IYA Fall Yoga Retreat - Day Two

Here I am at 8 p.m., sitting in my hotel room while some yoga socializin' is beginning downstairs. I needed a few minutes to myself to reflect on the day (and rest my achin' knee!).

First, my hotel-neighbor was enjoying something funny on TV till about 2 a.m., so I got very little sleep. Still, I made it to the Pranayama class this morning, led by the wonderful Nancy Schalk. It was a wonderful way to start the day, though I had to run across the street to get a cup of coffee beforehand. The pranayama soothed my jangled nerves and I went forth balanced and serene to Ann Miller's Moon Salutation class. I've done Moon Salutations only a couple of times in the past, and despite their name, I find them very nice in the morning. A gentle, but by no means non-challenging way to heat and stretch the morning-tight muscles and joints. Ann does a wonderful job of preparing the body with simple yet powerful warm-ups, and then guides you through the Moon Salutation series 3 times, once for each day of the New Moon, with gradually increasing pace and depth.

I was very pleased with how my Inversion workshop went. I had about a dozen participants, which is a great number for a good energy level, but not so many that we couldn't do some individual work. Hopefully it was well received.

After an enjoyable lunch with some Yoga Buddies, I went to Nancy Schalk's Yoga Therapy class. I had to choose between that and a Restorative Yoga class. It was a tough choice, but I was afraid I'd fall asleep in Restorative, given the lack of sleep and the recent lunch. I got a lot of good info from Nancy that I hope to use in my Chair Yoga class.

Finally got a chance to take one of Sage Hale's Kripalu classes. I've heard such good things about her classes at Invoke, so I was pleased that she was here. Never taken a Kripalu class before...it's a bit slower than the vinyasa flow classes I usually prefer, but I found the class to be very powerful, and it left me with a very relaxed, energized feeling. Sage has a very nice manner as a teacher. She allows her slightly mischievous personality to come through nicely.

Thom Adams led an Iyengar class, which was very informative and challenging. Iyengar classes are a bit different in approach than other classes. The teacher demonstrates the pose, we go to our mats and work on it, then the teacher demonstrates the pose again, with more specific alignment issues to work with, and then we practice again. I got some good info from him on some alignment, as well as some good partner assists.

After dinner, I went to my friend Renee Bogard's Yoga Nidra (like an extended, guided Savasana). it was a great way to cap the day. Renee has a wonderful voice which is very soothing without being droning.

So, now I'm changing out of my comfy yoga clothes, putting on some jeans, and heading down to see what the festivities are. I may call it an early evening, though. I still have to finalize my class for tomorrow.