Week 3

         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 difficult and require more flexibility than the average person has. I was focusing more on how to keep my balance and was very confused if I am performing it right. “Further, deeper, longer” Diane would say with each position. By the fifth or sixth pose, I could not balance on one foot. The first half of the class was the most difficult personally and the second half was more my style. We did floor positions that did not require much balance, and I was able to focus more on stretching “further, deeper, [and] longer”. I would not try Bikram yoga again in the near future, but I may give it another chance if I were to become more regular at yoga.

        I still do not have a yoga mat and used the towel on a rug method. It works for now but if I plan to become more serious about constantly going to practices, I may purchase one. As of right now, I do not plan on purchasing all the materials, like blocks and belts, for this semester. I believe that yoga does not necessarily have to be done in a special studio filled with aromatherapy and expensive activewear, anyone can do it anywhere like outside surrounded by nature, or in your living room. Relaxing to working out to a religious experience, yoga can be made into anything you want it to.

Comments

  1. Laurie GreeneOctober 6, 2020 at 1:41 AM

    good. How did you feel about Dianne not doing the class?

    ReplyDelete

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