Day 4: Finding Yourself in Someone Else's World
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...Continue Reading: Day 4: Finding Yourself in Someone Else's World
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...
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...
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. 
There is an 
Remarkably, I don't experience any muscle soreness after the Bikram yoga session. Considering how abruptly we're moving through the yoga postures and how extreme some of the tight holds are. 
A good yoga class still depends on the teacher. No matter that they all have the same "script," their insights and energy is what carries the class.
In my 10-day Bikram yoga adventure, I've had 5 classes with 5 different teachers and although the order of the sequences is identical and the timing the same to the minute, the mood permeating the class is the one factor that changes. And this I can...
There is a precision to the Bikram postures that does not allow for any variations. Some of them surprise me like the emphasis on palms together, knees locked. I try to keep a smile on my face but the rigidness of it all snaps me into the postures as if I were in boot camp.
I notice that I'm not really feeling any joy during the whole class. I'm concerned about doing...