date: 10/29
time: 10:00 am
instructor: Nadira
style: Yoga Techniques
This was definitely an interesting class for me. It was much more of a work out class than a flow yoga class. We did our practice to pop music, that was new to me. We did 5 minute abs that the instructor specifically said could be a cardio work out if we wanted. It was focused separate bits instead of one overall flow. I think it was a very focused practice in that each part was focused on improving one physical aspect of our bodies. In this sense the healing of this class was purely physical, focusing on improving our strength. I think most of the classes I have taken are focused on the physical improvements seen in yoga more than any other type of healing. Most instructors I've experienced focus on the body parts being effected by each move - like the one instructor who came to class and talked about certain poses massaging our kidneys and working inter-hemispheric brain connectivity. The only instructor I've had that really continuously goes into healing beyond the physical level is Steevee, who often talks about mental health healing. Steevee often emphasizes the calming effects of yoga and how yoga practice can be applied to ones mentality with acceptance and such. I think ultimately the healing experience one has with yoga comes from how they chose to apply their yoga practice. Like the man in the documentary who uses the focused nasal breathing throughout his day when he loses control of this thoughts. I personally look at yoga as a light mix of both physical and mental healing - I improve my strength and balance and flexibility with yoga, which helps me improve my confidence and assurance in myself. I also use yoga to both energize me and calm me down - I use yoga as a stress reduction and a way to feel more energetically present. Similar to what the documentary subjects saying about group therapy - I take what I want, take what I can apply to my life, and leave the rest. When an instructor gets into things I don't need or use ( usually when things get a little to spiritual) I tune it out and accept that that is what other people use in their practice, but when the instructor gives something I can use I take it with me.
Saturday, October 29, 2016
Friday, October 14, 2016
date: 10/13/16
time: 6:30
instructor: Jason Cooper
style: "energetic yoga"
I did not like this yoga class. So Steevee sent out an email saying she'd be doing Yin yoga on Tuesdays and this guy Jason would be doing energetic yoga on Thursdays. I am not exagerating when I say I felt like I was in a geriatrics yoga class. With this class my practice has been developing into a more physical focused practice no doubt, but this class went by slower than even last weeks in-class instruction. Not only did the class go much slower and much less difficult, there were absolutely positions that the guy had modified in ways I guess he liked that were definitely not very good for the body. Without this class I probably wouldn't have questioned this guys teaching, but after having Laurie as an instructor in yoga and learning about different established forms and how people go off and make their own stuff up that gets a little wonky, I felt comfortable in identifying risky made-up positions. I definitely am not going back to this class. While most of it was calming, I did not feel comfortable in this instructors hands.
time: 6:30
instructor: Jason Cooper
style: "energetic yoga"
I did not like this yoga class. So Steevee sent out an email saying she'd be doing Yin yoga on Tuesdays and this guy Jason would be doing energetic yoga on Thursdays. I am not exagerating when I say I felt like I was in a geriatrics yoga class. With this class my practice has been developing into a more physical focused practice no doubt, but this class went by slower than even last weeks in-class instruction. Not only did the class go much slower and much less difficult, there were absolutely positions that the guy had modified in ways I guess he liked that were definitely not very good for the body. Without this class I probably wouldn't have questioned this guys teaching, but after having Laurie as an instructor in yoga and learning about different established forms and how people go off and make their own stuff up that gets a little wonky, I felt comfortable in identifying risky made-up positions. I definitely am not going back to this class. While most of it was calming, I did not feel comfortable in this instructors hands.
Day 7
date: 10/13/16
time: 2:30
instructor: Joann McGarrity
style: Ashtanga
I think I like Ashtanga practice we did with Joann. I think the fact that it can build on itself, as a beginner through to advanced levels (Like Joann and Laurie who still didn't have certain positions) makes it a very focused physical practice. I like the focus on improvement and the repetition that, like Joan says, can still vary day to day ( "some days I have it, some I don't"). I don't know it Joann's instruction was the typical Ashtanga style, if so I definitely do not like that style. Joann was a nice instructor, but not detailed and that led to some confusion throughout the class and sometimes it led to some positions not quite feeling right. She recommended some Ashtanga practice videos and I'm definitely going to look into them. Something I did notice was an improvement in my ability to square my hips in most of my positions and pay attention to how I rotated and opened my hips - I attribute this to the very informative harness class from last week. This improvement definitely made this practice feel better than most of my practices have before.
I think our class in particular generates a unique sense of community in that we are all fairly new to these varying practices and that we are all pretty open to the different styles and instructions. The community built in our class, however, I think is only the hint of a community respective to actual yoga studios. The sense of community in our class is very minute, only really noticeable when we are doing the physical practice. In typical classes, all there is is the practice so the sense of community is easier to build. I think a community feeling is important to a practice because it generates a comfortable environment in the studio and allows people to feel safe as they push whatever boundaries they're pushing in the practice. I don't yet have a solid sense of community from my practice. I noticed at Yoga 9 that there is a very good sense of community, all the people there seemed very friendly and to know each other fairly well. I definitely think finding a community like that would definitely help me maintain my practice - even just going with Melissa and Gabby the last few weeks has helped me stay consistent with my practice.
time: 2:30
instructor: Joann McGarrity
style: Ashtanga
I think I like Ashtanga practice we did with Joann. I think the fact that it can build on itself, as a beginner through to advanced levels (Like Joann and Laurie who still didn't have certain positions) makes it a very focused physical practice. I like the focus on improvement and the repetition that, like Joan says, can still vary day to day ( "some days I have it, some I don't"). I don't know it Joann's instruction was the typical Ashtanga style, if so I definitely do not like that style. Joann was a nice instructor, but not detailed and that led to some confusion throughout the class and sometimes it led to some positions not quite feeling right. She recommended some Ashtanga practice videos and I'm definitely going to look into them. Something I did notice was an improvement in my ability to square my hips in most of my positions and pay attention to how I rotated and opened my hips - I attribute this to the very informative harness class from last week. This improvement definitely made this practice feel better than most of my practices have before.
I think our class in particular generates a unique sense of community in that we are all fairly new to these varying practices and that we are all pretty open to the different styles and instructions. The community built in our class, however, I think is only the hint of a community respective to actual yoga studios. The sense of community in our class is very minute, only really noticeable when we are doing the physical practice. In typical classes, all there is is the practice so the sense of community is easier to build. I think a community feeling is important to a practice because it generates a comfortable environment in the studio and allows people to feel safe as they push whatever boundaries they're pushing in the practice. I don't yet have a solid sense of community from my practice. I noticed at Yoga 9 that there is a very good sense of community, all the people there seemed very friendly and to know each other fairly well. I definitely think finding a community like that would definitely help me maintain my practice - even just going with Melissa and Gabby the last few weeks has helped me stay consistent with my practice.
Sunday, October 9, 2016
Day 6 Part 2
date: 10/6/2016
time: 6:30 pm
Instructor: Laurie Green
style: straps ??
I loved this practice tonight. Gabby Melissa and I were the only ones to show up to Lauries class in ventnor so we got to play around with the suspension ropes and harnesses. Laurie showed us the form she usually practices in the harness and told us she uses them every morning. Besides the pinching the ropes caused in my hips, I loved the harness work. Using the harness I got a very localized experience of the moves we see in regular practice. I was able to focus on my front leg in one position or my spine in another, without worry about supporting myself or how the rest of my body needed to be really. I also LOVED the back bends and inversions. We went from an inverted butterfly position, extended our legs, and went into one of the best handstands I've ever been in. As someone raised doing gymnastics I am used to a very different type of handstand with a different center of gravity and a different positional goal. Yoga handstands, and head stands, are very new to me. Using the harness, I really got to understand how a yoga handstand should be and what I should feel like in one. I definitely want to do more work with the harnesses.
time: 6:30 pm
Instructor: Laurie Green
style: straps ??
I loved this practice tonight. Gabby Melissa and I were the only ones to show up to Lauries class in ventnor so we got to play around with the suspension ropes and harnesses. Laurie showed us the form she usually practices in the harness and told us she uses them every morning. Besides the pinching the ropes caused in my hips, I loved the harness work. Using the harness I got a very localized experience of the moves we see in regular practice. I was able to focus on my front leg in one position or my spine in another, without worry about supporting myself or how the rest of my body needed to be really. I also LOVED the back bends and inversions. We went from an inverted butterfly position, extended our legs, and went into one of the best handstands I've ever been in. As someone raised doing gymnastics I am used to a very different type of handstand with a different center of gravity and a different positional goal. Yoga handstands, and head stands, are very new to me. Using the harness, I really got to understand how a yoga handstand should be and what I should feel like in one. I definitely want to do more work with the harnesses.
Day 6
Date: 10/6/2016
time: 2:30
instructor: Annie Stiver
style: Iyengar
To start, I did not really like Iyengar style. Historically I've practice flow sequences and Iyengar was a completely different situation. I didn't like the pace, it was much too slow for me, and the instruction style was also not ideal. The steuctur of instruction almost made the class feel teAcher oriented, as if we were supposed to sit and admiringly watch Annie do the moves and really let her skill sink in before attempting to do the same move ourselves. Annie seemed nice but I can see how, in a different class with a more traditional instructor, a reverence can form for the "all knowing" wiser-than-you instructor can form. I am also inclined to think that it takes away some of the purpose of yoga. Yoga is meant to be introspective, but the structure of Iyengar makes it feel a little egotistical in that you're trying to reach the instructors superior level. As a side note I did also very much dislke Annie's attempts at explaining the internal physiological outcomes of each move, particularly every time she said a move was enhancing our nervous system or increasing connections between our hemispheres (meanwhile that particular move was almost completely lateralized and certainly doing nothing for inter hemispheric coherence). While I'm sure Annie was simply following her Iyengar script, it was unproven assumptions probably made by Iyengar himself and it does nothing but 1. Spread misinformation about our bodies and how we can affect them, and 2. Perpetuate the stereotype of pseudoscientific yogis who think their practice works on such wildly specific levels and changes the body in ways that have never been observed in science.
In terms of ritual practice, I wouldn't say my personal practice is ritualistic. I practice yoga very sporadically, oftentimes (before this class) once a week at most. I typically look to yoga for stress reduction, so I use it as needed. I will say that my practice was more ritualistic in high school. During the summer before my senior I started practicing yoga daily. I would wake up early in the morning and start my day with the same beginners level yoga flow video tape. While the practice didn't change very often, it did feel special. I started my mornings with what felt like a cleansing practice to wake me up and get me prepped for the day. I fell out of this pattern come the winter track season, but I do often think back to my more ritualistic practice as a time of overall health and well being. Ideally I'd like my practice to become regular, although perhaps not ritualistic. I, like Nick from Enlightwn Up, am apt to look at yoga as much more than an enriching physical practice. I do not expect or want to find God in my practice. I do not want to form a dependency to my practice. I do yoga because I enjoy the practices, I enjoy the people, and I enjoy how it makes me feel. I don't want to adhere to a strict schedule or depend on yoga as anything more than something I do to enjoy it, which I think ritualizing it might just do (ritual being more significant than simply repeated pattern).
time: 2:30
instructor: Annie Stiver
style: Iyengar
To start, I did not really like Iyengar style. Historically I've practice flow sequences and Iyengar was a completely different situation. I didn't like the pace, it was much too slow for me, and the instruction style was also not ideal. The steuctur of instruction almost made the class feel teAcher oriented, as if we were supposed to sit and admiringly watch Annie do the moves and really let her skill sink in before attempting to do the same move ourselves. Annie seemed nice but I can see how, in a different class with a more traditional instructor, a reverence can form for the "all knowing" wiser-than-you instructor can form. I am also inclined to think that it takes away some of the purpose of yoga. Yoga is meant to be introspective, but the structure of Iyengar makes it feel a little egotistical in that you're trying to reach the instructors superior level. As a side note I did also very much dislke Annie's attempts at explaining the internal physiological outcomes of each move, particularly every time she said a move was enhancing our nervous system or increasing connections between our hemispheres (meanwhile that particular move was almost completely lateralized and certainly doing nothing for inter hemispheric coherence). While I'm sure Annie was simply following her Iyengar script, it was unproven assumptions probably made by Iyengar himself and it does nothing but 1. Spread misinformation about our bodies and how we can affect them, and 2. Perpetuate the stereotype of pseudoscientific yogis who think their practice works on such wildly specific levels and changes the body in ways that have never been observed in science.
In terms of ritual practice, I wouldn't say my personal practice is ritualistic. I practice yoga very sporadically, oftentimes (before this class) once a week at most. I typically look to yoga for stress reduction, so I use it as needed. I will say that my practice was more ritualistic in high school. During the summer before my senior I started practicing yoga daily. I would wake up early in the morning and start my day with the same beginners level yoga flow video tape. While the practice didn't change very often, it did feel special. I started my mornings with what felt like a cleansing practice to wake me up and get me prepped for the day. I fell out of this pattern come the winter track season, but I do often think back to my more ritualistic practice as a time of overall health and well being. Ideally I'd like my practice to become regular, although perhaps not ritualistic. I, like Nick from Enlightwn Up, am apt to look at yoga as much more than an enriching physical practice. I do not expect or want to find God in my practice. I do not want to form a dependency to my practice. I do yoga because I enjoy the practices, I enjoy the people, and I enjoy how it makes me feel. I don't want to adhere to a strict schedule or depend on yoga as anything more than something I do to enjoy it, which I think ritualizing it might just do (ritual being more significant than simply repeated pattern).
Sunday, October 2, 2016
Day 5
date: 9/29/2016
time: 2:30
instructor: Chris Waldron
style: Bikram
I really enjoyed this class with Chris. Thus far, without even realizing it, the majority of my practice has been flow yoga. I really enjoyed the concentration involved in holding our poses and the sensation of building my strength within that holding. I also liked how each pose really built upon the last, which added to that strength building feeling. My typical class is also very calming and very focused on improving the mental state, whereas Chris's class was entirely physical; Chris named the muscles we were working and pretty much let us breathe how we wanted to (which wound up making me a bit dizzy at times).
As far as last weeks prompt (which I mixed up for this weeks), I think the "sacred space" is both something expected and created by the students. American students expect to enter a studio and get what they expect out of the class. If the students expect the typical calming, zen type of experience they usually stay respectfully quiet and calm and hold conversation until after. If the students expect a work out I think there's a bit more energy in the room. Part of it too is how the room is set up, calming classes are usually dim where as high energy work out classes are usually well lit. And of course the instructor really makes a difference too. Steevee opens her class with a very soft-toned calm and quiet instruction, even when shes making jokes. Chris's class felt like I was at a gym working with a personal trainer, learning how to move my body to gain strength. It's a variety of aspects that build together to give a class the feeling it has, and to make it whatever kind of space it is for the students.
time: 2:30
instructor: Chris Waldron
style: Bikram
I really enjoyed this class with Chris. Thus far, without even realizing it, the majority of my practice has been flow yoga. I really enjoyed the concentration involved in holding our poses and the sensation of building my strength within that holding. I also liked how each pose really built upon the last, which added to that strength building feeling. My typical class is also very calming and very focused on improving the mental state, whereas Chris's class was entirely physical; Chris named the muscles we were working and pretty much let us breathe how we wanted to (which wound up making me a bit dizzy at times).
As far as last weeks prompt (which I mixed up for this weeks), I think the "sacred space" is both something expected and created by the students. American students expect to enter a studio and get what they expect out of the class. If the students expect the typical calming, zen type of experience they usually stay respectfully quiet and calm and hold conversation until after. If the students expect a work out I think there's a bit more energy in the room. Part of it too is how the room is set up, calming classes are usually dim where as high energy work out classes are usually well lit. And of course the instructor really makes a difference too. Steevee opens her class with a very soft-toned calm and quiet instruction, even when shes making jokes. Chris's class felt like I was at a gym working with a personal trainer, learning how to move my body to gain strength. It's a variety of aspects that build together to give a class the feeling it has, and to make it whatever kind of space it is for the students.
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