On Thursday I finally went over to the “Conquering Lion Yoga” class at Greenhouse. The name was of course interesting, but I’d been a little scared that the instructor’s bio (listing somewhat unrelated experience as a wardrobe supervisor and costume designer on Broadway) might lead to some Jazz Hands and drama. Happily, that was not [...]

Last night there was a new sub for Nancy (who has mostly departed Greenhouse for acupuncture school). The sub was Paul Manza, and I’d somehow heard of him before in a random blog I read, so I hopped on over. Oh, I just realized he might be the Paul that used to teach at Laughing [...]

Tonight I felt simultaneously tired and tense. I turned down a job, and was all worried about upsetting the friend who offered it to me, and finishing a web project that’s over my head, and prioritizing the clients that are all reappearing at once, and grieving my boyfriend’s upcoming seven-week trip to France. So I [...]

I just went to a new (for me) class (at Greenhouse) and loved it. Even though I had decided to do a Pilates routine today so I could work more, the teacher’s bio won me over: Molly’s yoga class is known for it’s [sic] intelligent Hatha flow in a vigorous and dynamic style that heals, [...]

I had such a bad week last week. For various reasons I was in a fog and didn’t practice for six days. Friday I finally took class, and my appreciation for each pose was enormous, almost worth the stiffness. The risk of daily practice is getting into a making-myself-do-it mindset, where I’m at war with [...]

Whew! I headed to a 60-minute pilates class at Greenhouse that turned out to be a 90-minute vinyasa class with 20-second holds on most poses. It was “basics”, but I left with wobbly legs and a happy head. Leigh taught this class, and I was really impressed with its arrangement. First of all, she had [...]

This morning I got up early (9:15) and went to J.Brown’s class at Abhyasa. It’s the new studio on Metropolitan and Leonard. I really liked the essays he posted on the studio’s site; like me, he’s looking for something more than just acrobatics and athletic achievement of poses. (I should say for me, in addition [...]

Tonight it was Prana Yoga at Greenhouse. Strange class — we chanted a chakra mantra 1–3 times at the beginning of each pose. As in “stretch your arm out and down into Triangle, exhaling ‘Lam Lam Lam’ as you go.” Each pose is supposed to activate a chakra along the spine, so I assume we [...]