Class: Iyengar Yoga
Date: October 6, 2010
Time & Location: In class
On Wednesday, Emari Digiorgio came to our yoga class to teach us Iyengar Yoga. At the beginning of class, she distributed some blocks and blankets. I'm pretty flexible from 12 years of dance, so I just took one block. There seems to be more props in this practice than the others I have observed and learned about. We did a lot of standing postures in order to open the hips and pelvis. We also did a few forward and backward extensions. Emari kept straining the fact that it wasn't a typical Iyengar Yoga class.
Emari kept asking us for our feedback, which is most likely something that does not happen during most practices. She also kept communication open, explaining things and telling us stories about Iyengar Yoga. I liked the openness of the practice, but it wasn't very realistic. Also, i really liked that she did it along with us for the most part. She would perform some of the postures as a model for us. I thought she was a good teacher, really engaging the students.
One thing that I noticed is that Iyengar didn't put as much emphasis on breathing as Bikram Yoga did. It might have just been the instruction by the two different teachers though. One thing that I am having difficulty with when it comes to Yoga is my inability to keep my back straight. Sometimes without even noticing, I would slump over while she was giving instructions. It really made me more aware of my posture, in the practice and in everyday life. Yoga is really all about posture, holding your body up so that your breaths flow easily. One thing that I really liked about Iyengar Yoga compared to Bikram is that we were allowed to close our eyes. This makes it easier for me to really think about my body and stay in my head because there are normally too many distractions when my eyes are open. Overall, I enjoyed the class and I can't wait to try out Ashtanga Yoga on Wednesday.
-Claire
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