Accidental Yoga in NYC

@Yogaworks 

7.15am - Yoga Blend (Restorative) with Cathy

Hilarious! So, off I went on another lovely jog through Central Park today with the intention of dropping into Yogaworks to pick up my brand new Acai Manduka Travel Yoga Mat! I just assumed that there would be someone at Reception, which seems to be the norm here. Anyway, I buzzed my way in and made it up the stairs, only to be met with a class just beginning and the teacher quietly coming over saying quick, we've just started, sign in here etc etc. I totally wasn't going to do a class for a number of reasons, my body is really starting to fatigue, I'd had no dinner last night so I was starving and I was due to do quite a difficult class later today in Brooklyn!  I felt really bad though for interrupting class, so I quickly grabbed a mat and set myself up. Off Iwent into the class still all flustered and wet, oh did I mention it was now pouring with rain outside. New York people legitimately wear gumboots when it rains. It's so friggin cool!

Teacher:

Cathy was a slightly more mature lady who had obviously just returned from India and was saying that the weather was exactly the same! We started with some nice breathing and meditation, sitting on a block in Virasana (Seated warrior) which was nice, although, my head was all over the place! We then did a nice Bidalasana (Cat/Cow) which she called Up Cat and Down Cat which I thought was interesting. Then into a nice gentle Salute to the Sun with a Triangle and Extended side angle thrown in. Again, her teaching style was more verbal, as had been common for all the teachers I've had in New York thus far, but she was more hands on with her adjustment. When she corrected my alignment in side angle pose, she gave me a thumbs up and got really excited saying "well done, good job" accompanied by a little hand pump. Go Cathy!  It really is nice to get that positive reinforcement so I am definitely going to take that with me when I teach. OOh ooh, I almost forgot. The best part of her teaching was Tadasana (Mountain Pose)! When I was at Yoga Camp (Teacher Training), one of the ways I remember the Sanskrit name for Mountain Pose, was to call it: Tadaaaaaaasana! She did exactly that! It made me smile so much! YAy for Tadaaaaaasana! She then got us to really feel the pose and rotate our arms out so we were standing in the typical anatomical position and then rotate our forearms (radius and ulna) back into towards the body with palms then facing our body, It really was effective in keeping our shoulders open. Overall, she was a lovely teacher whom I felt safe with.

Sequence:

One of the best feelings I've had in a yoga class so far has to be this pose. We were doing preparation for Sirsasana (Headstand) and she got us to move our mats to the wall (ooh ooh, BYCApril 2013 Yogis...did you guys always get that awkward feeling when we had to get the students to move to the wall with all the props etc? I did! This was totally the same thing we did in training, but somehow, it felt far less awkward! YAy for no more awkwardness!). We then faced the wall, clasped our hands with fingers touching the wall, then formed the triangle with our forearms, ready for Headstand. We then walked our feet towards our head, hips towards the ceiling and our partners, oh mine was a funny, gay, latino man, let's called him Fernando, well, he had to put the block between my thoracic (upper back) and the wall. We then kept our feet on the ground, pressed our backs into the wall and pushed up out of our shoulder sockets. It was possibly one of the best feelings I've EVER had...EVER! Gah. Amazing. I will definitely be adding this to my repertoire. Yay!

Anyway, after class, I thanked Cathy, she gave me her card, was excited about my blog like all of the teachers have been so far, and I finally got my new mat!

Coffee: Again, Starbucks...I'm so sorry. It really is tough to get good coffee here. Ima keep searching!

Before...

After! Just a bit of a Tree Pose in Central Park.