Notice I didn't say "Bikram," this week, hmmm? Last week I mentioned some non-Bikram practitioner criticisms my newest sweaty hobby. This week I actually made it out to the hot non-hot yoga guy's class at Hartford City Ballet (which is a weekly, open dealie, you can just drop in too!) for a different kind of experience.
Everywhere I go, I seem to interact with other CT celebrities. Open yoga class ended up being just myself, instructor Gabriel, and famous ballet hipster Amy, who leads an open modern dance class at the same venue, which you can try some time (but count the Scenics out, we got no moves). Nice to meet her again! And very nice to meet the venue's resident kitties. OMG LOVE KITTIES!
About the yoga. Gabriel teaches Hatha yoga and incorporates chanting and breathing exercises as well as poses into his class. He also dropped a lot of knowledge and vocabulary about the history and goals of practice and chakras and things, which I won't try and reiterate (maybe we can get an interview). He emphasized that postures should be comfortable and that one should be able to relax in them (in contrast to the "stretch beyond your flexibility... feel pain sensation" emphasis of Bikram).
But I also like the militant/masochism thing! Over the weekend I had another one of those great Bikram sessions, where I was getting deeper into the postures and ended up class feeling invigorated. Of course, I also had mostly classes that felt like torture endurance, so don't get all jealous of my progress or anything now.
Like "standing head-to-knee" always sucks. Here's a nice illustration of the progression of this posture (actually, check out the source, it's informative!).
I struggle to just get my leg up. There's people in class around me that get the elbows and the head down and everything. And they don't all even have the hot yoga body, so apparently that has nothing to do with it (bummer!).
And let's talk about my period! Cause why not. Bikram makes a lot of health claims about the postures and all the body systems and health problems that they can help improve/alleviate. The cobra series says it wants to relieve my menstrual problems. And what do you know? My period practically snuck upon me this month. There's plenty of stuff on the internets about yoga and your period. Well, maybe not your period. Good thing DH isn't writing the yoga series, eh?
Everywhere I go, I seem to interact with other CT celebrities. Open yoga class ended up being just myself, instructor Gabriel, and famous ballet hipster Amy, who leads an open modern dance class at the same venue, which you can try some time (but count the Scenics out, we got no moves). Nice to meet her again! And very nice to meet the venue's resident kitties. OMG LOVE KITTIES!
About the yoga. Gabriel teaches Hatha yoga and incorporates chanting and breathing exercises as well as poses into his class. He also dropped a lot of knowledge and vocabulary about the history and goals of practice and chakras and things, which I won't try and reiterate (maybe we can get an interview). He emphasized that postures should be comfortable and that one should be able to relax in them (in contrast to the "stretch beyond your flexibility... feel pain sensation" emphasis of Bikram).
But I also like the militant/masochism thing! Over the weekend I had another one of those great Bikram sessions, where I was getting deeper into the postures and ended up class feeling invigorated. Of course, I also had mostly classes that felt like torture endurance, so don't get all jealous of my progress or anything now.
Like "standing head-to-knee" always sucks. Here's a nice illustration of the progression of this posture (actually, check out the source, it's informative!).
I struggle to just get my leg up. There's people in class around me that get the elbows and the head down and everything. And they don't all even have the hot yoga body, so apparently that has nothing to do with it (bummer!).
And let's talk about my period! Cause why not. Bikram makes a lot of health claims about the postures and all the body systems and health problems that they can help improve/alleviate. The cobra series says it wants to relieve my menstrual problems. And what do you know? My period practically snuck upon me this month. There's plenty of stuff on the internets about yoga and your period. Well, maybe not your period. Good thing DH isn't writing the yoga series, eh?
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Keep questioning all of it because this Bikram yoga pose will give you a flat butt and hyperextended knees, rounded shoulders and forward head carriage. If you really look at the body positions this woman is doing to achieve that head to knee pose, it will become obvious that this pose is very detrimental to our joints and their functions. See www.yogainjuries.com for more information and a good dose of anatomical common sense.
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