Sunday, July 29, 2001


took a fantastic yoga class today! normally, if i went to yoga on a sunday, i would have gone to my usual yoga people. but the day was so lovely with a cool breeze, i decided to make another chicago deep dish pizza! and to get fresh mozzarella on a sunday here, i have to walk over to cobble hill.

but since i was going to cobble hill, why not check out the yoga at the energy center? their schedule on the internet had a beginner and an intermediate class both at 11:30am, a perfect time for my plans.

so i loaded up my transformer yoga mat and trekked off. the energy center has a sort of little garden in front, so i wandered in only to discover that in the summer the intermediate class isn't happening. i wondered how beginner the beginner class was, so i asked the nice girl at the front desk, who suggested i speak to the teacher, frank. so i did. and we had a nice chat. i liked frank right away -- he's an excellent listener and answers in a confidence-building kinda way -- and besides, you can learn something from any yoga class, as i found in my expedition to iyengar.

he does teach a flow-based class, but the order of the poses was a little different than i was used to, which was interesting. instead of doing shoulderstands and inversions toward the end of class, to close with fish and shavasana, he did them in the middle. (is this a hallmark of kriya yoga?) back bending and forward bends came toward the end instead.

i must say he gave excellent alignment instructions, very clear, and made a wonderful adjustment in seated forward fold that was amazing. he came by and gave my thighs a little turn -- whoosh! i just slid forward, chin beyond the knees for the first time, with one hand clasping the other beyond the feet. it was comfy; i felt like i could have stayed there all day! and that was incredible, since i usually find this pose very difficult and fidgety.

also, he was kind enough to help with my headstand balance. i have tried several times to teach myself headstand away from the wall, always with poor results. usually i end up flipping over backward on top of someone! so let's say i have some concern about headstand. however, i did manage to balance for a few seconds on my own, away from the wall, halfway up with my knees in a good position. i'm not exactly sure what the adjustment he did to achieve that was, but it certainly buoyed my confidence.

the energy center has a pleasant, airy practice room with cushy blue carpet, a long shelf with devotional buddhist objects and an overall sense of casual calm. at the end of yoga, frank lead a short bit of what seemed to me to be vipassana-inspired meditation.

all in all, an excellent class, one i would highly recommend! i practically flew up atlantic avenue to pick up the swiss chard, cheese, and tomatoes i needed for the deep dish pizza. speaking of which -- whoops! time to deflate the rising dough! although i haven't baked the pie, just from tasting the filling i can say that the swiss chard is a sweeter-taste, less bitter filling. i think the pizza will be superb.

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