Hot Silent Flow happens every Saturday. Claudine studied the Barkan Method in Florida and teaches his flow-style hot yoga in a candle lit room. Awesome. It's a smooth, steady flow based on Bikram's 26 postures, but with added variation. At the start you do two sets of pranayama breathing, and then move into a sun salutation series to warm-up the body. After several of the intro poses, you move into Bikram's series, but alternate second sets with different postures. The variation is great, and adds an additional layer of focus as you try out new poses. Just as practice makes perfect, incorporating new postures opens up your body to different stretches (and therapeutic effects).
I enjoy the idea of muscle confusion and the added challenge of trying something new. And the following Monday, when I go back to the straight 26 (with maybe some added pigeon-great stretch for the piriformis...butt muscle!), I am seriously in it to win it. The class is usually always one of my strongest series; my alignment stays true as I explore new depths. And Claudine's voice is perfect for this class: strong, calm and sincere. You just do what she says and the light music in the background shuts out all the other crap floating in your head. What's that you say? Oh, why yes...it is awesome.
Speaking of all things awesome, Tim, the sweet man of the Morning Times, helped me stretch out my back at work during a short respite from the onslaught of patrons. Though it looked borderline pornographic (on a scale from 1 to having sex on the counter), it was the best push I've received in quite some time. I did a quick forward bend, wrapped my hands around my ankles and flattened my back separate-leg-stretching style. From there, Tim pushed on my lower back, which quickly brought my head to rest on the crumb-covered floor. It was amazing...my back cracked and popped, and then just melted down. I felt immediately better as I reversed the pose and thanked Tim repeatedly for being awesome. Super awesome. So thank you, Tim, for being the sweetest man around.
Class: Hot Silent Flow
Instructor: Claudine
Studio: Open Door
Wins: Claudine and her clear voice; flow; Tim's magical push.
No comments:
Post a Comment