There’s this nice, semi-slick website that is offering free daily yoga videos for free. (Eventually, they will charge a fee for accessing the archives.) It’s called Yoga Today. I just heard about it so I will try some videos and report back to you later! But this online yoga thing is definitely the future of home yoga, that’s for certain.
It’s quite refreshing to find a yoga class in Los Angeles that isn’t all about powering through postures these days. Shari’s Yoga for Women class is a welcome respite from all the athletic yoga that seems to be dominating the current landscape. It’s a class that can appeal to women of all levels; it involves a great deal of awareness, breathing, and slow adjustments into the postures. Don’t let that fool you: You can still work up a sweat during the class.
Why is the class for women? Because Shari takes the time to work on female problem areas, including the reproductive system.
Her style is gentle and filled with fluid language. The class attracts young and old women, some of whom are not in the typical yoga shape that you see plastered all over yoga magazines. What’s great is that this class can be extremely beneficial and accessible to women with limited mobility. This is the kind of yoga I actually was attracted to when I started it back in the 90s and was looking for something to help my chronic fatigue syndrome.
For some used to powering through flows, this class might seem a bit on the slow side. I’m actually grateful to take a little time and sit in a posture to really practice it with awareness. A woman I met in class once said Shari was the best yoga teacher she’s ever had. This class means a lot to those who take it regularly.
Shari is on vacation until January 10; when she returns I assume she’ll be back on her regular schedule of 10 am Tuesdays and Thursdays at Your Neighborhood Studio in Culver City.
My friend got two free tickets to the sold out Krishna Das concert in Los Angeles last night, hurrah. It was at the YogaWorks in Larchmont Village. The place was totally packed wall-to-wall with yoga people, sitting directly on the floor with perhaps a cushion or blanket. We lucked out and got a spot on the raised platform near the wall – the poor guys in front of us were older and saying that sitting without chairs was really not happening for them at their age.
I have not heard Krishna Das in concert before but he was terrific; a beautiful soulful deep gravelly voice and a sense of humor. I’m still a bit torn on the kirtan thing because when the songs go on repetitively for 15-20 minutes a piece I find myself itching for something more, I’m not sure what. But the band was good and the vibe was nice. They also passed out sheets with the chants written out, thank goodness. Overall, a huge thumbs up.
Andres is a young and exceptional yoga teacher who has started a special Pink Floyd yoga event called “Yoga Side of the Moon” at Power Yoga in Santa Monica. During the class, the yoga flow is synchronized to the full “Dark Side of the Moon” album by Pink Floyd.
I got a chance to go on Saturday night, where we were met with candles and some kirtan. In the dark, candle-lit room, we were guided through a strenuous yoga flow that culminated in the perfect sivasana as the album wound down to the final heartbeat. Then Andres led some kirtan. This was a fun event, and donation-based, so very accessible for all. If you’re not up for a strenuous flow, come by for the vibe: My friend did not go through the entire power flow series but still loved the event.
If you are interested, you’ll probably want to email Andres to get notified of the next one, since they don’t put it on the normal schedule.
Sometimes it’s hard to get to yoga class, and even putting in a DVD can be a bit time consuming. Start learning some simple yoga flows so you can do a full yoga routine by yourself without anyone directing you.
You can find many books with diagrams or learn some yoga routines in class or via DVD. A simple standing flow could include something like:
Warrior I – Warrior II – Reverse Warrior – Warrior II
To do both sides, you would connect this series with a “vinyasa.” The vinyasa is simply:
Plank – Chaturanga – Upward Dog – Downward Dog
(This is where the term “vinyasa flow” comes from.)
So you would do the vinyasa between the left and right sides. Do the flow three times and then add in whatever seated poses or backbends you like. Voila! Home yoga!
Read the rest of “Yoga Flow at Home” »
I was getting some pictures taken in Rancho Palos Verdes yesterday. In the quest for a cool “yoga pose” my friend came up with the idea to have me balancing on a large, somewhat pointy, and not very level rock that was in the midst of a rocky shoreline. We’re talking things like Warrior III.
Now, I suppose we could blame him for this, except I was the idiot who had enough confidence in my balance poses to try it. I tried to shift my leg to the outside for aesthetic reasons and took a dive off the rock. Something to be said for surfing skills: From surfing in coral reefs I have this strange eye for finding landing zones amidst pointy protrusions and other hazards. I managed to navigate my way down between a bunch of rocks to some extremely rough pebbles. I could have easily broken a limb or two; instead, I bruised my big toe. It is now quite swollen and purple, but thankfully not broken. Hopefully the pictures will come out and I’ll have something exceptionally cool to show for my troubles…
This has been the week of the great Southern California fires. While I do not live directly in a fire zone, I am still affected here in West Los Angeles.
On Monday, it seemed like “just another” Malibu fire. You can see the smoke from this fire in the photo I have included with this story. It is pretty thick but mostly blowing out to sea.
Tuesday things got worse, but it wasn’t until Wednesday that all the smoke from San Diego traveled up to LA. The sky was a dingy white and filled with smoke. It was over 90 degrees in West Los Angeles. They were recommending that people don’t open their windows and just run a/c to filter out the smoke. I had no air conditioning (don’t usually need it) and I work from home. It occurred to me later that maybe I should have sought refuge in a movie theater or something, but my brain was too addled.
I couldn’t work so I read a bit and napped. My lungs were burning slightly and my throat was a bit sore.
In the early evening I went to yoga class. It was 80 degrees in the room but refreshing compared to the blistering smoky heat I had been in all day. The teacher slowed things down for us – everyone was suffering from the smoke. I noticed immediately that the smoke reduced my breathing capacity and stamina. I honestly wonder how smokers live their lives when they put so much poison in their lungs.
Now it’s Friday and the winds have shifted – there’s a sea breeze now. It’s cooler and much welcomed, except some of that smoke is blowing back onto LA. From my window, however, I can see the first real blue sky I’ve seen since Tuesday, peeking out from the smoke clouds.
I’ve been meaning to try Saul David Raye’s yoga class for a while now – he does teacher training at Exhale and thought he might be a good complement to Shiva Rea. I finally got a chance to go to one of his classes on Sunday morning to meet two friends.
On the positive: Saul leads a wonderfully spiritual, meditative class that includes a smidgen of kirtan and a lot of soul. He is a healer and I definitely want to take some teacher training from him at some point.
On the negative: Don’t go to a weekend class at Exhale when there’s yoga teacher training. Saul’s class was so packed that people were practically practicing on the walls. I got there late and was smushed in next to the cubbies. Exhale seems to have this policy of letting everyone in even when they are clearly over capacity. There has to be some fire regulation they are breaking here.
The Powers That Be there really need to limit the number of people allowed in a single class or get a bigger space. It’s not right to be paying $17 for a drop-in class to be stuck up against a wall where you can’t even raise your arms alongside yourself.
I am continually reminded that while I love the teachers at Exhale, I don’t love the management.
Despite that, I was mostly able to navigate the confines of my mat to get a good workout in. But next time, I will attend his weekday classes.
Some video highlights from the Global Mala Project…Gurmukh rockin’ the house:
The 108 Sun Salutations (which I missed since I was volunteering):
The best part, the Yoga Trance Dance with DJ Cheb I Sabbah (I am dancing with the red umbrella!):
I went to the Los Angeles Convention Center yesterday for the Global Mala Project. Unfortunately, there was a terrible rainstorm, which in Los Angeles is enough to keep people from driving. (They should have done what I did, which was take the bus.) So the turnout, especially in the beginning of the day, was decent, but not the mobbed atmosphere I was expecting. In some respects, that’s a good thing. Who wants to be in a place so crowded you can’t breathe? Yet, it did feel like the energy wasn’t quite as vibrant and as exciting as it could have been.
Read the rest of “Good Times at the Global Mala Project” »
