Hey there, friends and fans of yoga. With all the holiday cheer going around lately, I haven’t had much time for blogging. So here’s a quick update:
My holiday themed yoga class on December 17 went wonderfully well! My Tuesday night class has not been particularly populous since I started teaching it in October, so I was hoping I might get five or six people – about that many had emailed to say they were coming. And then on the 17th, it was snowy and slushy and cold, and I worried no one would feel like going out. Well, my five or six people showed up, and then a few more people arrived, and then there were five more people coming up the stairs, and we packed the room! It turns out that the yoga studio at Wellness on Park can fit about 14 people (15 if the last person is Donna and she squeezes herself into the corner by the door without a mat), and sadly we even had to turn away a few latecomers. It was fantastic! We had a great friendly group that included three mother-daughter sets, which I absolutely loved. The class was a lot of fun to teach and everyone seemed to enjoy the holiday energy.
Here’s the sequence I taught (I had planned on a few more things but I had to adapt and think on my feet since some things, like legs up the wall, were obviously not going to work with the number of people we had in the room):
Warm Up
- Child’s pose
- Cat/cow
- Thread the needle
- Downward dog
- standing forward fold
- mountain pose
Sun Salutations
- 5 half sun salutes
- 2 salutes with lunges
- 2 full salutes
Standing Sequence
- warrior 1
- warrior 2
- triangle pose
- revolved triangle
- extended side angle
- revolved side angle
- pyramid/head-to-knee pose
- prasarita
- Repeat sequence on the other side
Balance!
- tree pose
- quad stretch
- dancer pose
- repeat balance sequence on the other side
Cool Down: Seated
- Garland pose/squat
- Staff pose
- Seated forward fold
- Upward plank
- Janu sirsasana
- Janu sirsasana with a twist
Cool Down: Reclining
- happy baby
- bridge pose
- reclining twist
- savasana
- Brief meditation
I tried to focus on heart-opening poses and on centering and balance poses. When it’s cold out, we tend to round the shoulders and hunch down into ourselves just when we most need to open the heart; I wanted to include an element of centering and balance because the holiday season is tough on the body and drains energy, even if we love all the celebration. I wanted people to feel relaxed and refreshed and ready to tackle all the gift wrapping and caroling and parties to come.
And here’s the playlist for the class’s music. A few of these songs I might cut for future classes – “The Winter Solstice” by Sufjan Stevens in particular didn’t work for me – but overall I was really happy with the effect.
Song Title Artist all that I want The Weepies Maybe This Christmas Ron Sexsmith Wintersong Sarah McLachlan What A Year For A New Year Dan Wilson anorak christmas Sally Shapiro The Winter Solstice Sufjan Stevens Everything’s Gonna Be Cool This Christmas eels Christmas with the Snow Marah Holiday Vampire Weekend The Christmas Song The Raveonettes Hey Guys! It’s Christmas Time! Sufjan Stevens Christmastime Smashing Pumpkins 12.23.95 Jimmy Eat World Snow Loreena McKennitt Snowman Suddenly, Tammy! The Peace Carol John Denver & The Muppets Sweet Secret Peace Neil Finn Song For A Winter’s Night Sarah McLachlan Christmas In The Room Sufjan Stevens The Atheist Christmas Carol Vienna Teng Hilli Amiina
I hope all of you are having a wonderful holiday, no matter how you celebrate.
Rox Does Yoga 