Stretch Your Body Not Your Budget
As previously mentioned, I’ve been doing a lot more yoga with my iPhone lately so I’ve decided to do a review of one of my favorite iPhone yoga apps.

“Yoga Trainer” by NexStudios has a great app that you can load onto your iPhone or iPod touch for only $0.99 – or you could try their ‘Lite’ version for free.

The only major difference between the two is that the Lite version has advertising. Aside from that, they both pack over 70+ poses and nine pre-defined yoga sequences, in addition to their quick introduction to yoga. (more…)

It’s been a long time since I posted my last blog, although it feels just like yesterday. I can’t seem to catch up with my daily life – it’s that fast how the days have been passing by.

Even though I have such a busy schedule, however, I sometimes play with Christina’s child. The other day he was in a “Yoga mood,” which started in the morning when he was teaching yoga to his baby-sitter. That evening, I decided to look for a yoga video on YouTube and started watching it with him. (more…)

The ten or 15 minutes of a guided meditation at the end of each yoga class is a contemplative thing for me. I think too much about the meditation itself, but I must admit that it’s time allotted for relaxation. So I take advantage of the fact that my time on a mat means a moment not to think about outside plans and tasks. However, I end up filling my mind with the words being spoken to me, telling me to imagine a light, or at other times think about “melting into the earth”.  I start wondering about the idea of a sparkling light traveling through different parts of my body and how that light is supposed to help a particular area.
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Last week, I went to a yoga class in the middle of the week. Normally, I wouldn’t have time to do that right after work, but I was able to squeeze in a session before dinner.
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In case anyone is wondering, I’m happy to report that I can now stand on one leg. I’ll have to get back to you on the walking on a wire part – just kidding. It actually is quite simple to do. Understanding what not to do is the best way to get off on the right foot (pun intended).
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I am able to pretty much twist myself into a pretzel. I know you probably don’t believe me, but I’m quite flexible. I can kiss my knees if I want to! But the thing I have trouble with is balancing. I feel like I am not doing yoga fully because I cannot achieve the one-leg balancing part, which probably means I have a lack of awareness of my body. Taking one breath is fine, but when I have to hold a tree pose through five Ujjayi breaths – forget it. I feel like a human seesaw. (more…)

Has anyone tried Nintendo Wii Fit? I was always curious about the computer game since it was the biggest sale item last Christmas. But I never expected to try it out during the Japan trip for my grandmother’s funeral.

After the funeral and seven-day ceremony for my grandmother, my brother and sister-in-law invited me to stay over at their place. Since I always talked about yoga, he told me that he had a Wii Fit and I should try Yoga on it. How exciting it was! (more…)

When I arrived in Japan for my grandmother’s funeral, I went at around 10 pm to the funeral hall where my grandmother was kept. As her closest family members, we stayed at a tatami room in the funeral hall with my grandma, preparing to stay up all night because we had to keep the incense sticks burning over the next few days until she was cremated. (more…)

I attended a very exciting class this morning. Instead of immediately getting into the poses, our instructor had us take about 10 minutes to lie down in Shavasana and focus on our Ujjayi breathing, which is also known as “the ocean breath” or commonly referred to as “cobra breathing.”

The instructor was very descriptive in her explanations and had us breathing deeply in ‘sooooooooos’ and ‘haaaaaaaas.’ (more…)

I was actually a little nervous about taking my first Yoga class. I was afraid that I would not know what to do, not have the right materials, hit the poses incorrectly, not have enough stamina…. Whew – I must have experienced a hundred or more doubts before I even set foot into the Silverlake Yoga studio.

Located in Los Angeles, Silverlake Yoga is a neighborhood studio that evokes the feeling of comfort and familiarity. (more…)