May Schedule

"Anyone who practices can obtain success in yoga but not one who is lazy.  Constant practice is the secret of success."  Read on at the end of the schedule about yoga etiquette and respect for the instructor as secrets for your success.

Thank you so much for your attendance in our yoga classes!  I enjoy teaching and doing my practice of yoga very much.  Here is our most current schedule for May 2012!

Yoga morning classes are as follows:  5:30 a.m. on Mondays for Beach Body Yoga - wear tennis shoes as we add walking or running to our early morning energizer!
5:30 a.m. on Tuesdays for Kundalini - Chakra study.  Kundalini is the marriage of movement and breath.
5:30 a.m. on Thursdays for Weight Loss Yoga - again wear tennis shoes to add some cardio to your day.
5:30 a.m. on Fridays for Boot Camp Workout + Yoga - we practice outside with cardio, weight lifting, and come inside for final relaxation. 
 7:00 a.m. on Wednesdays for Yoga Is Better than Coffee - 45 minutes of an easier yoga practice or harder if you add more to your movement.
7:00 a.m. on Saturdays for Yoga for Athletes - this is a great class for everyone - modify or ramp it up!
Once school is out, some of the ladies are asking for another day.  Would Monday morning work for a 45 minute 7:00 a.m. class?

9:00 a.m. on Saturdays for Core Yoga for Beginners.  This is our Bring a Friend for Free class.  It is small, but powerful for working your abdominal region.  Anyone can do it!
In the summer, we will add 10:30 Vinyasa Flow classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  The NOON class on Mondays, that I had planned, will begin in July.  I just received free tuition waivers for NSU summer class.  What an unexpected gift from God!  No classes from 9:00 until 1:00 on Mondays this summer due to this surprise blessing.

Is anyone interested in Chair Yoga?  No one came on our trial run in March.  If you know of someone, please contact them and let me know.  Thanks!

Kid Yoga will be on Friday mornings only at 10:30 a.m. for 45 minutes of storytime yoga.  Summer schedule will begin on Wednesday, May 30th. 

Yoga afternoon classes are as follows:  4:15 p.m. on Fridays for Yoga and Arthritis.  We are studying Dr. Loren Fishman's book and working our joints, muscles, and skeletal structure.
2:30 p.m. on Sundays for Yoga and Arthritis.  Today is Yoga for the Sciatic Nerve! 
4:00 p.m. on Sundays for Vinyasa Flow Yoga.  This is an energetic, mid-level class!  We move, we strengthen, and we develop more flexibility!
This summer we will add 4:15 p.m. on Mondays for Teen Yoga (45 minutes), and I have had a request for another Yoga and Athritis class in the afternoon slot at 4:15.  Would that be good for about 5 people?

Yoga evening classes are as follows:  at 5:30 p.m. (45 - 55 minutes) for Workday crowd or those who want to practice before dinner include the following:
5:30 p.m. on Mondays for a great 45 minute workout with Yoga for Strength and Toning.
5:30 p.m. on Tuesdays for Balancing Yoga.
5:30 p.m. on Wednesdays for Beginner's Intro to Power Yoga.  Yes, we do the Plank!  60 -65 minutes
5:30 p.m. on Thursdays for Kundalini Energizer.  We breathe; we move at a quicker pace.
5:30 p.m. on Fridays for our sweat producing Power UP yoga class.  60 - 65 minutes
Later evening classes at 6:40 p.m. only on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  This class may not continue due to small numbers.  If you want to see it on the schedule, please come!
6:40 p.m. on Tuesdays for Lower Body Vinyasa Flow and flexibility work.
6:40 p.m. on Thursdays for Upper Body Vinyasa Flow and flexibility training.
All classes are 60-65 minutes long unless otherwise noted.
*****
I received this lovely note from my friend and fellow instructor about respect for the instructor who is teaching as a key to success on the mat.  Just like any program or class you attend, there is etiquette and respect that correspond with the event.  When you show up at the Y, the gym, the opera, the classroom, or even in someone's home studio, remember the teacher and respect for the teacher are also the key to your success.

Most people criticize out of a need to feel more important.  So, it is our responsibility as teachers to open them to this realization.  The Niyamas and Yamas of the Eight Limbed Path of Yoga have something to say about yoga etiquette.

• The Niyama of Self Study (Svadhyaya)  The practice of paying attention to why we do and say what we do is helpful. To observe one's critical nature and to look for the root cause of that condition is one way to go.
• What does it strengthen in critical people when she or he elevates herself or himself above the teacher? This is probably a condition in which she or he has been stuck for some time and may manifest in many other areas of her or his life.
• All un-asked for criticism is an effort to boost one's own ego. To shore up the "Little Me" inside.  Ego causes suffering; either for you ultimately or someone else.
• Another way is to help them surrender (Ishvarapranidhana).  In the case of a yoga class, surrendering their need to be right. To not seek external validation through criticizing those in charge at the time.
• If, however, the person or persons will not look inside to understand their motivation then another avenue would be to use the Yama of Ahimsa (compassion for all beings). In this they would be compassionate and understand that a teacher may occasionally make a small mistake and would let it slide.   In not doing so, they would quickly meet their own need to announce their superiority and have to be present for that feeling.   Stephen Saunders

In letting it go, they would be doing what Scripture calls, "Love covers and does not expose."

Check out this article from the New York Times.

Invasion of the Serenity Saboteurs
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ

YOGA is about casting off petty annoyances and toxic judgments — a seemingly Sisyphean task for those hopped up on New York City living. But what if irritation trails you right onto your mat, in the guise of ring tones, exhibitionists or bliss-busting interruptions?
Is there no compact of dos and don’ts inside a yoga studio? Common sense and fellowship usually dictate. Still, teachers and students, no matter how tolerant, harbor pet peeves.
Here are a few, in no particular order, culled from interviews and online rants.

BARGING OUT Hearing a fellow student leave class noisily, as you soak in those final minutes of well-earned relaxation, is akin to being awakened midsleep by an air horn (well, almost). It is too sudden, too soon.

“You are Zenned out,” said the blogger YogaDork, who asked to remain incognito, describing the splendor of Savasana, resting pose. “And people are fumbling for bags and rolling up the mats.”

BARGING IN The same goes for people who march into a class, whip open their mats and plunk down their belongings, sometimes while others are meditating.

“The thwapping of the mat — that is very jarring,” said Anya Porter, a teacher and teacher manager at Yoga Works in Midtown. “The class is quiet. Sometimes there is music playing. People can be really loud.”

OVEREXPOSURE Some men take a minimalist approach to yoga wear, and not everyone is pleased about having a sweaty, stripped-down man within arm’s reach. “There are guys in European bathing suits,” said an outraged Kendra Cunningham, a yoga lover and comedian who lives in Brooklyn. “We’re not in Capri here; it’s Cobble Hill.” Ralph De La Rosa, a manager at Go Yoga in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, who describes himself as mostly tolerant, also draws the line at the half-naked male practitioner. “I like it when guys keep their shirts on,” he said. Worse still are the men who wear loose-fitting shorts for comfort, with nothing underneath, prompting discomfort in the ladies around them.

GOING SOLO Yogis and yoginis who conduct their own session within the class, choosing poses that diverge from the instructor’s calls, can be a challenge for teachers. “It is certainly distracting,” Ms. Porter said. “It brings the attention and focus onto that person.”


CELLPHONES It goes without saying: Cellphone chatter, unending ring tones and texting are roundly booed. One teacher whose list of grievances was posted on fitsugar.com remembered a woman who answered her cellphone and shouted, “I’m in (expletive) yoga. Why are you calling me?”


HYGIENE No one smells like a rose in yoga class. And you shouldn’t, because some people are allergic to or just dislike inhaling perfume. But body odor shouldn’t make you gag, either. Foot odor can be even worse. “I can handle B.O.,” the Dork said, “but there is nothing worse than stinky feet when you are mat-to-mat and you are upside down and close to people’s feet.”

In theory, none of this should bother us — or at least some of us. “Not to sound pessimistic,” Ms. Cunningham said, “I feel like the only people who have achieved that degree of serenity are the teachers who have been practicing in India in mud huts.”
So, for those who live in walk-ups, arise to the melody of garbage trucks and slumber to the lullaby of barking dogs: Keep your clothes tight, your cellphone off, your oms in line. And wash your feet.

As I always say in my second grade classroom, "Nobody is perfect.  If you can't make a mistake, you cannot make anything."  My Brian, Handsome Yoga Man and Receptionist, says, "The only person who was perfect was crucified."   George Bernard Shaw said, "A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life doing nothing."

Namaste'
Jeanne K.

Moms practice for free on Mother's Day; Dads practice for free on Father's Day!