Yoga class with Yoga Joe.
Ack! My arms and shoulders are so sore today! I'm so glad I ended up getting a membership at Urban Breath Yoga after my 30 for 30 with Katie and Sammy was up. I've been going twice a week all summer, which, between pottery, friends, weddings, my summer job, prepping for teaching, and doing my own research work, was about all I've had time for (it's been a full summer!), but I can tell it's been really good for me.
I really like the teacher. He's a middle aged guy who calls himself "Yoga Joe" and he structures his classes very well. I've taken enough bad yoga classes (or bad yoga videos) to know when a flow doesn't work for me, or isn't put together well. I usually notice it if I'm laying in shavasana and my body (usually my back) hurts or is too uncomfortable to lay there. That's a bad practice. But he does a really nice job of offering counter-poses to everything we do, so at the end of practice you don't feel like you overworked any part of your body to an unbalanced, uncomfortable level.
I like that each session is always focused on a different part of the body. I particularly enjoy days that are about hip openers or spinal twists, because I'm very flexible in my hips and back. I don't enjoy classes that are about forward bends, or anything that reminds me how painfully inflexible my hamstrings are, even though I know those classes are really good for me. I have gone through phases from time to time over the last few years where I'll do a series of stretches before bed each night, and after a few months I can touch my toes and grab my feet with relative ease, so I know it's possible, but then I get lazy and don't keep up with it and in a few weeks I'm back to not even reaching my ankles again. But going to yoga twice a week has made me want to keep up with my stretching, since I know I'll see results. I'm also hoping to help strengthen my wrists and forearms, to finally strengthen and fix my left wrist, which I injured and then babied for years, and now when I do yoga I notice my right wrist and arm overcompensating to make up for the weak left one. Time to get over that. It feels SO good to be moving and stretching and challenging myself physically after basically a year of inactivity.
I think I like yoga because it's a sneaky workout. Most of the time, the practice doesn't feel too hard, just good, and then I wake up the next day and am like "AH, what the hell!" - surprisingly sore. There's only been a handful of classes that were really difficult, where I felt my muscles shaking most of the class. (After one particularly hard Thursday class Sammy and I went out for a pitcher of Sangria, to laugh about our pathetic shaking muscles - hilarious!) Joe says that you shouldn't struggle in yoga - that the goal is to be strong, yet soft. I like that he always is reminding us as we go into poses to soften them, to reduce effort, while maintaining the strength of that pose. He has a good energy and a super relaxing voice, which I appreciate. He's also rather amusing, and doesn't take it all too seriously - like, when we were doing half moon pose, he was like "really feel the beauty of the pose - but, when your body has had enough beauty, gently come out of it."
Earlier in the summer, I had Katie and Sammy coming to yoga with me fairly regularly. I don't know if they'll keep up with it with me after they get back from their respective vacations, but that's okay. I'm glad to be doing this for myself and I think it will be really good for me to continue during the upcoming academic year.
I really like the teacher. He's a middle aged guy who calls himself "Yoga Joe" and he structures his classes very well. I've taken enough bad yoga classes (or bad yoga videos) to know when a flow doesn't work for me, or isn't put together well. I usually notice it if I'm laying in shavasana and my body (usually my back) hurts or is too uncomfortable to lay there. That's a bad practice. But he does a really nice job of offering counter-poses to everything we do, so at the end of practice you don't feel like you overworked any part of your body to an unbalanced, uncomfortable level.
I like that each session is always focused on a different part of the body. I particularly enjoy days that are about hip openers or spinal twists, because I'm very flexible in my hips and back. I don't enjoy classes that are about forward bends, or anything that reminds me how painfully inflexible my hamstrings are, even though I know those classes are really good for me. I have gone through phases from time to time over the last few years where I'll do a series of stretches before bed each night, and after a few months I can touch my toes and grab my feet with relative ease, so I know it's possible, but then I get lazy and don't keep up with it and in a few weeks I'm back to not even reaching my ankles again. But going to yoga twice a week has made me want to keep up with my stretching, since I know I'll see results. I'm also hoping to help strengthen my wrists and forearms, to finally strengthen and fix my left wrist, which I injured and then babied for years, and now when I do yoga I notice my right wrist and arm overcompensating to make up for the weak left one. Time to get over that. It feels SO good to be moving and stretching and challenging myself physically after basically a year of inactivity.
I think I like yoga because it's a sneaky workout. Most of the time, the practice doesn't feel too hard, just good, and then I wake up the next day and am like "AH, what the hell!" - surprisingly sore. There's only been a handful of classes that were really difficult, where I felt my muscles shaking most of the class. (After one particularly hard Thursday class Sammy and I went out for a pitcher of Sangria, to laugh about our pathetic shaking muscles - hilarious!) Joe says that you shouldn't struggle in yoga - that the goal is to be strong, yet soft. I like that he always is reminding us as we go into poses to soften them, to reduce effort, while maintaining the strength of that pose. He has a good energy and a super relaxing voice, which I appreciate. He's also rather amusing, and doesn't take it all too seriously - like, when we were doing half moon pose, he was like "really feel the beauty of the pose - but, when your body has had enough beauty, gently come out of it."
Earlier in the summer, I had Katie and Sammy coming to yoga with me fairly regularly. I don't know if they'll keep up with it with me after they get back from their respective vacations, but that's okay. I'm glad to be doing this for myself and I think it will be really good for me to continue during the upcoming academic year.