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.