Location Location Location

Since I started my foray into yoga practice just under a year ago, I have had the opportunity to practice at a variety of venues: high school classroom, yoga studios, home, and a community recreation center. And I have discovered where you practice does have a big effect on what you get out of your practice.

My first classes were in a high school at night. The room was cold, the walls were white painted brick. The lighting was too bright and stark. But it’s where I learned the basics of Iyengar and it served its purpose.

Then I went to a studio. It was very warm and it alternately smelled like feet and incense, but it was comforting. The floor was soft wood, and the instructors were top grade. This is where I fell in love and knew flow was the way to go.

At the rec center, the floors were hard, and noise was abundant. There were boy scouts and soccer teams and ‘tween dances happening simultaneously. But I really learned to block out the outside world and let disturbances just fly over my head.

Home is a great place to practice and a great way to develop self-discipline. You just need to learn to forget about that “to do” list for an hour or so.

Just like real estate, it’s all about the location….

Addendum to Three to the Third Power

Well, I did it! I just now got back from my third class in three days. I feel remarkable, open, with no tension in my body. Last night every muscle in my body hurt and this morning I had a little bit of a headache, but I trudged forward and went to class. Today I was even able to accomplish half moon pose, which has always been very difficult for me! I think it’s really good to go to different classes and have a different instructor now and then - you learn new asanas, different philosophies, and get inspired.

Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured. ~B.K.S. Iyengar

Three To the Third Power

My challenge to myself over this three-day weekend is three yoga classes in three days. I know it’s not much of challenge, seeing how many yogis and yoginis practice on a daily basis. But for me it is a challenge, time-wise and money-wise, and I have the opportunity this weekend so I am going to do it.

There, I said it. I have written it. And so it must be - I will do it.

I will write an addendum and let you know how it goes!

Dharma Drama

Yesterday morning I missed my yoga class. Well, I didn’t actually miss it - I blatantly just lay in bed and deliberately did not get up and go. It was cold. I was still very tired. My knees were aching. And did I mention it was really, really cold?

But I did miss it, after all. My whole day was off, and I felt out of kilter. I lost my dharma and I couldn’t get it back. I really did not accomplish much yesterday, other than three loads of laundry and a nice hearty Shepherd’s pie made from scratch. I browsed the internet. I looked at photos. I watched a French thriller with my husband. I had a nagging guilty feeling all day.

I should have gone. I should have gone. I should have gone.

But in the end, maybe a day of lounging around is really what I needed. To decompress. To reconnect. To make me realize why I began practicing yoga to begin with. Maybe I had to lose my dharma in order to find it.

Om, anyone?

I often wonder what the apartment dwellers above the yoga studio I go to think when at 8:15 on a Sunday morning they hear the resonating echo of 20 to 30 people humming Om. Three times in a row. Every Sunday morning.

Does it aggravate them? Awaken them? Or does it make them smile, perhaps inspire them? Are they kicking back, browsing the Sunday paper, watching the clock and just waiting for that magnificent sound to know that all is right with the world? Would you like some Om with your coffee? Cream and sugar?

It is a sweet sound, although I must admit I chuckled a little to myself when attending my first yoga classes months ago and heard this communal chant to the universe. At first I deferred to join in, not knowing of what I was Oming. But now my Om is clearly above a whispered hum, although it is still not the resounding force it should be.

That will come with time, I suppose, as will being able to hold crow pose for five full breaths without tipping over once.

Taking Flight

My entire life I could never touch my toes, not even as a little kid. My flexibility was nil. But as long as I can remember, I had wanted to “try” yoga. Celebrities were doing it. The girl next door was doing it. Cats and dogs even had poses named after them. But me, I was filled with insecurity and trepidation – I was intimidated. And when I lived life in a small town and a new yoga studio opened up just a block away, I knew I had no excuse. I would do it, I told myself. But three years later I moved from that small town, never even having stepped foot into that yoga studio.

But now I say, ah, asana. Give me more! I breathe deeper. I walk taller.

So, what happened? Almost a year ago I received a brochure for “adult education programs” and yoga for beginners was one of the classes. This time I was determined. I completed the registration, wrote out the check, and sent it in. There was no turning back.

And I haven’t looked back since.

Now I am a member of two different yoga studios. One is just seconds from my house which could not be more convenient. The other is a few miles away but it’s where I first fell in love with studio practice and I am reluctant to leave it.

Now not only can I touch my toes, I can grab a yogi toe lock. And on a wide leg forward bend, I can plant my palms firmly on the floor.

It's amazing how when I finally took flight, that's when I became grounded.