My dirty little yoga secret is that I don't actually practice 6x per week. I only go to class on monday, wednesday, and friday. Sometimes I practice on saturday (!) if I skip a class during the week, or I'll practice on a moonday. Sometimes I'll skip class and not make it up at all. During my second yoga class ever, the teacher (who subsequently left the school and who I saw only that one class) told me two things: Trust the Practice, and Do Not Skip Days. Sorry, Patty!
Last Sunday I made a goal to attend yoga class every day this week as an experiment. I wanted to see if I could really wake up at 5:15 five days a week while also practicing kung fu, commuting via bicycle, and working 8-9 hours every day.
Turns out that it is possible, but not pleasant. I have been constantly exhausted this week, I was sick on thursday, I have had a bit of shoulder pain, and somehow my jaw got strained. I have been drinking tons of coffee and have been grouchy in the evenings. I consider these to be growing pains.
On the other hand, the yoga has been damn good. I still haven't made a ton of progress on marichyasana b but I finally managed to work out the jumpthroughs! They are still pretty shitty - my feet drag along the floor a lot and it feels like i'm jamming my legs through my arms rather than jumping through - but now I have a place to start and a clear path to progress. I spent a lot of time Tuesday night lying in bed visualizing the jumpthroughs and the very next day I achieved victory!
Larry Bird once said something really great about practicing shots in his mind, but I can't find the quote so who knows. I might be making it up.
I don't know if I'll try to go 5 for 5 next week, but I consider the experiment a success. The week has been a difficult road, but I think I learned something important about yoga and about myself - and I guess that is all that matters.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
The Curious Case of the Yogaman
After my yoga classes I generally like to take a few extra minutes getting changed and whatnot to rehydrate a bit and maybe chat a little with the other yogapeeps before I have to head over to work. It's nice to have a still moment in the morning. I usually finish up right at the same time that the Forrest class ends (what is that Forrest stuff all about anyway? whats the deal?) and all the women who take that class are pretty friendly and I even say hi to some of them. The women who take Mysore class all have longer practices than I do so I pretty much never talk to them.
Anyway, I was checking my phone and drinking some water this morning when I overheard the Forrest teacher musing with one of her students about why more men do not practice yoga. Naturally my curiosity was piqued, and the Forrest teacher said that while her classes are all female, her privates are all male.
hmm.. that sentence is funnier than i expected it to be...
At this point I chimed in and said that taking yoga classes is awkward for men for a few reasons.
1. Men don't want to look stupid and feel incompetent in front of a bunch of women.
I think that fundamental yoga stuff is easier for women than men as they are generally more naturally flexible, and people hate appearing awkward around people of their gender of choice. I don't think this feeling is unique to men.
2. Men are afraid of being seen as voyeurs.
Personally, I feel kinda awkward in a room full of lightly dressed women contorting their bodies. I do not check them out, except once in a while to O.O at some fancy posture or observe their vinyasa, but my fear is that all of them think "oh no. there is a man. he is looking at my boobies RIGHT NOW." I sometimes sacrifice the proper drishti so that women will not think I am checking them out. When I mentioned this, Forrestteacher and student were very surprised and said that the thought had never crossed their minds.
3. Yoga is for girls and girliemen. Real Men do Real Exercise.
I believe this is more a problem with marketing than anything else. The yoga market is extremely female oriented and advertisers market yoga products almost exclusively to women. I saw an ad once for EXTREME YOGA RAH RAH RAH but it was entirely unconvincing. On the other hand, I think the perception of yoga being purely about flexibility is unattractive to many men. Dudes don't see increased flexibility as increasing their sex appeal, whereas maybe doing boxing might score them some chicks, right? Girls like dudes with cauliflower ear, right?
Anyway, I was checking my phone and drinking some water this morning when I overheard the Forrest teacher musing with one of her students about why more men do not practice yoga. Naturally my curiosity was piqued, and the Forrest teacher said that while her classes are all female, her privates are all male.
hmm.. that sentence is funnier than i expected it to be...
At this point I chimed in and said that taking yoga classes is awkward for men for a few reasons.
1. Men don't want to look stupid and feel incompetent in front of a bunch of women.
I think that fundamental yoga stuff is easier for women than men as they are generally more naturally flexible, and people hate appearing awkward around people of their gender of choice. I don't think this feeling is unique to men.
2. Men are afraid of being seen as voyeurs.
Personally, I feel kinda awkward in a room full of lightly dressed women contorting their bodies. I do not check them out, except once in a while to O.O at some fancy posture or observe their vinyasa, but my fear is that all of them think "oh no. there is a man. he is looking at my boobies RIGHT NOW." I sometimes sacrifice the proper drishti so that women will not think I am checking them out. When I mentioned this, Forrestteacher and student were very surprised and said that the thought had never crossed their minds.
3. Yoga is for girls and girliemen. Real Men do Real Exercise.
I believe this is more a problem with marketing than anything else. The yoga market is extremely female oriented and advertisers market yoga products almost exclusively to women. I saw an ad once for EXTREME YOGA RAH RAH RAH but it was entirely unconvincing. On the other hand, I think the perception of yoga being purely about flexibility is unattractive to many men. Dudes don't see increased flexibility as increasing their sex appeal, whereas maybe doing boxing might score them some chicks, right? Girls like dudes with cauliflower ear, right?
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Manju II: Where's Manjtwo?
Today was my second and final session with Manju Jois and Greg Tebb... only except Manju wasn't there and it was just Greg. It was raining pretty hard as I walked from the Belmont redline stop to the shala. I got there right at 6:30am, pretty thoroughly soaked and saw Greg just as I was entering the Chicago Yoga Center. At first I was pretty excited; I'd be able to ask him a few questions about some injuries I have. As soon as we got into the elevator together, I remembered that I don't actually have any communication skills and any attempts at conversation would end terribly for me. At that moment in the elevator with him, my brain turned to mush.
Greg: Hello. You are here for yoga?
Me: Yes! And you are here for yoga too!
dumbass! of course he's here for yoga! Thats the only reason why he's in chicago! stupid!
Greg: ... Looks like you got your mat wet.
Me: Yeah, it's raining pretty hard out there.
really, fool? As if he can't see the rain or doesn't have rain where he's from.. idiot! No one wants to talk to you about the weather. Quick!! Ask him something else! Ask him if he lives in California with Manju!
Me: So, uh... do you live in Chicago? I mean... do you live in California?
What the hell, dude! Ask a question properly! He's going to think you're an idiot!
Greg: Oh no, I just go there sometimes to see Manju.
Me: ... ... oh...
Greg: ...
Me: ...
DAMN IT ALL!!!!!
So that marked my first interaction with Greg Tebb who seems to be a really great guy. After changing into my yoga outfit (no lululemon here, strictly Target!) I had finally managed to regain some semblance of rational thought. I asked him some questions about my wrists which give me trouble now and then. I had read online that he had practiced some martial arts in the past, and seeing as how my wrist issues are probably from punching chunks of wood for years, I figured he would be a good person to ask. He explained that sometimes the something something carpal something something tendons something something get bunched up or too tight or whatever. He told me to practice lightly when I have pain and to make sure i stretch out the forearms and wrists, and also to "gap my wrist" which is something that I learned a while ago when I was studying hapkido but I haven't really bothered to do. Good info! Thanks Greg!
At that point I just put my mat way in the corner and shut the hell up and started practicing. Much to my chagrin, my phone went off in the changing room right away. I dashed to my phone and shut it off. Fortunately no one else yet had arrived, so the damage was minimal. Practice went fine. He had some pretty nice adjustments that really helped me lengthen my hamstrings and had a couple good corrections on my Sun Salutations. I have some neck pain this week from being dropped on my head during kung fu on sunday (long story...) but today's practice really seemed to help. I took it easy in sarvangasana and all those weird shoulderstandy things in the closing sequence (karna pid, urdhva pada, pinda) and managed a pretty decent headstand as well.
Then, things took a turn for the worse. I heard a phone go off in the changing room with my exact same ringtone!!! Greg shot a look at me, and once again I ran to my phone to see why it had turned itself on and started ringing. To my relief, it wasn't my phone at all; it belonged to someone else. I went back and finished up my practice, but I then realized that Greg probably still thought it was my phone and I'm sure he was glaring real hard at me with his third eye. I finished up my savasana kinda quick and hastily left the shala so that he would realize the phone was still ringing and not mine. With my luck today though, I bet the phone turned itself off as soon as I left. :\
Greg: Hello. You are here for yoga?
Me: Yes! And you are here for yoga too!
dumbass! of course he's here for yoga! Thats the only reason why he's in chicago! stupid!
Greg: ... Looks like you got your mat wet.
Me: Yeah, it's raining pretty hard out there.
really, fool? As if he can't see the rain or doesn't have rain where he's from.. idiot! No one wants to talk to you about the weather. Quick!! Ask him something else! Ask him if he lives in California with Manju!
Me: So, uh... do you live in Chicago? I mean... do you live in California?
What the hell, dude! Ask a question properly! He's going to think you're an idiot!
Greg: Oh no, I just go there sometimes to see Manju.
Me: ... ... oh...
Greg: ...
Me: ...
DAMN IT ALL!!!!!
So that marked my first interaction with Greg Tebb who seems to be a really great guy. After changing into my yoga outfit (no lululemon here, strictly Target!) I had finally managed to regain some semblance of rational thought. I asked him some questions about my wrists which give me trouble now and then. I had read online that he had practiced some martial arts in the past, and seeing as how my wrist issues are probably from punching chunks of wood for years, I figured he would be a good person to ask. He explained that sometimes the something something carpal something something tendons something something get bunched up or too tight or whatever. He told me to practice lightly when I have pain and to make sure i stretch out the forearms and wrists, and also to "gap my wrist" which is something that I learned a while ago when I was studying hapkido but I haven't really bothered to do. Good info! Thanks Greg!
At that point I just put my mat way in the corner and shut the hell up and started practicing. Much to my chagrin, my phone went off in the changing room right away. I dashed to my phone and shut it off. Fortunately no one else yet had arrived, so the damage was minimal. Practice went fine. He had some pretty nice adjustments that really helped me lengthen my hamstrings and had a couple good corrections on my Sun Salutations. I have some neck pain this week from being dropped on my head during kung fu on sunday (long story...) but today's practice really seemed to help. I took it easy in sarvangasana and all those weird shoulderstandy things in the closing sequence (karna pid, urdhva pada, pinda) and managed a pretty decent headstand as well.
Then, things took a turn for the worse. I heard a phone go off in the changing room with my exact same ringtone!!! Greg shot a look at me, and once again I ran to my phone to see why it had turned itself on and started ringing. To my relief, it wasn't my phone at all; it belonged to someone else. I went back and finished up my practice, but I then realized that Greg probably still thought it was my phone and I'm sure he was glaring real hard at me with his third eye. I finished up my savasana kinda quick and hastily left the shala so that he would realize the phone was still ringing and not mine. With my luck today though, I bet the phone turned itself off as soon as I left. :\
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
Thanks Manju!!!
Went to a 3 hour workshop session with Manju Jois, son of Pattabhi Jois. He led us through most of primary until Navasana, then jumped to Secondary and stopped at Nakrasana. I think there may have been some additional stuff after that but I was mostly too thirsty and my head was buzzing so I don't really remember it all that clearly. After that we did some nostril-plugging pranayama and then some hilariously inept Vedic chanting. Manju and his assistant Greg Tebb led the workshop together - Manju directing, Greg demonstrating.
Initially I had a lot of apprehension about going at all. Besides the cost (not cheap), I was concerned that the workshop would be over my head and that I would not benefit much. The classes that I go to are usually under 10 people, and to be in a room filled with what I thought was sure to be only the very best and most elite yogis that chicago had to offer was intimidating.
In the end, I decided that if I was getting lost or overwhelmed, I'd just kick back and chill until the closing sequence. Maybe everyone in the class would look at me quitting early and think "gosh that guy sucks real bad!" but I decided not to give a shit anyway.
I went into the workshop with the following goals in mind: to keep up as long as I could, to quit when I couldn't push anymore, and to not fart loudly at an inopportune time. No one likes a farter.
I'm glad that I decided to go as I realized most of my worries were unfounded. The average age was about 38, and most people started to look very lost and confused right around the Marichyasanas. Most of the people weren't extremely advanced, and I was probably in the bottom 10% of students. Not bad! I was sure I was just going to be the obvious beginner and the worst at everything always. Instead I was maybe the 3rd or 4th worst in a workshop of 30-40.
Also, I didn't notice anyone snickering at my poor performance since once the practice started I didn't have any time or mind left to look around and see what others were doing. A giant squid could have come walking through the room and got into a knife fight with greg and I would not have noticed.
I did notice a bunch of amazing things though.
The first amazing thing that happened was that I successfully bound all by myself on the left side in Marichyasana B. If I look at my old blogposts, it looks like I started Marichyasana B on March 23rd and have really been struggling with it. I have been binding in it with a ton of help from my teacher for a couple weeks, and I assumed I would not be able to bind at the workshop. I was half right. Right side - no bind. I felt as far from the posture as always. But on the left side, I just bent forward, reached my left arm around, and found the fingers on my right hand without any problems at all. amazing! maybe it was the heat or something, I don't know.
Also: I held Mayurasana for at least a whole second, maybe two. Mayurasana is one of those poses that makes me go O.O and I was surprised when I realized how easy it might be when (and if) I finally make it that far. I had never tried the pose before last saturday.
I'm really glad I went. I'm going to go to his Mysore class on Wednesday since it's a moonday (!?!?!) and my normal school will not have Mysore class.
PS: So in the past week or so I have been getting a ton of hits. Are you guys actually reading this? Let me know if you made it this far in the comments and I will try to have a funny yoga picture for you tomorrow, because i'm pretty sure thats the only reason people come here. I think people react to posts in two ways: "oh look, here's one of those yoga dudes! ha ha! He's so fat!" or "oh well, he just wrote some stupid shit again. maybe next time!"
EDIT: I forgot to mention that I put my foot behind my head for a brief moment!
Initially I had a lot of apprehension about going at all. Besides the cost (not cheap), I was concerned that the workshop would be over my head and that I would not benefit much. The classes that I go to are usually under 10 people, and to be in a room filled with what I thought was sure to be only the very best and most elite yogis that chicago had to offer was intimidating.
In the end, I decided that if I was getting lost or overwhelmed, I'd just kick back and chill until the closing sequence. Maybe everyone in the class would look at me quitting early and think "gosh that guy sucks real bad!" but I decided not to give a shit anyway.
I went into the workshop with the following goals in mind: to keep up as long as I could, to quit when I couldn't push anymore, and to not fart loudly at an inopportune time. No one likes a farter.
I'm glad that I decided to go as I realized most of my worries were unfounded. The average age was about 38, and most people started to look very lost and confused right around the Marichyasanas. Most of the people weren't extremely advanced, and I was probably in the bottom 10% of students. Not bad! I was sure I was just going to be the obvious beginner and the worst at everything always. Instead I was maybe the 3rd or 4th worst in a workshop of 30-40.
Also, I didn't notice anyone snickering at my poor performance since once the practice started I didn't have any time or mind left to look around and see what others were doing. A giant squid could have come walking through the room and got into a knife fight with greg and I would not have noticed.
I did notice a bunch of amazing things though.
The first amazing thing that happened was that I successfully bound all by myself on the left side in Marichyasana B. If I look at my old blogposts, it looks like I started Marichyasana B on March 23rd and have really been struggling with it. I have been binding in it with a ton of help from my teacher for a couple weeks, and I assumed I would not be able to bind at the workshop. I was half right. Right side - no bind. I felt as far from the posture as always. But on the left side, I just bent forward, reached my left arm around, and found the fingers on my right hand without any problems at all. amazing! maybe it was the heat or something, I don't know.
Also: I held Mayurasana for at least a whole second, maybe two. Mayurasana is one of those poses that makes me go O.O and I was surprised when I realized how easy it might be when (and if) I finally make it that far. I had never tried the pose before last saturday.
I'm really glad I went. I'm going to go to his Mysore class on Wednesday since it's a moonday (!?!?!) and my normal school will not have Mysore class.
PS: So in the past week or so I have been getting a ton of hits. Are you guys actually reading this? Let me know if you made it this far in the comments and I will try to have a funny yoga picture for you tomorrow, because i'm pretty sure thats the only reason people come here. I think people react to posts in two ways: "oh look, here's one of those yoga dudes! ha ha! He's so fat!" or "oh well, he just wrote some stupid shit again. maybe next time!"
EDIT: I forgot to mention that I put my foot behind my head for a brief moment!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
YogiToes
Had an extremely difficult and torturous practice this morning. Focus was terrible, breathing was terrible, I couldn't even bind in Marichy A, shoulder hurt, wrist was uncomfortable, and I managed to somehow jump back a little too hard and hurt my toe. Didn't really bother me at the time, but a few hours later I was sitting crosslegged and noticed redness on the side of my toe.yeah thats weird. hopefully this doesn't give me problems in the future.
I'm always terrible at yoga, but some days are worse than others. This was the worst.
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