The Yoga Bridge: Week 2, November 8, 2013

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Everyone was very excited that Dean Lerner was coming to teach at Yogarosas.  Dean was one of Iyengar’s master students. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend.   The week before, all the yoga instructors asked all the students to invite anyone that was brand new to yoga because Dean wanted to teach an introductory class.

Rosa, owner and head instructor at Yogarosa, was recently at a yoga conference and came back with a message, ” Where ever you are in your yoga practice, step it up to the next level.”  Don’t do yoga with complacency.  I like the challenge.

This week, I was able to attend on Monday and Wednesday.  On Monday, the focus of the class was hip openers.  We worked a lot on Utthita Trikonasana but we would stop in the pose and work on the hip rotation and big toe.   We worked on a pre lotus position, Padmasana.

On Wednesday, we did some intense ham string stretches with Uttanasana except we would grab our big toe and pump our arms to get more length in the trunk.  We worked on Tadasana.  After a year of study, I don’t have mastery over any pose and  I find Tadasana one of the hardest.  Most of the class,  I struggled with my ego. Non stop chatter of negativity, but by the end of class I found peace.  

By myself, I did yoga at Greynolds Park under an enormous Banyan tree followed by meditation.

The Yoga Bridge, Wk 1, November 1, 2013 Demostration By Jason Scholder

Egg Shaped Props, Demostration by Jason Shoulder at Yogarosa, Hallendale, fl

Egg Shaped Props, Demostration by Jason Scholder at Yogarosa, Hallendale, fl.

On Tuesday morning, at the 9:00 am yoga class, there was a demonstration of a new prop, a foam oval called the egg,  by the inventor, Jason Scholder.

As usual, we started the class in swastakasana, but instead of a blanket we used two eggs under the sit bones.  It was very comfortable and I felt a good stretch in my lower back.  Then we all said three Oms and the Invocation to Pantajali.

After that, we used the eggs in all the poses.  In Tadasana, the egg was less cumbersome and a lot more comfortable than a wooden block.  It was useful in other poses.   In my opinion, the egg was an improvement over a wooden block.

The Road To B.K.S. Iyengar

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” And now yoga!”

Around mid October of 2012, a shoulder injury brought me to Iyengar yoga, and that was when my journey really began. Up until that I time, I didn’t care for yoga.  I thought it painful and there weren’t many men doing yoga. I didn’t understand yoga, not at all. The turning point happened when my shoulder started to heal.

Today, I have an area in my home dedicated to yoga and where I store my yoga props.  As inspiration, I have a picture of Krishnamcharya and B.K.S. Iyengar on my wall.    I try to do a few poses everyday and meditation every evening before bed time.

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