My studio offers a "Free at Three" class every Monday which is where people coming for the first time can come for free. It's not open to the general public, just first timers and a few experienced people up front so the new people can see good examples of the postures.
Yesterday due to some scheduling reasons, I took this class. I went up in the front row. Our studio owner, Stacey taught. She is absolutely fantastic dealing with new people, answering their questions, calming them down, etc.
It's a very unique class for an experienced person and I really enjoyed it. There were about 8 first timers and four experienced people. I definitely could tell the people behind me were paying attention to my postures and of course this gave me extra incentive to do a good job. It was a very low key atmosphere which I think is great for first timers. I survived my first class, but I was certainly intimidated walking into a room with 40-50 people who all done this before. I would have loved to do a first time class like this.
Hopefully I can do this again, it was definitely an enjoyable class.
Greg
Showing posts with label Teachers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teachers. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
Inspiration
556 classes (19 advanced) in 538 days.
Various things inspire me (or not) in class and thought I would list five of each here. I’m sure everyone has their own list.
Things that inspire me:
1) Heat. Not to be confused with excessive humidity, but there’s nothing I love more in class than a nice hot room. As discussed numerous times in my blog, I love the heat. Warms up my muscles and joints and makes for a productive and happy class.
2) A favorite teacher. I make no secret about the fact that I will try harder when one of my favorite teachers is teaching. At this point my favorite teachers all know my practice really well and can tell if I’m slacking off and they often don’t even have to say anything. They can just give me a look and I’ll correct things.
3) Being surrounded by people with a really good practice. Teachers talk about energy in the room all the time and it’s completely true. It’s palpable and when I’ve got really got people around me, I have a better class.
4) Having new people behind me. I blogged about this recently, but having new people watch me always will force me to concentrate more and work hard, even if I don’t feel too good that day.
5) Major drama. Kind of an odd one, but if there’s a lot of drama in the room, lots of people sitting out or leaving the room, it gives me an incentive to work harder. Maybe to give them more energy, I don’t know, but when I see people dying on their mats I get inspired.
Things that don’t inspire me:
1) Cold. This is a deal breaker for me. If it’s cold in the room I can’t get very motivated. I even have a whole way that I do class if it’s too cold. Basically I just work on the form for each posture and don’t worry about depth. And I try to avoid getting injured.
2) Bad teaching. If the teacher has no energy, poor dialogue, etc. then I just check out mentally. Not very common, but it does happen.
3) Low energy around me. This is hard to quantify because it doesn’t necessarily mean having new people around me, or even drama. Sometimes you’re just surrounded by people with no energy. Maybe they just don’t have energy that day, but it’s contagious.
4) Food problems. This can consist of being too hungry, or having some bad food earlier in the day. I’ve become good at figuring out what to eat and when before classes so I don’t run into this problem too much anymore.
5) Morning classes. For me this means any class before 1 PM. I’ve gotten much better at morning classes but I think I’ll always prefer the night. I’m looser and have had all day to hydrate. It’s hard to do either before a 9 AM class. And 9 AM is the earliest I’ve even taken. My studio offers 5:30 AM and 7:00 AM classes and I think you’d have to pay me a lot of money to take one of those.
Greg
Various things inspire me (or not) in class and thought I would list five of each here. I’m sure everyone has their own list.
Things that inspire me:
1) Heat. Not to be confused with excessive humidity, but there’s nothing I love more in class than a nice hot room. As discussed numerous times in my blog, I love the heat. Warms up my muscles and joints and makes for a productive and happy class.
2) A favorite teacher. I make no secret about the fact that I will try harder when one of my favorite teachers is teaching. At this point my favorite teachers all know my practice really well and can tell if I’m slacking off and they often don’t even have to say anything. They can just give me a look and I’ll correct things.
3) Being surrounded by people with a really good practice. Teachers talk about energy in the room all the time and it’s completely true. It’s palpable and when I’ve got really got people around me, I have a better class.
4) Having new people behind me. I blogged about this recently, but having new people watch me always will force me to concentrate more and work hard, even if I don’t feel too good that day.
5) Major drama. Kind of an odd one, but if there’s a lot of drama in the room, lots of people sitting out or leaving the room, it gives me an incentive to work harder. Maybe to give them more energy, I don’t know, but when I see people dying on their mats I get inspired.
Things that don’t inspire me:
1) Cold. This is a deal breaker for me. If it’s cold in the room I can’t get very motivated. I even have a whole way that I do class if it’s too cold. Basically I just work on the form for each posture and don’t worry about depth. And I try to avoid getting injured.
2) Bad teaching. If the teacher has no energy, poor dialogue, etc. then I just check out mentally. Not very common, but it does happen.
3) Low energy around me. This is hard to quantify because it doesn’t necessarily mean having new people around me, or even drama. Sometimes you’re just surrounded by people with no energy. Maybe they just don’t have energy that day, but it’s contagious.
4) Food problems. This can consist of being too hungry, or having some bad food earlier in the day. I’ve become good at figuring out what to eat and when before classes so I don’t run into this problem too much anymore.
5) Morning classes. For me this means any class before 1 PM. I’ve gotten much better at morning classes but I think I’ll always prefer the night. I’m looser and have had all day to hydrate. It’s hard to do either before a 9 AM class. And 9 AM is the earliest I’ve even taken. My studio offers 5:30 AM and 7:00 AM classes and I think you’d have to pay me a lot of money to take one of those.
Greg
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Fans
547 classes (18 advanced) in 530 days.
I had a class recently which got me to thinking about a favorite subject for many students - fans. Some studios and teachers use them a lot and some studios don't even use them at all. At Green Valley, we have some very nice and powerful fans and they are used quite differently depending on the teacher.
I have an interesting theory after watching the use fans. I'm convinced they don't do much to get people to do the postures if they're sitting out or about to sit out. I know sometimes teachers like to turn the fans on in the hopes that the people sitting out will go and do the posture. Unfortunately this seems to have mixed results at best. If you're at the point where you need to sit out, then a little bit of air doesn't make much difference. I know that on the rare occasion I need to sit out a posture, it has nothing to do with whether or not the fans are on. It's generally because of something like eating bad food earlier, being dehydrated before class, etc. So you can turn the fans on all you want, and I would still sit out. What's worse is that excessive fan use drives me crazy, dries up my sweat, makes me cold, etc.
I like a little air flow here and there, but any idea that it makes the postures more doable is a mental reaction, not physical.
Greg
I had a class recently which got me to thinking about a favorite subject for many students - fans. Some studios and teachers use them a lot and some studios don't even use them at all. At Green Valley, we have some very nice and powerful fans and they are used quite differently depending on the teacher.
I have an interesting theory after watching the use fans. I'm convinced they don't do much to get people to do the postures if they're sitting out or about to sit out. I know sometimes teachers like to turn the fans on in the hopes that the people sitting out will go and do the posture. Unfortunately this seems to have mixed results at best. If you're at the point where you need to sit out, then a little bit of air doesn't make much difference. I know that on the rare occasion I need to sit out a posture, it has nothing to do with whether or not the fans are on. It's generally because of something like eating bad food earlier, being dehydrated before class, etc. So you can turn the fans on all you want, and I would still sit out. What's worse is that excessive fan use drives me crazy, dries up my sweat, makes me cold, etc.
I like a little air flow here and there, but any idea that it makes the postures more doable is a mental reaction, not physical.
Greg
Monday, January 10, 2011
The Goodness in the Bad
529 classes (17 advanced) in 513 days.
There are numerous ways one can gauge their practice and improvement in Bikram yoga. There are obvious ones like getting more flexible or stronger, doing certain postures better, being calmer, etc. While I use these things as a benchmark as well, one of my favorite ways to gauge my progress is how I do in classes when I don’t feel very good walking in, such as being really tired, a little under the weather, have some nagging soreness, etc. When the conditions are perfect, room feels great, I feel great, then of course I can do the postures better that day. This is one way to measure improvement, but it’s a fairly easy one.
The real trick is to not feel good at all and still keep your focus and get something positive out of the class. Yesterday was a great example of this. First, I took the normal class at 9 AM and I absolutely did not want to be there. I was tired and fighting off a cold. The class was packed and I was right in front of the podium. Before class the teacher (Jen) was talking to some first timers who were right behind me and she made a big point that they should watch me! Normally this is no big deal, but I was not in the mood for this. However, it served as a nice motivating factor for me, and I overcame my obstacles and did well, and hopefully I set a good example for the people behind me.
Then later in the day after debating whether I should go at all, I took advanced class. I was concerned going in since I was still fighting off this cold, but amazingly I didn’t feel sick for one second during the class and it went fine. Funny how that works sometimes with class.
Greg
There are numerous ways one can gauge their practice and improvement in Bikram yoga. There are obvious ones like getting more flexible or stronger, doing certain postures better, being calmer, etc. While I use these things as a benchmark as well, one of my favorite ways to gauge my progress is how I do in classes when I don’t feel very good walking in, such as being really tired, a little under the weather, have some nagging soreness, etc. When the conditions are perfect, room feels great, I feel great, then of course I can do the postures better that day. This is one way to measure improvement, but it’s a fairly easy one.
The real trick is to not feel good at all and still keep your focus and get something positive out of the class. Yesterday was a great example of this. First, I took the normal class at 9 AM and I absolutely did not want to be there. I was tired and fighting off a cold. The class was packed and I was right in front of the podium. Before class the teacher (Jen) was talking to some first timers who were right behind me and she made a big point that they should watch me! Normally this is no big deal, but I was not in the mood for this. However, it served as a nice motivating factor for me, and I overcame my obstacles and did well, and hopefully I set a good example for the people behind me.
Then later in the day after debating whether I should go at all, I took advanced class. I was concerned going in since I was still fighting off this cold, but amazingly I didn’t feel sick for one second during the class and it went fine. Funny how that works sometimes with class.
Greg
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Never Too Hot
432 classes (9 advanced) in 418 days.
These are some actual conversations I’ve had:
Friend: “Was she hot?”
Me: “Not really, 106/35, I was really sore the next day.”
Another one:
Friend: “How was she?”
Me:”Smokin’, 114/45, thought I was going to die!”
I have conversations like this all the time, and they’re not some strange rating system for women, but of course discussions about the yoga room and how hot (or not) it is. This is most obvious talking point when asking how somebody’s class was. Word spreads fast about a particularly cold or hot class, and all of the regulars know who the “hot” and “cold” teachers are. I know many people that specifically take or avoid certain teachers because they are either too hot or too cold for them.
As gone over in previous blog postings, I prefer hotter classes, and I have a very hard time with a few “cold” classes in a row. I have all kinds of muscles that get sore if I don’t get hot classes in. As much as some people think I’m a “heat freak”, there are people that make me look like I’m downright arctic. These other people wear long sleeved shirts, sit next to the humidifiers and set up under heating ducts. They don’t want to have anything to do with cold classes!
It’s interesting to observe the conflicts between the “hot people” and the “cold people”. Our studio owner hears from both sides, and I’m glad I don’t have to deal with the complaints. I want the studio to be hotter, but it’s definitely better than other studios I’ve been to. I don’t hesitate to point out classes I think are too cold. I figure there are a lot more people that complain when things are too hot, so I try to balance it out by pointing out when the room is too cold.
My love for heat spills outside of the yoga room too. At work, I drive the people next to me nuts because I control the A/C and heat (hehe) and I like it much warmer than they do. They’ll come and complain to me that it’s too hot, and I’ll just say, “But it’s only 85 in here!”. They’re not amused.
Greg
These are some actual conversations I’ve had:
Friend: “Was she hot?”
Me: “Not really, 106/35, I was really sore the next day.”
Another one:
Friend: “How was she?”
Me:”Smokin’, 114/45, thought I was going to die!”
I have conversations like this all the time, and they’re not some strange rating system for women, but of course discussions about the yoga room and how hot (or not) it is. This is most obvious talking point when asking how somebody’s class was. Word spreads fast about a particularly cold or hot class, and all of the regulars know who the “hot” and “cold” teachers are. I know many people that specifically take or avoid certain teachers because they are either too hot or too cold for them.
As gone over in previous blog postings, I prefer hotter classes, and I have a very hard time with a few “cold” classes in a row. I have all kinds of muscles that get sore if I don’t get hot classes in. As much as some people think I’m a “heat freak”, there are people that make me look like I’m downright arctic. These other people wear long sleeved shirts, sit next to the humidifiers and set up under heating ducts. They don’t want to have anything to do with cold classes!
It’s interesting to observe the conflicts between the “hot people” and the “cold people”. Our studio owner hears from both sides, and I’m glad I don’t have to deal with the complaints. I want the studio to be hotter, but it’s definitely better than other studios I’ve been to. I don’t hesitate to point out classes I think are too cold. I figure there are a lot more people that complain when things are too hot, so I try to balance it out by pointing out when the room is too cold.
My love for heat spills outside of the yoga room too. At work, I drive the people next to me nuts because I control the A/C and heat (hehe) and I like it much warmer than they do. They’ll come and complain to me that it’s too hot, and I’ll just say, “But it’s only 85 in here!”. They’re not amused.
Greg
Monday, August 30, 2010
Long Shorts
393 classes (4 advanced) in 383 days.
Last week I had a sad reminder of why it's important to wear the correct yoga gear. When I first started out, I wore various random shorts, basketball shorts, whatever. It didn't take long for me to get some proper yoga attire, which made a big difference in my practice. One of the easiest ways to tell newer students is by what they're wearing. As students become more experienced, they start 1) wearing less clothing and 2) wearing actual yoga gear, rather than various workout clothes.
So last week I forgot to bring yoga shorts to class one day. Luckily, I had another pair of shorts with me, but unfortunately they were long basketball shorts. They came down to almost my knees. Class was a mess. I had forgotten how awful it is to try and practice with something other than yoga shorts. These shorts are heavier and collected more sweat which made things even heavier. I had to pull them up sometimes just to properly get into the postures, like Standing Head to Knee and Triangle.
The funniest part was the teacher noticed the odd attire I was wearing and the hard time I was having as a result. At one point she told me that I need to find my yoga shorts because my "mojo" was in them! How true. I think I'm a lot less likely to forget my yoga gear again!
Greg
Last week I had a sad reminder of why it's important to wear the correct yoga gear. When I first started out, I wore various random shorts, basketball shorts, whatever. It didn't take long for me to get some proper yoga attire, which made a big difference in my practice. One of the easiest ways to tell newer students is by what they're wearing. As students become more experienced, they start 1) wearing less clothing and 2) wearing actual yoga gear, rather than various workout clothes.
So last week I forgot to bring yoga shorts to class one day. Luckily, I had another pair of shorts with me, but unfortunately they were long basketball shorts. They came down to almost my knees. Class was a mess. I had forgotten how awful it is to try and practice with something other than yoga shorts. These shorts are heavier and collected more sweat which made things even heavier. I had to pull them up sometimes just to properly get into the postures, like Standing Head to Knee and Triangle.
The funniest part was the teacher noticed the odd attire I was wearing and the hard time I was having as a result. At one point she told me that I need to find my yoga shorts because my "mojo" was in them! How true. I think I'm a lot less likely to forget my yoga gear again!
Greg
Thursday, August 19, 2010
My Personal Thermometer
382 classes (3 advanced) in 372 days.
The subject of the temperature of the room is always a hot topic (sorry for the pun!) of discussion amongst yogis. Some people like it hotter or colder, and it's really a matter of personal preference. I prefer it on the hot side as you know if you've read some of my earlier blog entries. Over time, I've developed various ways of determining if it's hot enough in the room for me. Now my opinion of whether or not it's not enough actually depends on how I feel that day. It's not so much the exact temperature and humidity readings, although that gives an idea. For example, I prefer it to be a little cooler on the weekends but during the week, I like it hotter, sometimes insanely so. So below is a list of things I use as my own personal thermometer:
1) How fast my water melts - I stick my water bottles in the freezer everyday before I go to class. They are usually a nice solid brick of ice when I start class. If it's not hot enough, they don't melt very much. If the heat is good, they melt nicely, but are still very cool when I drink them.
2) My hamstrings. A very important reason I like it hot. My hamstrings are generally a little tight, and a nice hot room loosens them up well. If the temperature is hot enough from the beginning of class, my hamstrings are fully warmed up by the time we get to Standing Head to Knee. If it's too cold, they never get fully warmed up during the class.
3) My lower back. If my lower back is stiff after the first three postures, it's too cold, that simple.
4) Sweat on my feet - On Hands to Feet pose, I obviously can see my feet up close. If there is no or very little sweat on my feet, it's too cold.
5) My towel - A great gauge of the temperature. The hotter it is, the more I sweat and obviously the more my towel is covered in sweat. You can practically weight my towel after class and the heavier it is, the hotter it was in class.
6) My right heel. I broke my right heel about 13 years ago and it never quite healed correctly. When it's cold outside it starts to hurt a bit. A few times, it's been so cold in the yoga room that it starts to hurt. This is a sure sign that it's a bad day in the room! Luckily this is a pretty rare occurance.
7) Steam. Yeah, that's right. A few times I've been in a class that's so hot and humid that I've seen steam, and the mirrors have fogged up a bit.
8) The temperature of the floor. If the room gets hot enough, the floor at my studio will actually get pretty warm. This is fairly rare, but it's happened.
9) The feel. My personal favorite and an obvious one, but it really works. After nearly 400 classes, I can feel the temperature and humidity very accurately. I usually check the temp and humidity when I first walk into the room and after class, and I'm pretty good at guessing the numbers. Sometimes I'm convinced the thermometer in the room is wrong, but that might just be how I feel that day. The teachers generally don't want the students to know the temperature and humidity, but most of them are fine with me checking because they know I'm checking for the exact opposite reason most other students are checking. I want to make sure it's hot enough, not that it's too hot!
I'd love to hear any other ways people gauge the temperature in the room.
Greg
The subject of the temperature of the room is always a hot topic (sorry for the pun!) of discussion amongst yogis. Some people like it hotter or colder, and it's really a matter of personal preference. I prefer it on the hot side as you know if you've read some of my earlier blog entries. Over time, I've developed various ways of determining if it's hot enough in the room for me. Now my opinion of whether or not it's not enough actually depends on how I feel that day. It's not so much the exact temperature and humidity readings, although that gives an idea. For example, I prefer it to be a little cooler on the weekends but during the week, I like it hotter, sometimes insanely so. So below is a list of things I use as my own personal thermometer:
1) How fast my water melts - I stick my water bottles in the freezer everyday before I go to class. They are usually a nice solid brick of ice when I start class. If it's not hot enough, they don't melt very much. If the heat is good, they melt nicely, but are still very cool when I drink them.
2) My hamstrings. A very important reason I like it hot. My hamstrings are generally a little tight, and a nice hot room loosens them up well. If the temperature is hot enough from the beginning of class, my hamstrings are fully warmed up by the time we get to Standing Head to Knee. If it's too cold, they never get fully warmed up during the class.
3) My lower back. If my lower back is stiff after the first three postures, it's too cold, that simple.
4) Sweat on my feet - On Hands to Feet pose, I obviously can see my feet up close. If there is no or very little sweat on my feet, it's too cold.
5) My towel - A great gauge of the temperature. The hotter it is, the more I sweat and obviously the more my towel is covered in sweat. You can practically weight my towel after class and the heavier it is, the hotter it was in class.
6) My right heel. I broke my right heel about 13 years ago and it never quite healed correctly. When it's cold outside it starts to hurt a bit. A few times, it's been so cold in the yoga room that it starts to hurt. This is a sure sign that it's a bad day in the room! Luckily this is a pretty rare occurance.
7) Steam. Yeah, that's right. A few times I've been in a class that's so hot and humid that I've seen steam, and the mirrors have fogged up a bit.
8) The temperature of the floor. If the room gets hot enough, the floor at my studio will actually get pretty warm. This is fairly rare, but it's happened.
9) The feel. My personal favorite and an obvious one, but it really works. After nearly 400 classes, I can feel the temperature and humidity very accurately. I usually check the temp and humidity when I first walk into the room and after class, and I'm pretty good at guessing the numbers. Sometimes I'm convinced the thermometer in the room is wrong, but that might just be how I feel that day. The teachers generally don't want the students to know the temperature and humidity, but most of them are fine with me checking because they know I'm checking for the exact opposite reason most other students are checking. I want to make sure it's hot enough, not that it's too hot!
I'd love to hear any other ways people gauge the temperature in the room.
Greg
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