10/16 Iyengar Yoga

     We took this Iyengar practice with Amita over Zoom for a little over an hour. This was my first time doing Iyengar yoga but I am familiar with BKS Iyengar and his teachings. I knew previously that he was very focused on alignment and anatomy. I also knew that he emphasized the scientific side of asanas and how it benefits the physical body.

    I really enjoyed this practice because of the emphasis on the idea that yoga is for everybody. I liked that Amita gave modifications for the poses. For instance, I've never done downward dog on a wall before and even though it felt different, it still felt good in my body. The practice was fast enough where I felt like my body was flowing nicely but it wasn't too fast to the point where I couldn't follow along. After the practice I felt energized and more open in my body than I did before the practice. 

    The practice space in this setting did promote community in some ways but it's slightly hard to promote community over a computer. I felt a sense of community when Amita gave reassuring comments to other students. It made me feel like she actually cared about our form and our commitment to the practice. Even though it is hard to feel a sense of community through the computer, I felt like Amita did a good job of including everybody by encouraging my fellow classmates.


Not Seeing – Yoga Tutor

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

9/18 Yoga Journal

Image
 Yin Yoga     The other day I did a yin yoga practice online. I've done yin multiple times before but I've never made it a weekly part of my practice. I would mainly do it when I felt extra tight in my body from sitting for long periods of time or from working on my feet. This time I did the yin sequence just to connect back to my body instead of doing it for a physical benefit and it really felt different this time around. I found that I was really able to  relax into the pose instead of pushing my body like I normally do in yin. Most of the time I do yin to intensely stretch my muscles but this time around I did it just to relax and it felt so much more peaceful than it normally does.      To set up my yoga space I rolled out my yoga mat in a quiet room in my house (which is rare due to a crazy K9 always barking) and I applied some lavender oil to my wrists, which is something new I've been doing when I practice yoga. If I don't use the oil I'll light a candle and
Read more

9/25 Blog Post

Image
      I've been doing my 200 hour yoga teacher certification online and I watched a lecture/ participated in a class on adaptive yoga. This zoom class was led by one of the program's leaders, Tara Cleven and the practice took about 45 minutes. I took this class over zoom with other classmates after receiving a lecture about adaptive poses in yoga. I really liked that she focused on the idea that yoga is for everybody and it should be accessible to whoever wants to participate.      Our lecture consisted of modifications for different yoga poses by using props like blocks and bolsters. We also talked about chair yoga, and how beneficial it can be for the elderly and for beginners. Then we proceeded to do our own practice of chair yoga. I've never done chair yoga because I always thought it was for beginners but I really enjoyed this class. It was mainly focused on viewing your body with compassion wherever its at in your practice and meeting your body halfway. The most inter
Read more

10/2 Yoga Blog (Bikram Yoga)

           I really liked this Bikram Yoga practice with Diane Polli. I've never done Bikram Yoga before and this was more intense that I would've thought. I liked that the beginning of the practice was building a lot of heat and then slowly we began to relax. I also really liked that we took rests in between postures because I felt like I had more energy to complete each sequence. This was more of a fast paced yoga practice compared to what I'm normally used to but after I felt really energized.      I think that the views of yoga as exercise depend on the practitioner and the culture. For instance, I feel like mainly in the the Western World yoga is largely viewed as a form of exercise. While there are some exceptions to that and some classes in the West do incorporate more spiritual elements, most mainstream classes are focused on the physical asanas. I think in the East there's more of an emphasis on the unity to a higher power through yoga. I also think most practi
Read more