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Tuesday, September 26, 2006

happy yoga

yesterday, the end of my first day on the job found me stopping by black dog yoga in sherman oaks before heading home. trying to make the trek across the 101 during rush hour to catch a 6pm anusara class seemed almost impossible, especially since i couldn't leave the office until after 5pm. but the traffic gods smiled down upon me and granted me an evening of joyful heart-centered yoga with camilla bergstrom.

i've always enjoyed anusara yoga, mainly because i never know what's going to happen in class (although i can always count on experiencing a mild panic attack when i have to do the requisite handstand). there is always an emphasis on something different each time, which means that if i were to take an anusara class everyday for a month, the chances of my doing the exact same sequence of poses in two different classes would be pretty remote. of course, i've never tried doing 30 days straight of nothing but anusara (or 30 days straight of any other style of yoga), but you get the idea. there's never a dull moment.

camilla started the class by talking about the "dive deeper" workshop she and peter barnett had taught over the weekend and how all the attendees (including one who was in our class that evening) learned how to go deeper into their meditation, their breathing, and their asanas. it seemed to me that she had decided to carry that theme over to our class; we were instructed to bend, twist, stretch, and lunge deeper. it also seemed like she spent a lot of time focusing on backbends; we had to reach back while we were in extended side angle, in triangle, and in side plank. we were asked to do not three, not four, but six upward bow, or wheel, poses. and although i was somewhat able to keep up, i was exhausted by the time we started winding down our practice.

so it was much welcome comic relief when, shortly before coming to rest in savasana, she asked us to go into a hip-opener that she jokingly referred to as the "happy boyfriend". i'll leave it up to your imagination to figure that out... and i can only wonder what the guys in class were thinking while they were doing it!

see? just more proof that yoga is good for you :) by the way, i don't think i'll ever be able to do that pose again without stifling a smile...

anusara yoga. gotta love it!