Morning Yoga + Raw Pad Thai

Sticking to my Bikram Yoga classes, I returned this morning to join my two friends Stephanie and Natalie. Class provided its usual drip fest, and was led by a delightful instructor, Tamara. My hamstrings were a tad tight and my eyes were fussing over the salty sweat. Class flew by but I have begun to notice a couple of things while practicing.

I attend Bikram for several reasons- predictable (no vinyasa), heated stretching, and to sweat. I love VINYASA but sometimes I like to give my upper body a break. No flow is great, however, good alignment cues and modifications are not a traditional part of the Bikram instruction. Bikram practitioners need to investigate each pose on their own in order to better understand the postures. There is far too much room for error without thorough alignment cues and modifications.

For instance, tree pose does not have any variations while in Bikram. They encourage each student to work towards getting their foot in front of their quad,and up by the groin. Tree has a variety of different modifications and Bikram's style is not ideal for everyone. Making sure that the foot is in line with the shin is extremely important because sickling the foot will only put more strain on the bent knee. During Bikram I have modified the tree pose due to pain in my knee. The instructors immediately request that you do the pose only by their instruction. I have been told to stop the pose completely, if I cannot achieve what they have described. It is hard not to get frustrated because I am used to flowing through postures that feel good to my body and not forcing them into a mold. As an instructor I prefer to guide a yoga class, and not command the students. I could go on but this is one example that has been plaguing me over the past week or maybe year. Overall, the class is solid but new students could really benefit from better alignment cues. Injury is easily achieved with misguidance.

After Yoga, I enjoyed a Vega smoothie and went for lunch with Natalie at Thrive. I tried the raw Pad Thai and loved it! I love going to Waterloo's new juice bar and today they surprised me with yet another tasty menu item. Tonight I have been searching for a similar Pad Thai recipe; however, Thrive has it's own chefs who have been working extremely hard to perfect their own menu. Every day they have additions to the menu. If you have not tried Thrive please check out Waterloo's newest J bar.

Bon soir. Tomorrow is another fun filled day of walking Rudy, and trying a new Advanced Yoga class with Asia, at Studio Energi. I will be rocking out in Vinyasa tomorrow : )

yours gingerly,

W h i t n e y