I found a wonderful yoga studio less than five minutes walking distance from my hotel in old town Philadelphia. It was a wonderful experience... I love google maps it has been so helpful in finding close yoga studios. I just put in my location and the word yoga and all these yoga studios pop up. I looked it up and in less than 45 minutes I was sitting on my yoga mat at Dhyana yoga studio. Dhyana yoga studio is in old city 68 N 2nd street. The Web address http://www.dhyana-yoga.com/index.html. I went to the Vinyasa 101 class instructed by Jason. I loved the studio layout, which was a narrow and long room. It has heated bamboo flooring and a very welcoming environment. I met a girl who was originally from Dallas and had just moved in an apartment upstairs. She was so incredibly friendly and it was her first time practicing yoga there. I thought how cool would be to live right above a yoga studio. She forgot her water and she ran upstairs and was back in two minutes. How cool is that?!
This Vinyasa 101 class was a great class for me and it was so refreshing to focus on the basics. The beginning and the end involved chanting. It was a new experience for me and I truly enjoyed it. I didn't fully participate to begin with because I was listening to the others, but it was very moving to me. Its interesting what the vibration does in the throat. I have never felt that before. I looked up the purpose of chanting and learned that originally chanting was intended as creating sound linking the heart to God. In a sense its praying. It was a great experience and hope to do it again in the future.
Jason did a exceedingly wonderful job by correcting and coaching individuals including myself in our various poses. He was diligent with getting down to the basics, which started with the fundamentals of breathing and went on to plank, cobra, upward dog, and downward dog. Then we went on to sun salutations and of course ending in corpse pose. It was such a wonderful experience with great people and a great instructor. I felt the energy in the room was so energizing. I would go back there in a heart beat and I most certainly hope I go to Philly again soon.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Yoga in Indiana February 22, 2011
So....I'm going to have some catching up to do. I was hoping to do one state a week, but I had a week off and some very short stays in Las Vegas, Seattle, and several other places. I have been practicing yoga in Utah very consistently. I'm still deciding whether I should blog about my yoga practice in Utah or just focus this blog on the different states I go to. If you have any suggestions please comment.
First just let me say, I have had one very relaxing day here in Indianapolis, Indiana. I am always on the go, so I was able to sleep in and not set an alarm, which was so wonderful. I really was in a yoga mood today. Most days I'm in a yoga mood, but today I really was. I looked around for some yoga studios, but I couldn't really justify the cost and it was really cold outside. The one studio that was closest was about a 20 minute walk from my hotel, but by the time I looked at what class was available I would be getting out after dark in a city I don't know really well. So, I decided to practice yoga in my room. I looked at Netflix, but didn't find what I was looking for, so I turned to the internet. I looked up free online yoga videos and just got little teasers, they wanted me to pay the full price to get the full yoga video. I went to the Hulu site and was quite impressed with the array of yoga videos they had for free. I chose the "Exhale: Core Fusion Yoga Energy Flow" http://www.hulu.com/watch/206158/yoga-for-everyone-exhale-core-fusion-yoga-energy-flow led by Elizabeth Halfpapp and Fred DeVito. The Hulu description of the video was to reduce inches, tighten, lift, and tone with this unique combination of yoga, cardio, and core condition. I cranked up the heat in my room to about 85 degrees and grabbed a towel. I still have not bought a yoga traveling mat. I need to do that. Unlike the past videos I watched I really worked up a sweat. The video had me doing push ups before upward dog poses. I need to focus on my arms, so I really enjoyed the extra push ups. During the hulu 30 second commercial I focused on my core with doing full boat poses. If you aren't familiar you can click on this link http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/489. It is great for the core. I think more than anything today I proved to myself that it is possible to enjoy and practice yoga in my room and feel the benefits and rewards of staying with it, even on the road. There is no excuse to not practice yoga. There are so many options to stick with it! I'm proud of myself for taking care of my body today and am feeling the wonderful energy produced from todays practice.
First just let me say, I have had one very relaxing day here in Indianapolis, Indiana. I am always on the go, so I was able to sleep in and not set an alarm, which was so wonderful. I really was in a yoga mood today. Most days I'm in a yoga mood, but today I really was. I looked around for some yoga studios, but I couldn't really justify the cost and it was really cold outside. The one studio that was closest was about a 20 minute walk from my hotel, but by the time I looked at what class was available I would be getting out after dark in a city I don't know really well. So, I decided to practice yoga in my room. I looked at Netflix, but didn't find what I was looking for, so I turned to the internet. I looked up free online yoga videos and just got little teasers, they wanted me to pay the full price to get the full yoga video. I went to the Hulu site and was quite impressed with the array of yoga videos they had for free. I chose the "Exhale: Core Fusion Yoga Energy Flow" http://www.hulu.com/watch/206158/yoga-for-everyone-exhale-core-fusion-yoga-energy-flow led by Elizabeth Halfpapp and Fred DeVito. The Hulu description of the video was to reduce inches, tighten, lift, and tone with this unique combination of yoga, cardio, and core condition. I cranked up the heat in my room to about 85 degrees and grabbed a towel. I still have not bought a yoga traveling mat. I need to do that. Unlike the past videos I watched I really worked up a sweat. The video had me doing push ups before upward dog poses. I need to focus on my arms, so I really enjoyed the extra push ups. During the hulu 30 second commercial I focused on my core with doing full boat poses. If you aren't familiar you can click on this link http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/489. It is great for the core. I think more than anything today I proved to myself that it is possible to enjoy and practice yoga in my room and feel the benefits and rewards of staying with it, even on the road. There is no excuse to not practice yoga. There are so many options to stick with it! I'm proud of myself for taking care of my body today and am feeling the wonderful energy produced from todays practice.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Yoga in Minnesota January 30, 2011
Its Sunday January 30, 2010 and I practiced yoga in my hotel room with the help of Netflix in St. Paul, Minnesota. I downloaded The Trainer's Edge: Long & Lean Yoga with Baron Baptiste and watched it instantly on my laptop. This is the second yoga video I have watched and practiced and it wasn't to bad. I have to say that I like the yoga studio environment better, but this was great since I did not have that option. This video lead me through Vinyasa Yoga, which focuses on breathing, strengthening, and toning. Baron reminded me to breathe through poses when it felt like it was getting to hard, which I appreciated. He also showed a few modifications, which seemed to be helpful and useful. I did not have my yoga mat, so I used a towel instead. I would prefer to bring my yoga mat in the future if I do another video in my room. Hopefully, I can fit into my suitcase. We shall see. I think it will help to have the mat with the different postures I am trying to achieve. Although a bit tired I am so pleased that I took the time to focus on my body and practice yoga.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Yoga in Alaska January 25, 2011
This is the first day of my blog and through the encouragement of my husband, I am very excited to challenge myself to do yoga in 50 states in a years time. I plan to blog about my experiences of practicing yoga in all fifty states. The first state that I am going to start blogging is none other than Alaska. It seems fitting that I start here...
To start with let me share, I have had a wonderful day so far in Anchorage, Alaska. Although very cold out as you might imagine in January it didn't stop me on my mission to find somewhere to practice yoga. There were many options for yoga in Anchorage. I chose to go to the the Alaska Club simply because I figured out how to get there with the help of the Concierge at the hotel I'm staying at. I decided to go to the Hatha Yoga class because it fit into my schedule. For further reference to Hatha Yoga check out the wiki description. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatha_yoga I have not experienced a whole class of Hatha yoga, but I really enjoyed it and the long poses challenged my body and mind. Hannah the instructor was very descriptive about what each of us in the class should be feeling in the body and letting the breath take control of the pose. I found myself getting more into the poses with the deeper breaths that I took.
I decided since I had gone all the that way I should stay and do the Restorative Yoga, which was a little over an hour after the Hatha Yoga class. I decided that the Restorative Yoga would be complementary to the previous class. During my break I found a little cafe that I grabbed lunch and read for a bit. The Restorative Yoga class had about six people in the studio. It was very intimate and it seemed as though Hannah the instructor was able to give individual help because the class was so small. If she saw a students shoulders tense, she would remind us to relax the shoulders or if our jaws were tight, she would remind us to relax the jaw. I found the class to be exactly that Restorative.
Yoga in Alaska was a success and I found it to be very therapeutic and meditative.
To start with let me share, I have had a wonderful day so far in Anchorage, Alaska. Although very cold out as you might imagine in January it didn't stop me on my mission to find somewhere to practice yoga. There were many options for yoga in Anchorage. I chose to go to the the Alaska Club simply because I figured out how to get there with the help of the Concierge at the hotel I'm staying at. I decided to go to the Hatha Yoga class because it fit into my schedule. For further reference to Hatha Yoga check out the wiki description. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatha_yoga I have not experienced a whole class of Hatha yoga, but I really enjoyed it and the long poses challenged my body and mind. Hannah the instructor was very descriptive about what each of us in the class should be feeling in the body and letting the breath take control of the pose. I found myself getting more into the poses with the deeper breaths that I took.
I decided since I had gone all the that way I should stay and do the Restorative Yoga, which was a little over an hour after the Hatha Yoga class. I decided that the Restorative Yoga would be complementary to the previous class. During my break I found a little cafe that I grabbed lunch and read for a bit. The Restorative Yoga class had about six people in the studio. It was very intimate and it seemed as though Hannah the instructor was able to give individual help because the class was so small. If she saw a students shoulders tense, she would remind us to relax the shoulders or if our jaws were tight, she would remind us to relax the jaw. I found the class to be exactly that Restorative.
Yoga in Alaska was a success and I found it to be very therapeutic and meditative.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)