Yoga Outside The Studio

Last weekend I traveled to the Quad Cities (you get a prize if you know where that is) for my Uncle's funeral. Though the circumstances were sad, it was nice to see my extended family and travel to my father's home town. I was worried, when I left because I very much wanted to continue the challenge by taking yoga classes in a studio and wasn't sure how my practice would be, especially if it was self-led!

The first day I was gone, I looked and looked for studios with a good class time but nothing worked out. It was Sunday (fewer classes on the schedule), and I was at the funeral home while over 400 people came to pay their respects to my Uncle's family. Although it turned out to be 5 hours of watching these people file by, it was also an amazing experience -- one that was bursting with yoga, for me.

When the first 100 visitors & my family sat down to pray the rosary (my Uncle's family is Catholic), I heard a rhythm and practice that cleared the mind and calmed the body. I had the desire to go to the back and practice some flow for the half an hour it took them to recite the 5 mysteries (forgive me if that's not the right title, I'm not Catholic!). I did not give in to that desire but shut my eyes and pictured my yoga practice, taking deep breaths and making my intention relate to my Uncle's peace and his family's comfort. Religion, Christ and God are a touchy subject for me but yoga provided an outlet for my prayer and process.

After an extremely long and emotional day, we didn't get home until after 10pm. I had asked my parents for help in fulfilling my yoga challenge and my mom asked to do some yoga with me. She does pilates at her home (Denver) but isn't a yogi. I provided a disclaimer that I had never led anyone (not even myself) through a yoga practice but it turns out I had nothing to worry about. Yoga just came out of me and my teachers at Sol have provided me with the language to share that with my mother (which reminded me of the language that everyone in the funeral home was using during the recitation of the rosary). She was ready for bed after about 10 minutes, so I took my practice into the room where I was staying. From 11:30pm-midnight, I had a great practice. It was easy! I just did what came to mind and it worked perfectly. I was surprised by how inherent yoga had become.

Despite how good my self-led practice was, I still wanted to visit a local studio. The next evening I took a class at Davenport School of Yoga. The studio felt similar to Sol, with wood floors, high ceilings and on the top floor of a historic building in downtown Davenport... but the class felt completely different. The teacher was kind and attempted to explain what the differences would be (after I told her how we normally practiced and the Challenge that I was in the midst of) but I didn't fully understand until class. There was no flow! We oriented our mats horizontally to the front of the room. Other things were different, too, including sun salutations. We did lunges and no chaturanga. We did Warrior One on the right and then just switch to the left. It felt disjointed but I tried to just experience it and let go of any awkwardness I felt. After a few minutes, I decided to add my own flow... And I didn't feel judged! I did end up facing a different direction than others and never got as warm as I would have liked but it ended up being a combination of their practice and my own.

Finally, on the third morning, just a couple hours before my flight home, I visited Red Root Hot Yoga. This experience was intense and fascinating. The studio was brand new and outfitted perfectly-- special floors, essential oil humidifiers, fancy locker rooms, etc. The practice was more similar to Sol's flow classes but was incredibly HOT and HUMID. The teacher said the room was around 100 degrees and I'm guessing 90% humidity. There were mirrors across the front of the room and only 2 other people in the class-- one of them ended up leaving because he thought he would throw up. Needless to say, I managed to make it all the way through but felt uncomfortable and exhausted most of the time. I found the teacher's adjustments distressing and he seemed to comment negatively on hearing my breath or modifying a pose. I was happy with the physical exhaustion that came from the class but he plugged his facebook page and email list at the beginning of savasana and left the room after that. It seems that the most expensive set up was not a replacement for some deeper sense of yoga and peace.

These experiences were valuable to me and I don't regret visiting other studios but each one reinforced my love of Sol Yoga and it's teachers and environments. Before I found Sol (thanks Beccah!), I tried other studios during college and in our area but could never take yoga seriously. Because of Sol, it is now a big part of my life. Going back to my first class on Wednesday felt like coming home. I'm beginning to think that I should continue to do yoga every single day, regardless of any sort of challenge, studio or teacher!

Namste,

Amanda Mizeur