Yoga Practices GIS 4636

            Week 6 of online yoga practice this week. This time I chose to play a prerecorded video from YouTube to practice on my own time. The video I chose is “30 min Beginner Yoga - Full Body Yoga for Strength and Flexibility” by Yoga with Kassandra. With taking a practice this way, I was able to do at anytime I was available at home. Although I would rather be in an in-person class at a regularly scheduled time, this format once in a while is interesting and I can improve on myself in a much different way.            The video started with a couple minutes of meditation and breathing; sitting comfortably while clearing the mind and allowing your body and mindset ready for yoga. I wish I took this class earlier so I can get my breathing down and become more comfortable completing easier positions while breathing the right way. Slowly stretching my way into more difficult positions become easier when I took a step back to focus more on my breathing. In my personal practice space

  “[Yoga] is a daily lifelong practice” A quote from last week's online yoga class from guest teachers Andrew and Mila Eppler. When they guided the class through the steps, Andrew talked his way through while Mila showed us how it should look. During practice, I did find it odd that Andrew only spoke throughout the class and did not do any of the poses but then also only Mila showed how to do it and didn’t say anything. This week’s class has been my fifth online yoga class this semester through zoom. Although I am not a huge fan of zoom and prefer to experience things like these in person, having some background before starting an actual in-person class I believe could help in future classes. For example, being more familiar with the name of the pose and have the ability to perform the class without looking up. This is completely possible with all in-person classes but for me, hearing all the terms before putting them into action helps with actively using them. I would like to take

           Week three of online zoom yoga practice. The guest teacher for yoga practice this week is Amita Bhagat. Anita showed how to do Iyengar yoga. Its practices in 53 countries and is about finder one’s inner self. It takes six to seven years of practice to become certified at the first level; there are multiple levels to Iyengar yoga. It can be analyzed as a ritual because it is an action that an individual repeats on a schedule, whether that be daily to annually. A ritual consists of certain steps be taken at a specific time; one can think of it like a witch’s spell and of course yoga. According to Nevrin, symbols and props with set rules of interaction are rituals but yoga can be explained also in that way. Iyengar himself used his body as a “test subject,” meaning his body was treated in a way that a scientist would perform tests on a lab subject; a “laboratory” Amita said. He would practice most of his life, after a day of teaching he would then spend ten hours practicing for

            Week three of online yoga. This week’s class was via a zoom call in class with guest speaker Diane Polli. She walked us through a different kind of yoga called Bikram Yoga. Although she did not perform the poses, Professor Greene showed the class how it was done. For this type of yoga, I’ve noticed that the individual performing it must already have some flexibility. As a beginner, it was not starter friendly and I was not able to fully or correctly perform the positions. In a typical Bikram Yoga studio, those who practice regularly and are familiar with how the class flows, are put in the front to show others how to carry out the positions. Since this class was online and was not available for an in-person setting, I believe it was executed the best it could.           The beginning of the class felt pointless; we started with a breathing exercise to lay out the foundation, but it was just moving my head and arms up and down to me. As we moved on, the positions become more

         Going into my second online yoga class I felt more prepared compared to last week’s class. Equipment-wise I still do not have a yoga mat and blocks but I was able to make do with a large towel o placed on a rug, so it does not slide around and I can get a good grip for more complicated positions. Blocks were not needed for this week’s class and just in case I did need them, I had a stack of books beside me to use in place of a block. I choose to take the class with my camera and microphone off so I can focus more on performing the yoga poses and not worry about my laptop. This week the class worked on postures, opening the sides, and breathing. We started with laying down flat on the floor with our backs down and took a couple of moments to take control of our breathing. Starting on the floor is great to prepare one’s self for the session but the class was at 8:30 am and it made me want to go back to sleep a little.      Making your yoga space “sacred” can be done in a co

  “You have taken root in the Beloved. I love your golden branches And the hundred graceful movements Your body now makes each time The wind, children and love come near.” ―  شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Shams-al-Din Mohammad Hafez,  The Subject Tonight Is Love: 60 Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/70582-the-subject-tonight-is-love-sixty-wild-and-sweet-poems-of-hafiz

          This week I took my first online yoga class. Previously, I have never taken any kind of class relating to yoga and the class I took was for beginners. The teacher started with simple poses and transitions into other poses. They thoroughly explained each pose position, when to take a breath, which muscles to target, and how to transition carefully. The pace was slow, perfect for first-time class takers, and with the class being online I was in a comfortable home environment. To make the at-home experience as close as one can to being an in-person class is that the teacher talked through all the movements with fine details. Going to class in person can make a person nervous. By choosing where they are taking the class, they can control the environment any way they want. For example, whether it is inside or outside, a darker room, choice of aromatherapy with essential oils or candles, and take a break when needed. They are some downsides, like not having the correct equipment an