Yoga Class at the Sivananda Yoga Center
Took a class at the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center last night. I guess Sivananda Yoga is not considered trendy or flashy these days, being “classical yoga” and all that, but still, I wonder why more people don’t take the classes there. With a $35/year membership, drop-in classes are only $10. This is insanely cheap for Los Angeles!
You don’t get “name” teachers at Sivananda, and heck, they don’t even put the names of the teachers on the schedule, but I have yet to take a class with a bad teacher there. The classes are so small (sometimes only a few people) that you always get individual attention and some nice adjustments.
Last night, the teacher gave me a nice push in plow until I got a bit nervous; she came back and set me up with pillows for my feet. Try getting that in a class of 50 people. I went farther and deeper in a bunch of poses thanks to the adjustments.
I guess for some these classes are not strenuous enough, but really, I consider headstand and any number of classical poses to be tough enough without the variations. Once you master them, then you get to try all the alternative versions. Unless you can go into full lotus while doing a headstand, I don’t think you can say that headstand isn’t challenging enough.
Best part? You get to do sivasana between poses. I love that.