First class!

Child's Pose (Balasana): a surprisingly beneficial stretch despite its deceptive
easiness - like being a cat or dog all over again!

Karen uses the roller to make Child's Pose easier for some

Thank you folks for showing up to your first class! It's certainly a cute little room and looks like eight people would be the max. We have several people doing A and B SIGs with the NYCC. Erica showed up on her urban assault vehicle - a really cool disc brake commuter MTB putting the rest of us to shame.

Stephen, we worked out how to turn on the heater so you should be ok in your shorts next time!

YOGA notes from Lynette:

Twisting and shoulder opening. The cyclists soon realized what we all realize when we start doing yoga - how tight and inflexible we've become, despite the deceptively all-body activity of cycling!

Twisting poses are imperative - especially as we often snap out heads around to look behind. The trick is not to torque the neck, but remember that it's attached to the rest of our bodies. So if you want to look around to the left, say, drop your right shoulder and open the left so it's not all about the neck. But keep control of the handlebars, of course! The "Threading the Needle" little twist on hands and knees was an introduction to that. Threading the Needle post with picture. (Thank you Pragmatic Yogi, who is a physical therapist). Repeat other side.

Standing twist: A standing variant of the move. Fold forward (remembering to exhale when folding), bend the left leg, straighten the right, grab right calf with left hand, rest left elbow against left bent leg to steady it, and sweep right hand up to the ceiling (inhale), try to touch ceiling with fingers! Open your right shoulder as much as you can. Keep your eyes on that raised hand, because where the eyes go, the body will follow.

You can also do this in your office chair: place your right hand on the right knee, left hand and arm positioned as described in the previous para,  and dive forward between your legs, pressing down with the right hand to turn your right shoulder and gaze towards the ceiling. It feels really good, I did it just now!  REPEAT OTHER SIDE of course.

In all of the above, try to do Ocean breath (see below).

Ocean Breath. Try to do the Ocean Breath (Darth Vadar Breath, Ujjayi breath) that we taught you as  often as possible. As you can see from that link, Yoga Journal is a truly excellent yoga resource on the web with loads of free info.  This breath is great when stressed (when we tend to hold our breath or hyperventilate), or if we wake up in the middle of the night in a panic, or during any static activity involving exertion (reaching and grabbing, twisting).  It will calm you and ensure you don't stop breathing. Try to use the breath - inhale when reach up or opening up, exhale when folding forward, bending down etc - to fuel your movements throughout the day. Rather than the breath be in the background as a by product of being alive, try putting it in the foreground - and see how it stills the mind.

PILATES notes:

When Karin gets off jury duty she'll pop something to think about here. Until then ... use your pink balls wisely!

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YOGA MATS:  I'm ordering an alignment mat for three of you who asked for it - Erica, Dana and Damon. It will probably be around $20, including the shipping, and I'm also ordering a couple of $6 yoga bags and mat carrying straps if you want to buy one of those from us too. The mats should be fine stored at the studio, but of course, because it's not our space, there's always a risk of a purloining Pavarotti. If bring a tag to put your name on it that would probably be a good idea.

Otherwise, please bring your own mat (can get them cheaply almost anywhere now, TJ Maxx etc) or a towel for the rest of the course. The cushy floor means a towel is actually fine - it's studios where the floor is hard that you need a mat. Yoga sox (ones with grip, lots of different sorts, Walgreens etc sell them) are also a good thing to use with a towel - because rubber DOES stop you slipping.

Although we thought we could "rent" the mats to you, we've decided we are not really big enough to do mat rental and make it cover the cost of them.  If you like the roller, rather than rent it each week, Karin encourages you to buy your own from her, again, at cost.

See you next Monday!

OTHER LINKS:

A yoga post on the LIVESTRONG site