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…)

This is the one. This is the class I’ll continue to take. I feel great after that session. It was the first time I’d been to anything other than Intro Vinyasa classes and I loved it. The Yin class is more meditative, slower paced, and more focused than the intros I had attended. It was difficult, yes, but deeply calming.

Guess I’ll start at the beginning. Our instructor was Nico, and I think he’s one of the chiefs at the centre. The studio itself was dimly lit. (more…)

When I first began my yoga journey nearly eight years ago, I was introduced to a form of hot yoga – a modified version of Bikram in a 100° room. At that time, I found that during most of my yoga classes I would become dizzy, occasionally to the point of having a near blackout.

I just assumed this was a normal part of yoga. Then, after stopping for a few years, I convinced myself that it was just “a hot yoga thing.” (more…)

A few days ago, I wrote about a new online music service called Last.fm. I’ve since created some great play lists and have over 500 tracks that I love to listen to.

By the way, I found out that if you want to pay an extra $3 a month (as opposed to having just the free option), you can actually choose to listen to your custom play lists.  (more…)

Beverly was our instructor again for today’s class. She started the class off by mentioning that some of the advanced students attend the odd intro class to brush up on their form. Right. I guess I don’t feel so bad after all about struggling with the intro classes.

Since every pose is described and explained extensively, we find ourselves having to hold all the poses throughout the duration of instruction. (more…)

I’ve been so busy at work lately that I have not had a chance to write a follow-up entry to my blog about my relaxing weekend plans. Gosh, I love weekends. Just thinking about them makes me wonder why this weekend is taking so long to get here. (more…)

I often wonder how instructors and studios find all their yoga music. I haven’t set foot into a record/cd store in over seven years, so it’s not like I ever walk up to the “Eclectic Music” section, put on some headphones and start listening to some music samples. (more…)

Well, I definitely wasn’t as anxious about this second session. I still found I had to pay close attention to the instructor, and I was still cumbersomely self-conscious. I still suffered from shaking, straining muscles, but I found myself looking forward to the glorious reward at the end of the class: a good lie-down. (more…)

So today I tried yoga for the first time. It’s been a few hours now but my limbs are still feeling the effects: my legs are wobbly and my arms feel shaky; I’m kind of sore and everything’s heavy. Honestly, I haven’t had that good a workout in a long time. I also haven’t been this exhausted in a long time. However, despite being tired, my muscles feel loose for once and I have to say that feels pretty good. (more…)