Week #4

       This week I used Annie's class practice as my yoga session. She taught us Iyengar. This is a form of Hatha yoga. It focuses on detail, alignment, and precision. Annie even mentioned to us in the beginning of class when she was doing her introduction, that she would correct us if we were off. She spent a lot of time carefully going over each pose and exactly how to get into it. She also focused on exactly how to get out of it. We only spent about forty seconds in each pose. However, in a regular class it would be a few minutes. A regular class is also two hours or more. We were told that Iyengar recommends staying in the pose for about five to ten minutes to get the full affect.
        This was a very, very slow moving class. A lot different than our practice last week. Personally, I liked Bikram better. It was more fast paced and challenging. I really felt each pose making a physical difference. However, that is the difference! Iyengar was more of an eternal practice. Annie would recite what each pose helped us achieve for the inner body. I think I would really like to practice this daily. Annie is a student as well, so she was able to tell us, "hey, if you ever get stressed out like me from school, this is a great pose to do." I really appreciated that she also gave us a quick, little background of exactly how it helped us. She explained which muscles or organs were being reflected on in each pose.
       Many of the pose's we did aided digestion and stress. Although some people may not believe that they are related, they are! I was diagnosed with a forming ulcer in my stomach and have been in and out of doctors for years because of it. It is pretty simple what caused it- stress and anxiety. I think that performing these poses daily can really be beneficial for my health. I am excited to continue them. Annie gave us great tips on how to complete these at home, such as using the wall to complete a proper downward dog. So a big thank you to Annie, for teaching this class- she may be saving me a lot of money in the doctor offices :-)