Since I had to return home before completing a full 10 days of Anusara thought I’d just complete my comments with some follow-up notes — about one of my favorite puzzles in yoga practice- the male authority body (as renown teacher “expert”) instructing female student bodies. (more…)

That’s what the yoga instructor said as he called my name in class, “puff your kidneys!” I am still capable of quipping back in a New York minute – “say WHAT?”

Developing a heightened sense of where your kishkas are may come after many years of yoga practice and study, but that instruction had me puzzled for the rest of the class. It’s not the first time I’ve heard it in an Anusara class either, so I’m guessing it’s part of the language learned by all Anusara instructors. (more…)

A yoga class can be a place where students, especially female students, may experience issues around authority, self-authority, and their bodies. Certainly I have, when stepping into a class and placing myself onto my yoga mat in front of a yoga teacher I do not know, whom, I hope, will know how to work with my limitations. (more…)

Yesterday I was having a casual conversation with a friend about the different schools of yoga. Well, as casual as any conversation can be on this topic with me right now! I started explaining the different approaches and what each school seems to emphasize in the physical postures and he asked, “How do they come up with this? Why would Bikram be all about building strong thighs and Anusara all about standing on your hands?” (more…)

So I get that there is no set yoga sequence in Anusara Yoga. Although they seem to favor the upper body balancers and rotating thighs – somehow – still not clear about which direction we’re spiraling.

The yoga teacher is then responsible for choosing the order of the yoga postures and deciding how long students hold the pose and when to allow rest breaks. So if the teacher has something on his mind, you will be the recipient of it. (more…)

It’s difficult to explain this, but what keeps me coming back to a particular yoga session or teacher is the overall “tone” of the class, comparable to describing the aftertaste of a good wine or dining experience. The ingredients may all be there but it’s in how it’s all put together and experienced by the students that makes it effective and memorable. And so far my experience with the Anusara classes is, well – a jerky kind of energy – where students don’t know what’s coming or how to get out of the yoga poses and so it’s stop – go – stop – next go… (more…)

Yoga has to be experienced to really understand what it is and what it does. So, convinced that a fun and educational way to begin to understand all the different yoga approaches is to immerse myself in these 10 day mini-training yoga sessions, I headed to a new yoga studio in the Los Angeles area whose teachers are Anusara schooled. (more…)

I have completed 10 days straight doing Bikram Yoga! Feel great. No aches, no injuries, didn’t pass out or drop from heat exhaustion. There’s a nice cleaned- out feeling with my skin looking good and my organs having had a good squeeze and rinse out! So how would it compare to doing 10 days of any other type of yoga? And would I recommend it? (more…)

Funny what heat does to the mind. Signaling the body to slow down.

I feel spacey, which takes even more effort to concentrate. But I also feel a kind of detachment, like you would on a hot summer day. Except it’s not the sun on my back, it’s the loud blast of a huge metallic heater. (more…)

“How many people actually complete the full 10 day Bikram program?” I ask my Bikram instructor. “Not many,” he replies, “maybe a dozen throughout the year.” (Bikram studios offer a 10 day pass for $10 as incentive for new students).

Knowing the importance of regularity in a practice, I’ve always advised my students to focus on developing a steady practice over an intense but sporadic practice. (more…)