Yoga 101 - Flow Yoga

I did my first formal yoga class today.

It was great! A full two hours of "flow yoga", which is basically constant movement through the asanas (poses), even when the legs are in a stable base, generally we are moving our hands and torsos in rhytmuc motion syncced with breathing. It was so so so natural... it was also curious that I was one of only 3 men in the class. At times I was shaking with the exertion, and I knew it was good when I lost hearing in my left ear due to bloodflow / oxygen issues. Thats what happens when I get into extreme workout positions, but rarely happens in the gym because of the 1 minute set breaks. I really really enjoyed it and also was pleasantly surprised at how well both my book training and my two burn classes had prepared me for this. The corpse pose at the end rocked my world, i completely relaxed and went into lala land. It was so quiet. Of interest is that many of my free thoughts wandered around Disney and the future of Epcot. I came back into consciousness mere seconds before the soft voice of the instructor came through. Perfect.

Sandy, our teacher, had asked us to set intention with a mudra at the beginning of practice. We then came back to visit that intention again at the end of class and were asked to look at how it might have changed or been manifested. Mine +definitely+ changed. I felt so much more grounded and ready for compassion and green 4th chakra by the end, I felt stable.

She said about 2/3 way through practice that yoga isn't about twisting your body into pretzels, its about learning to stand strong on two feet. I LOVE that thought! That is why I practice.

PS - Tree pose ROCKS!