Week 3

Last week I focused on the physical fitness aspect of my yoga experience, so this week I will describe the spiritual or ritualistic aspect of my experience.  I practiced again at Grow Yoga in Galloway.  There is always scented oils being infused into the air and tranquil music playing in the background making it feel calm.  As for the practice room, no shoes are allowed to be worn.  I assume this could be for practical reasons such as keeping the room free of dirt, but it also to give the room more of a spiritual vibe.  By not wearing shoes I suppose everyone is supposed to feel at home and free.  The instructor's dialogue and words of wisdom at certain parts during the lesson was encouraging and insightful. It made it feel like the practice similar to prayer or meditation.  

Week 2

This week I went to a 5:30 am class at Grow Yoga yesterday.  I wanted to get an early start that day. So I have finally started to get the general flow of each class. Each class starts with pretty easy poses and they gradually increase in difficulty.  The final few minutes the heat and the lights gets turned off and the fans get put on.

Yoga is definitely framed as more than just an exercise.  The whole aspect of mindfulness on the senses makes it different than many other exercises.  For me I'm still trying to make sense of yoga but it almost feels like a dance class where everyone is dancing by themselves. What I mean is that, like dance, yoga allows people to express themselves through movement. It really is not that much different.  Unlike dancing to music you just do poses to the sound of the instructors voice.  In this way it is more introspective than dancing with someone else. 

   

Week 1

I've been practicing yoga for about two months now after a friend suggested that I try it.  My goal was to go in with an open mind and see what the hype was about.  At the very least it would be a good workout and I would meet new people while trying something new.

The studio I have been going to is called Grow Yoga.  Grow Yoga has a very friendly and family oriented atmosphere. I try to go everyday.  This semester my goal is to try different yoga studios, namely yoga 9 and the yoga on Stockton's campus.

Yesterday, September 15th, I attended a class at Grow Yoga called "Steve's Class: A Creative Vinyasa".  Since the class was at 5:45pm I expected there to be more people attending from after work.  There are sometimes upwards of 30 people in class but this week there were only about 8 or 9.
Unlike many other classes I've taken at Grow, the class was not heated. I was hoping that it would be heated as this is my favorite part.  I like sweating during class and usually feel revived afterwards so this aspect was disappointing.  However, despite not being heated I found the class to be enjoyable.  Unlike the Power Yoga classes I've taken which were higher energy, this class was a bit more low-key and slow paced which was a nice change. Like all other classes, it ended with an "Ohm" and Namaste.  

I really liked soothing Steve's inflection in his voice.