ollieyoga

I decided to skip racing this morning to take a class at the Downtown Yoga Center. Prior to the class, I ran on my own and managed to have time for a quick shower.

The class was different than what I was used to. The pace was slow, slow, slow. We took a good long while to get warmed up and we didn't do that many poses. But we stayed for a good long time in the balance poses (tree); in fact my hips and calves started to quiver. We also did crow (kakasna) and the instructor (Tammy) had us squat, go up on the toes, and then go into crow.

It made a difference, and I held it much longer than I ever have before.

As far at the instructor: she was your classical beautiful yoga diva; slender but strong, long pony tail, radiant smile, soft but firm voice, compelte with the bare middrift and low hip hugging, baggy pants. Since there were few of us, she had time to make adjustments for all of us.



Also, she made a subtle adjustment to my hips in "revolved wide leg forward bend" (Parivrrta Prasarita Padottanasana): the idea is that I have to keep my hips "level" rather than letting one hip go up and the other down.



One other note: I have to admit that I thought to myself: "ok, I am going to a real yoga studio now; this is going to be a very different experience." It was, to some degree. The breathing was more emphasised and we did some "oohms" at the end.

But, well, I've yet to find a yoga teacher any better than my regular one. No wonder her evening classes are usually full!

It is kind of interesting that I merely stumbled into a class with an excellent teacher on my first day; I couldn't have done any better had I done hours and hours of research beforehand.

Yes, my teacher for today's class is very good, but so is my regular teacher.