Saturday, February 07, 2004


regional coffee culture, part xvii

not too long ago i predicted "one world under specialty coffee's passionate sway," and every day it seems this prediction is rushing towards reality. . .

will the venti vanilla latte soon replace the traditional turkish brew? the mermaid's on her way!

and in this vein, i have to say, it's really not that mysterious. . .specialty coffee tastes great, not to mention being loaded with lots of groovy antioxidants, as long-time readers know.

but it's the social, intellectual, and romantic qualities of coffee that endlessly fascinate all devoted coffee lovers. and the coffee that held my full attention this morning was batdorf's espresso vesuvio. the more i drink this coffee, the more i like it!

and in that joyful spirit, practically burning with optimism's flames, i discarded my prejudices and attended this afternoon's 2-hr. baron baptiste hot power yoga workshop at yoga people here in bklyn.

it wasn't taught by mr. handsome himself, but rather one of his devoted babes. long-time readers know that ashtanga yoga makes me grumpy; trademarked ashtanga probably makes me angry. it's just not the sadhana for me, you know?

but, hey, i'm happy if it works for you. with this idea in mind i took my extra towel and water bottle, put some intense conditioner in my hair (why not take advantage of all that moist heat?), and trotted off to the studio.

despite the hype, lemme say that this workshop was not difficult particularly. sure, i was soaked head to toe at the end, but the room was hot. it was basically ashtanga-lite, without the set primary series, no lotus poses and just one quick inversion.

on the down side, the teacher never asked if anyone had injuries nor did she ever offer a modification for any of the poses to anyone. on the amusing side, she did keep mentioning -- a lot -- about how "challenging" it was, and what a great j. lo type rear we'd all soon have.

with all due respect -- i mean, i know baron is said to have awesome shakti and that a lot of people love this practice -- it felt close to gym yoga to me. and it does advertise itself as "boot camp yoga."

but i think there is some real yoga spirit there; i'm not gonna diss it as calesthenics with sanskrit. . . i think most guys would just adore baron's yoga style. so if you're a guy flirting with the idea of yoga, you might try it.

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