Hot Yoga in Newcastle

@ The Yoga Loft                           10.00am – Hot Power Yoga with Ariane

By far, this is one of the best views I’ve seen from a yoga room.  I managed to take a sneaky picture before class started, but I don’t really think it does it justice. You could see the ocean all the way to the left of the window as well. Anyway, you’ll just have to go there yourself and check it out!

View of Newcastle Beach to the right and Fort Scratchley on the left.

The room was set at 32 degrees Celsius and stocked with heaps of bolsters, blocks, mats etc.  As my addiction to hot yoga continues, it was nice to be back in a heated room. At the moment, in my hometown, I’m going through a Bikram phase. Come on. We’ve all been there right?  So, I decided to at least give hot yoga a go whilst I was here. I chose this one merely because the time suited me, but there are several other hot yoga class in Newy which I’ll do next time around.

Ariane was a really professional, straight forward, hardcore, zero body fat yoga teacher.  The professionalism in her delivery was evident, despite the fact she said she'd been up the night before with a sick child.  I really like it when yoga teachers share a little bit about themselves, it makes them seem more human!

Excellent signage!

She did about a million Vinyasas during the class which was exhausting and exhilarating at the same time.  I thought it was very poignant that the end of the class, right before Savasaana, a couple of FA18 Hornets flew overhead several times, obviously doing circuits on the nearby Air Force Base, reflecting the firepower we’d just created within ourselves. (Man, if that’s not a bloody good metaphor, I don’t know what is!)

Sequence: Parivrtta Parsvottanasana (Reversed extended side angle) / windmill the arms to Virabadrasana II (Warrior 2) / cartwheel the arms to high lunge but leave outer hand up / Reverse 3-legged dog / Khumbakasana (Plank) / through a Vinyasa / Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana (Standing Split) / Ardho Mukha Vrksasana (Handstand) / Phew!

Quote: “Shake your asanas out!” (said after a particularly lengthily held Utkatasana)

Coffee: Three Monkeys, Darby Street.