Rooftop Yoga in NYC

@Yo Yoga

10.00am - Rooftop Yoga with Jilda

Queensborough Bridge in the background.

What a cool concept! Yoga on a rooftop in New York City! Doesn't get cooler than that. This studio was up on the 3rd floor, again we had to be buzzed in, right near the Queensborough Bridge on 59th and 1st.  The rooftop area had that squishy green stuff you often see in children's playgrounds and it was a little uneven underfoot which was fine because is just made the balances more challenging. Yay!


Teacher:
Jilda was a lovely young teacher who had just returned from some Teacher Training in India and got so excited about my blog! She began with acknolwedging all of the sounds around us including the birds, to which a little sparrow or something chirped as if on cue, traffic, bridge noise and students around us which was nice. It was just lovely to have that extra element of being outseide. Thankfully it was beautiful and sunny, apaprently there aren't too many classes in the winter months and it was just so nice to be able to adhere to different instructions that actually rang true. For example, "reach your fingertips to the sky" (yes, we actually were!) There were also some funny ones like "push your hips back to the building behind" and "look up, but if the sun's in your eyes, look down". SO COOL!

View for Savasana!

Overall, it was a lovely, simple, Hatha class where she pretty much did all verbal instructions. It was just lovely to do yoga outside listening to the muffled noise of the traffic coming off the Queensborough Bridge below. Finishing in Savasana, she gave us the option of keeping our eyes open to appreciate the sky and get some Vitamin D onto our eyeballs. Brilliant!

Quote: When referring to going into poses, she said:  "Challenge your thought patterns and do something different, that way your body will respond." Wise words. Exactly why we shouldn't do the same type of exercise everyday. Our bodies need to be stimulated and challenged!

Sequence: 
I've just noticed that many of the teachers here, when you first go into Down dog, is that they say "pedal your legs" instead of "walk the dog". Interesting. I thought so anyway!

Coffee: Starbucks on 52nd and 2nd. Yes, I succumbed. I feel bad.

Triangle on a rooftop.