Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Fluid Yoga: One Less Human To Worry About


I'm always delighted to discover ways studios are making their services more accessible ("recession buster" classes, special offers for new students), and when yoga friend Daisy mentioned the $5 community classes at Fluid Yoga in the Inner Sunset, I had to check it out (and a post-bikram free outdoor screening of Dirty Dancing was just the icing on the cake).  Daisy had never been to a hot yoga class and wanted to give it a shot, and at $5, I wasn't complaining!

Alas, a full week had elapsed between my most recent Mission Bikram yoga class and joining Daisy for Fluid, during which time I drank like a fish in Tahoe over Fourth of July weekend, caught a sickness that put me out for a few days, and got utterly slammed with work.  I don't know about you, but when I get really busy, I tend to eat crapola (because I "deserve" that Take 5 candy bar or toaster oven pizza, dammit!).  So given I had a belly full of cheese and chocolate, lingering illness, and a week's worth of no yoga at all, I rode the bus to Fluid with a certain amount of trepidation....

Friday, July 2, 2010

Satori: The Return of Guest Blogger Stephanie!


Today's post is written by Stephanie, and tells the tale of a yoga newbie.

After living in San Francisco for a year, I realized that not leading an active lifestyle is just unacceptable.  People around me are biking and hiking and climbing rocks! So I decided to step up to the plate – I gave the half marathon a shot, and bought my first ever gym membership at the local YMCA (after all, even if I didn’t make it to the gym regularly, I was at least making a contribution to a great non-profit, right?)  To my surprise, I didn’t really take much advantage of the amenities that most appealed to me, like swimming (I used to be fish in a former life) or elliptical machines.  Instead, I started Pilates and Yoga classes…but strongly suspected that what I was given was not a complete “yoga experience.”  Enormous crowds left no room for a proper Warrior pose, and I soon realized that I needed more personal attention and a connection with what I was doing if I was ever going to stay committed to this “yoga” thing.

So when Groupon sent out a Satori Yoga Studio coupon, I gave myself a mini-challenge.  Danielle was in the midst of completing her second 30 day challenge in Bikram yoga (ed note: did you know I won a free cut and color at Fringe salon for completing the challenge? And now my hair is streaky and curly and awesome?  Best challenge ever!), after all, and I thought…CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! (That’s for you Barney Stinson).