Yay4Yoga: Lotus Flow Yoga in NYC

@Laughing Lotus

12.00pm - Lotus Flow 2 with Dana

There it is!

I don't know where to start! Amazing. Astounding. Phenomenal. Plus any other adjective you can think of describing something you've never experienced before! This class was 100 minutes of sweat, laughter and falling on my ass after a headstand. Good times. Oh and the music...Daft Punk, Timbaland, old school hip hop, everything! Crazy cool!

The yoga studio itself was the kind of thing you'd see in a movie if you imagined a yoga studio in New York. As I was walking along 19th St approaching the corner of West 6th St, I just so happened to look up at a lovely building across the street and saw these amazing big windows with brightly coloured flowers splattered over them. This was it, I thought to myself as I took a picture. That's the thing about New York, you can just take a picture of anything and you instantly know you're in New York city. Incredible place. I eventually found my way upstairs and as soon as I exited the lift, my senses were immediately overworked. I was met with colourful murals, high ceilings, bay windows and the smell of incense. A lovely guy called Cooper welcomed me to the space and was so excited to hear I was form Australia. He then offered me a free pass to come back. Note to self...keep telling people you're writing a blog because they totally give you free stuff! Ahem, is that karma yoga? I'm not really sure of the finer points of the definition.

My new mat ready to go.

So, I looked around a bit at the 3 studios and eventually made my way to the "Dance Hall", where the big painted flowers were and I kid you not, it had a disco ball! What was I getting myself into?! People began to filter in, lining their mats up pretty close together, ah yes, back in New York, and chatted amongst themselves, at a totally NOT yoga studio level ie. very loudly! Most people congregated right up the front around where the infamous Dana Flynn would be teaching, which I thought was interesting because most classes I go to, people start up the back and then filter towards the front. I made sure I got a space next to the big flower windows. Oh there were little love hearts on the ground telling you where you should line up your mats. Man, this was a dream studio. If you ever get to NYC, you must must MUST go here! OMG, she totally had a Harmonium too.

Teacher:

When Dana walked in, some people clapped. She is actually a Celebrity Yoga Teacher! My hero! If I can walk into a room to teach a yoga class and people start clapping, doesn't get any better than that right? Note to self: I'm well aware this will never happen, but a frustrated actress can dream right? Anyway, Dana was wearing these lairy yellow, flower pants, a trucker cap and big dark glasses. She was the epitome of a New York yoga guru. People hung on her every word. It was incredible to see.

She began with 3 oms accompanied by the harpsichord things, with hands at the heart, followed by hands in the air followed by hands on either sides of our mouths for the cosmos. I felt weird. I shared a couple of scared looks with other new people too. But I did appreciate that everyone was in tune and in the last om, some people decided to harmonise, it was beautiful! She repeated it at the end and when we did it again, I wasn't as weirded out, I just totally embraced it.

Sequence:
Again, where do I begin. Let's just say I was sweating profusely after about the first 10 minutes and the class went well over the hour and a half designated timeslot. I guess you can do that when you're the owner right? She began with the oms, a bit of meditation and Nadi Shodhana (alternate nostril breathing). She then cranked the music, starting with Lose Yourself To Dance, Daft Punk's new song and launched into a lovely flow with everything thrown in, plus her own take on the Warrior. She had a few different names for things like, Dancing Warrior and Rainbow Warrior. Oh and she called flipping the Dog, Rockstar, which is the first time I've ever heard that term used in context! I won't go into any more of the class because it was just too much to recall and it was just so packed full of every pose imaginable! It was amazing and I have learnt so much. Mission accomplished!

Oh also interesting to note, was that she had an assistant teacher in the class who was like this gorgeous little, stealth yogini who jumped at the chance of any adjustment. She was a legend. Her name was Latdawan, from Thailand originally and a fully qualified yoga teacher. I don't know if there is any yoga studio in Australia that has the means and resources to provide an assistant yoga teacher. Granted there were close to 40 people in the class so it was kind of necessary. Dana also managed to get around to adjust everyone too, which was great to see and experience. I remember learning at Yoga Teacher Training that you should try and adjust or make contact with each student at least once. Good call.

Quotes:
I also remember on the first day of Yoga Teacher Training, we weren't allowed to talk about politics or religion. I certainly don't want to get into it now either, but Dana was really, very spiritual and referenced God and repeated the same kind of mantra/saying over and over like these ones:

"This is how we swim inward, this is how we float outward, this is how we pray."

"This is how we inhale, this is how we exhale, this is how we pray."

I just found it really interesting how every individual teacher has their own interpretation of "God" and she also really intelligently wove this into the dialogue when we were all struggling to do this sequence of Sirsasana (Headstand) into Pincha Mayurasana (Forearm stand). She asked us if we wanted her to show us and we all nodded enthusiastically. She then laughed and responded with, "well, if you can't see it, it's not real right". What about God then? Show me proof? It was really interesting to listen to her perspective on a spiritual level and cleverly relating it back to the asana practise. Food for thought I guess. On a side note, she did show us the pose, perfectly of course!

Other little gems that just seems to ooze out of her mouth with passion and vigour were things like: "Downward lovin dog", "stretch your amazing legs and your amazing body" and heaps of other cool things I can't remember! She also occasionally said "outhale" instead of "exhale" and would often repeat her "this is how we pray" quote in other contexts which was cool. My favourite part I reckon, was when she kept saying, "free breathing". It was nice to be reminded of our breath, but still have ownership of it. As all of our lungs are different sizes/capacities, it is nearly impossible to breathe at the same rate. I learnt that in yoga school. Aren't you proud Mum?

I can't really do this whole experience justice in words. If you ever get the opportunity to do a class with her, DO IT! She's coming to Australia in a few months I think. Sydney, Melbs and Brisbane, so I'm going to try and do another one of her classes.

Best things I learnt:
Have fun, be loud and fall over! Listen to different types of music and don't be afraid to laugh at yourself and others. We are all family. She would refer to all of us as family which was really quite nice. Especially so given the context of a big city like New York. I thought it was a bit weird to start with...again...so quick to judge I am! But I put myself in the shoes of someone who has perhaps just moved to New York and doesn't know anyone. What a nice, welcoming way to be introduced to yoga and the city? As family.

Man, Dana Flynn is an absolute legend.