoga class at the Soho location, and it was so challenging that it really made me wish I was a member at YogaWorks, just to take that class every day and conquer it.  I already knew that the room would be slightly heated, maybe to eighty degrees, and I already knew that anything with the word “power” in front of it is simply relentless with things that you can’t do.  The combination of the two resulted in yoga hell for inexperienced practitioners-a yoga class where comfort is impossible.  Mr. Morris even expressed his disdain for comfort several times.  We were encouraged to feel discomfort.  This class had more level two and three yogis than I’d seen in any class at any YogaWorks location, and even though I look the part, I’m not one of these individuals.

    So I basically fell on someone during an inversion.  I yelped out “Ahh that hurts my hip” while taking a correction in a twist.  I was the only one sweating buckets onto my mat and trying to manipulate towels so I didn’t slip.  But, I did every vinyasa.  Added the push-up variation for level two.  I did all thirty of the push-ups Mr. Morris asked for at the end.  Those weren’t the problems.  The tempo was insane, the twists, movements, variations, the multiple inversions, the jumps, the switches from our pace to his pace.  I loved it.  As I said, I wish I could become like those other yogis in the class and take that class as much as possible.  Even Mr. Morris’ tone, a just and scolding one, gave the class its unique feel.  I know that there are yoga championships, but I’d like to see sixty-four people taking Sherman Morris’ class in a ‘Simon Says’ elimination tournament: If you lose the pace, pick up your mat and leave.  If you fall, for any reason, don’t come back.  If you quit on a posture, go back to doing yoga with the old ladies on Thursday morning.  The winner gets to do one less push-up at the end.  Power Yoga with Sherman Morris is big boy yoga.

    Only, the class ran over time.  As per the schedule, it was supposed to end at 7:15 but I walked out of there at 7:26 and he was still calling out postures.  I had to go meet with an important client, so I can’t comment on anything that happened at the very end.  I wasn’t necessarily upset that the class ran long, I was only disappointed that I didn’t get to complete it.  Mr. Morris worked so hard to make corrections and connect with every struggle in the class.  He worked so hard to put together a music program that started with a yelping Stevie Wonder and ended with a yelping Cee-Lo Green.  He worked so hard to find spots to demonstrate postures himself.  Even though I struggled, this final class at YogaWorks was perfect-a deathly challenging class, in their best location, that again proved to me that yoga comes in so many forms.

    Knowing Your Level

    Posted by scalesonfire on February 21, 2011
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    On Thursday, February 17, 2011 I committed a yoga sin.

    When your yoga is challenging, don’t let it overwhelm you.  It defeats the purpose.

    On day six of my week at YogaWorks I took two level 2-3 classes, and both left me discouraged about my abilities.  At 12:45pm I finally made it to the Union Square location for Cleandra Martin-Waldron’s YogaWorks 2/3 class.  I suppose that before embarking on this quest I should have put more thought into the level of my practice.  I’d practiced enough Bikram Yoga to not be considered a level one practitioner, but the past week has most of all shown me that I’m too far from level three to see it right now.  So I’m stuck at level two.  To me, this means that I have a great deal of trouble with inversions, jumping into inversions, setting up for inversions, thinking about inversions or hearing the word “stand” at the end of anything.  It doesn’t mean that I’m not incredibly upbeat when I try difficult things in yoga, I just fail all the time.  Its great that I now know how to properly set up for things that I struggle with, but I’m far from doing most of them.  Now, vinyasas and planks haven’t been an issue, my conditioning is fine.  I suppose the only times I lose focus is when I struggle to do something I know won’t happen in the near future, and it caused me to lose focus all day.

    Work was terrible, and I was in an even worse mood.  Everything was pretty overwhelming, and I really just wanted to go back home and quit this yoga project for the week.  But I didn’t, I went to Aarona Pichinson’s 6pm Vinyasa Flow class at the Soho location, which was the most difficult yoga class I’ve ever attended.  I struggled more than I ever had in any Bikram yoga class, any vinyasa yoga class, anything.  I had to will myself through those postures.  So many “chair” poses with the ankle across the knee.  So many inversions.  So many postures, to inversions, back to vinyasas. So many funky twists.  So many times I couldn’t execute the command.  I spoke to Ms Pichinson after class about my inability to tackle inversions and she smiled and said to practice more.  Great advice, but frustrating at the time.  Frustrating day overall.  But if this wasn’t challenging I wouldn’t do it.

    Getting to Carnegie Hall

    Posted by scalesonfire on February 18, 2011
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    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.

    Yoga Rage

    Posted by scalesonfire on February 17, 2011
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    I tell people all the time that yoga has fixed my temperament.  “Fixed” meaning there was a point in my life when it was savagely broken.  Football games, female troubles, train passengers that were too close to me, were all reasons to lose my cool.  Now I practice restraint, and it’s easy, except when I miss yoga.  Tuesday February 15, 2011 was a terrible day, especially because being early or on time has always been one of my strong suits.  Nothing happened on time.  No subway train ran smoothly.  There was always something extra to do to make me late, and it was always too crowded everywhere.  I was scheduled to be at YogaWorks Soho at 1pm and both trains I took were so slow that I got off at Union Square to try my luck at that studio.  Their schedule had nothing I could participate in, I’d missed the current class and the next class was a prenatal yoga class.  Brooke at the receptionist’s desk at YogaWorks Union Square was very helpful in telling me what the other studios had going on that day, but nothing fit in with my work schedule.  It was an unscheduled off-day, and upon leaving, I felt like taking my yoga mat and slamming it into the elevator wall a few times.

    Missing yoga really upsets me, for too many reasons.  Mainly, it’s because the more I practice yoga, the more I realize that I need it every day.  I had no time to practice at home, and I would’ve had I known I was going to have such a horrible day.  I tried my best, but I brought that yoga rage to everything I did that day.  I was so angry, but all I can do is try harder to get the things I need the next day.

    Being Wrong and Happy

    Posted by scalesonfire on February 16, 2011
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    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.

    The Exercise Odyssey

    Posted by scalesonfire on February 15, 2011
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    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
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    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.