Comments on: Breathing with J. Brown at Abhyasa Yoga

By: Scout

Scout — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 04:36:07 +0000

Hi J.! Thanks for the thoughts. Sorry if I seem a little serious, I really appreciated all your instructions and I will be back for more.

By “neo-Hatha” I mean Forrest Yoga, primarily. It’s so slow, I would never have guessed it would get popular. But maybe we New Yorkers are ready for the transformative, instead of just the cardio?

I think you’re right that good breathing inevitably slows down our practices. I am slowly learning that. But I’m still debating where my “edge” is, the point where I’m not stressed but not distracted, challenged but relaxed… it was easy to imagine it as the aerobic threshold (where we start breathing heavy but can still talk easily) until I just read a note on exercise vs asana, regarding heart rates:
• isometric exercise leads to a 32% increase
• isotonic exercise leads to a 13% increase
• yogic asanas lead to only a 5% increase
(courtesy of Kelly Nguyen, NOK Foundation Scholar)

So that puts yoga as another class of exercise altogether, which I did not expect. (Not that I’m saying it’s exercise.)

By: J. Brown

J. Brown — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 03:17:57 +0000

Thanks for taking the time to stop in and blog.
To answer your question: yes, it can be applied to a faster pace. Although if it becomes too fast the breath is often lost. I have found that the more facile one is with their breath, the slower the practice ends up being in reflection. If you’re looking to get your heart-rate up, you can always go for a run. “Ha-Tha” is not intended to be cardio.
I was unaware of a “neo-Hatha slowness” trend in NYC. Seems like “uber-Vinyasa” abounds mostly. To each his/her own, of course.
Sorry if I talked your ear off. I tend to do that when I’m trying to make an impression and you were difficult to get a read on.

By: Nathan Landau

Nathan Landau — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 06:15:42 +0000

Good use of the semi-colon.