final post

Each week, beginning the second week of the semester, I have attended a yoga class. Each class was different from one another and during some weeks I participated in two yoga classes. Week to week the classes varied and the times that I could attended them changed as well.I usually atteneded late at night or very early. Throughout practice I learned many different types of yoga along with learning them in this class. I have now taken over 12 yoga classes and participated in Ashtanga, Bikram, Viniyoga, Flow, Yin, Sivananda, and Iyengar yoga. I most often practiced yin yoga, or classes that were labeled begginers, flow, and hot yoga. I have gained  knowledge of the benefits of yoga along with insight into what a “yoga community” is like.

During My first practice, I talked about the atmosphere of the area I was practicing in which was in your studio in vetnor. I was only able to attend your studio once because of how far it was from me and the way my schedule was during the crazy last semester of college.  

This excerpt from my first post became one of the most predominate parts of my practice because this was the space that I practiced in most often even though I mostly attended grow studio. I liked your studio because it was small and some rooms in grow were the same size.

In class everyone was able to experience the different types of yoga to see what we liked and how we each reflected on it. Bikram yoga was one of my favorite forms of practice. In my journal entry , I talked about how I enjoy a more physical practice and I liked the intentions that Bikram yoga has for the body. Bikram constantly had my attention and I enjoyed the instructor we had for class so much. The poses in Bikram is the main focus of practice, after my experience Bikram was focused solely on the physical practice and how much an individual could push themselves instead of working on breathing techniques. I observed the main focuses of Bikram to be perfection and focus.” The poses were challenging, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Compared to hot yoga and  Yin class Bikram was a workout and I could feel my muscles working hard. It reminded me of the hot yoga that I do because it’s quick and I enjoyed the more physical practice because I felt that I had more of a purpose for participating in practice.

            Next in class we talked about yoga as a ritual. Ritual practice is basically something that is done every day or month or year. It could be a tradition or something simple like brushing your teeth. For me, I didn’t think yoga would continue to be part of my ritual just because I was not that interested in it as I kept doing it. It’s something that I enjoy doing once in a while or when I feel like I need to relax like yin yoga. I enjoy going to the gym more or running.  We all discussed how yoga practice for some individuals is a ritual because it can mark a state of transition in a person. Although I witnessed transitions in my friends I did not feel a huge transition myself. I became more flexible and relaxed though practice but that was about it. I have danced my whole life so I have always had that flexibility regardless.

I did not make any huge transitions through yoga, but I did learn a lot. Ashtanga was another one of my favorite types of yoga. The practice that we had in class was not completely traditional however I had a great experience learning some of the asanas in the traditional sequences. Ashtanga, along with Bikram sculpts the body; However, Ashtanga adds along the importance of breath with their poses and Bikram does not. I think that Ashtanga may be another one of my favorite types of practice because it is relaxing but also physically demanding.

             

            Overall, as I reflect on my yoga practice as a whole I realize the progress I have made and the different things that I have learned. Going into this class I thought that yoga was yoga and there were not different types. I learned that not only are there different types of yoga but different goals for each type. I also have learned that yoga is influenced highly by pop-culture in America, that’s why yoga is thought of as mostly a physical practice. In the east yoga is mostly spiritual and they practice it almost as a form of religion. Yoga to me is a physical practice that can be spiritual if you meditate along with practice. Each person sets the standards of their own practice and it is what you do that influences how you view yoga.

Weekly Practice Journals: Theme: Pranayama & Practice: -How is pranayama taught/practiced in your practice space(s)? What is the purpose of breath work in your practice space? Is breath the "focus"of your practice? Explain why it is, or is not.

I wouldn't say that breathe work is really a major part of my practice. Like i mentioned in previous blogs, I mostly go to hot yoga but sometimes i switch it up when i am able to or when it is offered at a time i am available. I only am able to go really early in the morning or the latest class they offer which is usually 8/ 8:30. I love night classes especially when I do yin yoga. Doing yin yoga after a stressful day is my favorite, it's so relaxing and just so rewarding I don't even know how to explain it. Depending on who the teacher is sometimes we focus on breath more than usual. I personally don't like breathe work because I feel like i cant hold my breathe as long as most people in the class do. I don't know why, i feel like I always had this problem for as long as i remember.

In class meditation

In class Marcello came in and did some meditation with us and I loved it. I have tried meditating before and it never really worked on me because I did not allow it to. During some counseling appointments I have had in the past, the counselors have tried doing some meditation practices with me and at the time I was just not allowing my body to relax. For some reason in class It really worked on me. I don't know if it was because I was already so tired or because I have been very stressed out lately my body was like " ok gab come on chill out for a few minutes" but whatever the case was I really enjoyed it. I found myself in such a deep relaxation I dont think I've ever felt that way before.

Due: Weekly Practice Journals: Theme: Yoga as “meditation”: -Is yoga used as a form of meditation in your practice space(s)? If so, how is meditation practiced? explained? If not, why do you believe meditation is absent from your "yoga" practice?

I would say that meditation is used as part of my practice. Like I have said in my past posts, I do hot yoga alot so I would say that we usually do a little bit of meditation toward the end when we are down sweating everything out of our bodies. I love that part of the practice. I feel so rewarded after I worked so hard for 90 minutes.

Definitions of Yoga

I practice Hot yoga more than other practices just because that is what has my interest. Sometimes when I had a very stressful day and don't feel like sweating and dying I'll do something that is more on the meditation, spiritual side. During the Hot yoga I feel like yoga isn't being defined at all as it is in the other classes I have taken. I would say that it is defined as breathing and spirituality whereas hot yoga you arent really focusing on that, you are more focused on not dying. Well i am atleast.

Sivananda Yoga with Jenn

Well.. I did a headstand, so that was fun! I enjoyed this practice although one thing that I kind of disliked about it was the repetition. It definitely warmed up my body and had my heart racing which was the point but I was just counting down til we stopped doing the forward bend, right leg forward, high plank and so on. I really liked when we started getting into the different poses, it reminded me of the other practice we did with Loren, Ashtanga. Jenn was very calm and I liked her personality. The main focus of this practice is preserving the health and wellness. I found this practice very similiar to ashtanga but the difference was that ashtanga is more of an athletic training whereas Sivananda is more focused on relaxation, and full breathing.

Yoga as a lifestyle and culture

I noticed that yoga has been evolving from "traditional yoga" to "pop culture" by taking traditional yoga and adding things that will attract a younger crowd. All over social media I have been seeing ridiculous yoga practices, but they are one's that would attract me and my friends. The one I recently saw was "brewery yoga". Most of the classes that I have seen have been located in Philadelphia or New York. They are probably located in big cities because usually a younger crowd live in those areas. I have also seen puppy yoga which I love animals so that definitely caught my attention but also I thought it was a little odd. Yoga is suppose to be a stress free environment and as much as I love dogs, 30 puppies running around and most likely shitting in the yoga studio sounds like an anxiety attack to me?

yoga as healing

This week was a stressful one. After having one of the worst weeks I have had in a while and still attending kickboxing to distract my mind I needed a relaxing, meditation class. I have been doing classes that I really needed to focus on my movements or atleast I put too much pressure on myself to try so hard to be perfect at each pose. I have taking yin yoga before and I remember blogging about it and saying how "boring" it was. Taking Yin this week really made me realize how important of a class it is. This type of yoga is used frequently by people trying to heal themselves from injuries or whatever the issue is. My instructor told me before about how she is a physical therapist and she had a hip or knee injury and had a much better recovery starting yin yoga rather than doing the therapy. I have heard many healng stories and I was skeptical at first but I kind of agree with everyone. I, somebody who has alot of mental health problems really benefit from all aspects of yoga. I need to go more than once a week but my schedule does not always allow me too, but I try to go twice a week as much as I can.

Practice 5 sense of community

I think the environment really has such a huge impact on no matter what you do, yoga, kickboxing, dance, and so on. Along with my yoga practice I also attend kickboxing twice a week. I usually try to do yoga at the end of the week to relax and stretch my sore muscles but it all depends on my work schedule and when I am able to go. I have been going on the weekend in the morning. yoga is my time to relax and really stretch and engage in the breathing. the enviorment has an impact on how my practice goes. fpr example when we practice in the classroom I don't feel as engaged as i do at an actual studio. But what i did notice is that on thursday we were all laughing and sweating and struggling together. That made the enviorment. When i go to a studio i usually don't know anybody or talk to other people everybody is quiet and we just go about our practice and go home after.

Ashtanga Practice/ 2/22

Wow! This is one of my favorite classes we have done so far. I really liked lauren, she was full of energy and had such a positive attitude. I think I loved this class the most because I really struggled which is weird i would think that if i struggled with something that it would not be enjoyable. But I found it fun that I could not accomplish some of the poses because it makes me want to work harder towards them. Although I have been going once a week (sometimes twice if i have the time) to different yoga classes, after doing this class with lauren I really want to get more flexible and challenge myself. In the other classes that I have taken like power yoga, I now can peice all of the poses together. I remember in my first class I knew nothing about yoga and the instructor was saying "ok half fold, chaturanga, upward dog, downward dog, at a quick pace." I now know where they came from. I did not realize that ashtanga is in other types of yoga. I liked how the different deep stretches at the end really opened me up compared to when i first started.

Practice as ritual

Based on my understanding of Nervin's article I understood that Ritual is the surroundings during a practice. I think rituals are very important and can completely change someone's outlook on their yoga experience. I know that when I first attended yoga I loved the positive quotes on the wall, the smell of the candles burning, the pretty lights hanging on the pretty colored wall and so on.

I think that the ritual can really change your experience. I always wanted to attend the free yoga practices held on campus, but I remember going to one of my friend's sorority's free yoga classes in the lodge and I hated it. I don't know if I hated it because of the instructor, or if I was just bored, or if I just totally wasn't interested in all. I remember being all the way in the back because the lodge was filled with girls trying to be quite and listen to this instructor who we could barely hear. I remember they had some music on but the lights were on and there was no other decorations or anything like an actual yoga studio. My point is maybe the ritual space had something to do with my experience at the lodge or it was myself not engaging in the practice?

Iyengar Yoga

This week we practiced Iyengar by Annie. Annie was sweet and a good instructor but from what I read Iyengar instructors are suppose to be tougher. I had Annie as an instructor before at Yoga nine and her calmness and positivity was a great aspect of the class. I enjoyed this practice although my balance was all over the place. The poses in a real class are suppose to be help from 5-10 minutes whereas we only held them for about 1 minute where I felt like it was way longer. 

Yoga practice 3

This week was tough finding time to do Yoga, expecially because I was so sore after the Bikram practice we did in class. I had to wait until today to do my weekly practice because of how sore I was. The only available class near me to take were Hot yoga and I know my body would not like me after that. I waited till I felt a little better to do the Hot yoga. I attended the one in Galloway at Grow yoga. I have done it three times before there all with different instructors. This girl was very energetic and always making comments about life that were uplifting. Sometimes throughout the practice she was say things like " forget about your life issues right now and focus on you, this is all about you and your health."

I think that since Yoga has become so popular with college kids getting into Hot yoga that people see it as just a workout. I think that people only practicing Hot yoga feel that way though. For me, I do a little bit of everything and I find it relaxing but I also feel like I'm doing my body a favor with taking care of my stress, stretching my body and ect.

Bikram practice

On Thursday we practiced in class which I loved doing. Doing the actual practice instead of having a normal class was a nice switch up. I read a little about Bikram from the website before I attended class and it was very helpful. I fully knew what to expect out of the practice. The instructor Chris was very nice and positive even though some of us could not do certain poses. I am still sore from that practice and it has been 4 days since. I think out of all the different types of yoga that I have tried so far Bikram is my favorite. I feel like I got alot out of that class and I really want to go to one of his classes with the heat.

Week 2 of my yoga practice

I wanted to try a different Yoga studio called Yoga inspired in Mullica Hill. Mullica Hill is near where my family is from. My sister has been to this studio a few times before and told me how much she loved the instructors and atmosphere. I attended the saturday morning class because that was the only one that worked out with my busy school and work schedule. There was three other people in the class with me, most women around my age. The studio is up in this little loft area above an old bank, it was a little difficult to find but worth it after all the confusion. It was painted a soft sky blue and had candles lit with relaxing decorations, magical windows and sting lights hanging from the wall. The yoga instructor was very welcoming at 9 am and explained to me right off the back her experience and yoga training. My instructor was this middle-aged woman named Janet and she is awesome! She has a cool backround of traveling the world with different jobs that she held but she said yoga was always there for her when she returned. She became a certified yoga teacher through yoga alliance with 200 hour training. I enjoyed this class because she opened up to us and when people do that it automatically makes me feel comfortable with a person.

This week I tried to find a type of yoga i have not tried yet so i chose Ashtanga. I thought this class focused more on the breathing and enlongating each pose. She explained more about what each pose was and how to properly do that pose. I have been to other classes where the instructor did not explain thoroughly about a certain pose maybe because it was an advanced class. I took in the new atmophere and the people surrounding me and learned from everything. I definitely will be attending there again I had a very positive experience.

Yoga practice day 1

Day 1:I  attended my first Yoga class of the semester at YogaNine studio in Vetnor. I absolutely loved the atmosphere. I took the class called All levels Yoga. It is a beginners class but I wouldn't necessarily say i'm a beginner. I took some classes here and there at Grow yoga in Galloway. I have taken Hot yoga and Yin yoga before. I love Hot yoga because I felt like just jumping into an intermediate class helped me learn and grow more than taking a slow class at first. I now want to focus on the breathing and really accentuating the different posses.  The class I took in vetnor was definitely a slower class than hot yoga which honestly kind of bored me. At 9 am I felt like the class was putting me to sleep which makes sense because I was completely engaging in the meditation end of it. I have taken Yin before like I mentioned and I enjoyed it because it was after a very stressful long day, I was very sore from working out prior that week so the instructor really helped me stretch my sore legs and back out. I am excited to see how this yoga experience changed my outlook on Yoga.