Countdown to Yoga School ~ Days 15 & 14

It was a great weekend. So good that I didn't get to write until now.  I wrote about Day 16 from the road with Burnt Sugar, which was amazing! We played in Philly on Friday night, but I did my due diligence and went to class on Saturday morning.  No too early, but morning nonetheless.

The strange thing about Saturday (Day 15) was that I got up and was ready to go to class in plenty of time, but for some reason I was still late.  Well the reason is that I always forget how janky the trains are on the weekend. I hate getting to class late, but it happens. Luckily Saturday's class was an hour and a half.  Most of the classes at Area are an hour and ten minutes.

Saturday's class was a Basics class and Angela was teaching.   She took her time in class and allowed me to really think about the postures a little more. I'm really into foundation work right now and I've  really been thinking about and working on my chaturanga. I think I might have been doing it a bit wrong for a while because when I try to do it correctly I can really feel my shoulder and not in the best way.  I'm not beating myself up, but it is something to focus on going forward. I know I need to strengthen my left shoulder.  I know it's not 100%, but I will get there or do the best I can trying.  All in all it was a great class. I'm glad I made it even thought I was a little tardy to the party.

Today (Day 14), I did as I will be doing at Kripalu, which is take the day off.  I will only have 4 Sunday's off the whole time I'm there. I didn't just laze about today though. Once a month I volunteer at a alternative healing center for women with breast cancer or survivors called You Can Thrive!  It's an amazing place and I get to do Reiki on the women who come and help them in their healing process. These women are so inspirational.  I feel blessed to be a part of that healers community.

Besides that my day was pretty regular. Cleaned house a bit, biked to see my cousin for a while, came home, made dinner and then had rehearsal for my shows this week.  It was a great day.

I received a few donations over the weekend and I am so thankful. We are almost there folks!  Just about $300 to go to make tuition! It's really amazing how generous everyone has been. I am so humbled and thankful.  There is still time to donate so please help out in any way you can. Either by donating or spreading the word.  Thank you so much!

Namaste.

Crowdfunding

Yoga Passbook Day 2011 - Day 4 (Om Factory/The Boss)

Om Factory 265 W 37th St, New York, NY, www.omfactorynyc.com

If you read the little bio on the side of this blog then you know I'm a vocalist/musician as well as a yogini.  Tomorrow I am on my way to Paris for the first time with a band called the Burnt Sugar Arkestra Chamber. I'm so excited as I have never been to Paris before. 

On the day of the last Burnt Sugar rehearsal before Paris I decided to get a little yoga in. I looked through my Passbook and found Om Factory. The yoga studio is on W. 37th street, which put me really close to the rehearsal studio on W. 30th street. 

Om Factory has a nice vibe to it.  It has three very nice size studios and the changing room is cool as well. There are cubbies to leave your belongings on the right as you walk in, which is a also a sort of lounge area with benches and shoe storage.

The room we practiced in was orange and had a great symbol painted on the wall. I was one of the first people to class so I put my mat down and relaxed for bit. The teacher was in the room getting himself together and two other women were in the room with me as well.  The teacher came over and introduced himself (you know how I love that),  his name was Faramarz and he complimented my t-shirt I had on for class.  He informed us that he would be teaching that day in place of Kelly who had an emergency.  Well the ladies in the room didn't seem too pleased about that. They kept talking about Kelly's class and how challenging it is.  I mean they went on almost to say that it was going to be hard to fill her shoes.  Now I had never had class with Kelly so as far as I was concerned Faramarz was my teacher.

Soon the room began to fill up and class began.  Faramarz had us begin in a restorative pose to help open the shoulders. We started on the floor, but it only went up from there.  The class is called Vinyasa: Foundation Level, but it was challenging for sure. I kept chuckling to myself thinking that those ladies probably put the "I'll show you" into our teacher for the day and he was giving it to us.  LOL!  I know that probably wasn't the case, but it sure felt like it.

Usually any class that says "Foundation," "Basic" or "Level 1" won't take the students through certain things like chaturanga (at least not right away), but that was not the case here. We jumped right into it. There was no talk of kness, chest, chin.  Of course we could modify, but he didn't call it from the beginning.  So you know this class was off the hook.  Once during class I glanced over at the two ladies who were raving about Kelly. I think they were wishing for Kelly to come back...soon! 

All in all it was a great class! Faramarz is a great teacher. He had jokes and reminded us to smile though the poses. He would demonstrate harder positions and come by to help people. Maybe this was "Foundation" test day, but whatever, it was a great class.

When it was all over I had to talk to Faramarz and get a picture for the blog. After chatting for a bit I found out that he is the owner of Om Factory. Well no wonder that class was as challenging as it was.  HA!  I could only laugh.

Me & Faramarz

I pulled myself together after class and headed over the rehearsal.  Great way to get in the right mind for a 4 hour rehearsal.  All in the name of Paris!

I'm going to do my best to find some time to get a yoga class in while in Europe. I would love to get my downward dog on in the UK!

Namaste.