Thursday, August 19, 2010

A Lovely Way

Tuesday’s Yoga (8/17/10)

My attempt to save my sanity continues with another evening session of yoga, this time with the poetically named Lunar Flow class from yogadownload.com.  Lunar Flow was my second choice on Tuesday night.  I tried to do Gentle Hatha Yoga #2, but the class won’t play on my computer when I attempt to start it.  Has anyone else had a problem with this class?  Yes?

Lunar Flow turned out to be a lovely way to do yoga.  I’ve done this class before, and it is an easy, gentle class.  The flowing quality of the movements is very relaxing, and I found it much easier to let go of the day’s worries than I did on Monday night.  There are some downward-facing dogs and lots of “roll around on your back to massage your spine,” which I always feel silly doing, but I can’t really mock them because I felt so much better afterward.  In another yoga class I like, the instructor says that if you slow yourself down while doing these back circles, your mind will slow down too.  I think she’s right.

The transitions between movements in Lunar Flow are slow and gentle, which means there is a little less multi-tasking during the session.  In a lot of yoga classes, the goal is to synch up your breath and your movements, which means you’ve got to be paying attention to both.  But when I’m feeling frazzled, my attention is weak and it’s hard for me to focus.  I wonder if the less-demanding nature of Lunar Flow makes it a better class for those times when you need to stop multi-tasking and think about one goal only: breathe.  It’s worth considering one thing at a time when life is making your hair stand on end.

2 comments:

  1. If you get the chance, give yin yoga a try. Very, very gentle and slooooow, but if you can let yourself go it's very relaxing. It's not what I'd want for a regular class, but is certainly worth doing as an occasional drop-in, particularly when stressed.

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  2. Yin yoga! I've never even heard of that one, but it sounds lovely. It also sounds mentally challenging, but that's got to be its greatest reward too--the challenge of letting things go.

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