Heart Full

Today’s class at Yoga Vida focussed on the much dreaded but deliciously satisfying hip openers.  Your pelvis / hips are the central hub of your body. Range of movement found in the hips can be a profound experience. It’s not uncommon in class during a deeply hip opening pose (i.e. Lizard) for people to spontaneous begin tearing up. “We often store our deepest emotions in the hips”, Kristin (Leal) had told us during teacher training. That didn’t make sense to me at the time, but it does now. Everyone has a pocket of stress that they keep. For me that pocket is my locked jaw. Wound so tight that I grind my teeth at night, to the point of dental problems. For others, those stress pockets are in their hips.

The hips being such a major intersection of our body, is often met with a good deal of caution and in my case fear. I fear that my hips aren’t open enough, and so I don’t attempt to try certain poses like padmasana (Lotus). I fear that if  I try it, It’ll come out wrong, and the rotation I find will be in my weak knees, possibly causing more damage. I also scarcely approach certain advanced poses like visvamitrasana (pictured)  for pretty much the same reason. But avoidance is hardly the right answer to our fears. Instead we should mindfully approach a relationship with them, one that will allow us stronger bonds and better memories. Right now, mine are littered with what they feel like in the morning (not good), the soreness they feel after a challenging class (even worse), and on occasion a reminder that mine is slightly skewed lending to a waddle like walk. And my hips know how I feel about them, they are saddened by it, and every day they try to win me over. So instead of resenting them, maybe I should give them a little love, and maybe just maybe one day I’ll find the freedom the infinitely serene Yadana has found in hers (pictured).

P.S. Good warm up poses for Visvamitrasana are:

• Viparita Karani (Legs up the wall)
• Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana (revolved head of the knee pose)
• Baddha Parsvakonasana (Bound side angle)
• Vasisthasana (side plank)

For a video showcasing all of these warm ups: Yoga Journal Master Class

We’ve all had first loves, and we’ve probably all been someone’s first love. We remember the dewy rush of discovery, the I-just-can’t-quit-you phase. I remember it distinctly. After my first class at New York Yoga, I was hooked. So hooked, I went every day for about a week — skipping meals so I could afford the $20 drop-in classes. Sounds crazy huh? Someone finally pointed out class packs to me, and my whole world changed.

Three years later, I’m still in love and I hope to continue to be for many more years. In fact I wanted to share the love, leading me to my teacher training program in 2008. I wanted to learn enough about teaching yoga, that I’d be able to impart yoga’s wisdom on close friends and family. But I didn’t quite succeed. The truth is, yoga needs to be practiced regularly, if not daily, and that’s not something anyone will do unless they’re IN LOVE. One of my colleagues at my day job (after discovering I’m into yoga), wanted to learn more about it. He asked me in complete seriousness why the classes he had seen were so long, “an hour and half” he said shaking his head, “who DOES that?”. “Well” I shyly offered, “some classes are longer. And even then it doesn’t feel like enough”. Blank stare.
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Joe Mangrum is a nyc artist. You might find him (as we did) one spring afternoon in Union Square, on all fours squinting at his work, occasionally adjusting his cowboy hat. He’s not particularly friendly, but then it’s not his personality that draws you, it’s what he’s painting (with sand), and it’s astonishing. Part mandala, part hieroglyphic, and all art. I asked him what it was if it wasn’t “some kind of mandala” as I was inclined to see it. He refused categorization, his artwork inherits from a wide base, everything from science and DNA strings, to philosophy and his own imagination. Whatever it is he’s usually there from 11am to well into the evening, sand painting. And by sand painting I mean he has bags of colored sand, that he dips into by the bare fistful and expertly sprinkles across the pavement. He works quickly but even still by 6pm he’s still on his hands and knees. I can’t imagine what this is doing to his body, I suspect though that some heart openers would do a world of good.

His artwork does me a world of good. It’s inspiring just to see him conjure the images from his mind and without any hesitation translate his vision to cold concrete. It’s unexpected bits of beauty like this that make me happy to be a yogini in NYC.

NYC Yogini: How long have you been practicing yoga?

Rob: 1 month

NYC Yogini: Do you have a studio you usually practice at?

Rob: New York Sports Club — Mercer St and Madison

NYC Yogini: How did you get started in yoga?

Rob: I was going through a stressful period, and it helped me deal with it.

NYC Yogini: How did it help you deal?

Rob: It helped me not think about it. The class is BRUTAL (insert bulging eyes), I sweat more in it than any cardio! Afterwards my mind just goes blank and I can relax.

NYC Yogini: Do you have a pose you’re working on now?

Rob: Handstand! And I’m so close! I just got the tripod head stand … that was pretty cool.

It certainly is pretty cool.