Wednesday, August 04, 2004


sexy sadie

it's easy to say that as a new yorker, i am jaded by beauty. after all, the most lovely and perfect people arrive here from every spot on the globe every single day seeking work as models.

beauty litters broadway.

thus when i tell you that yesterday, i saw a woman of such rare beauty my jaw dropped -- a woman more beautiful than uma thurman. . .let me try again.

yesterday i went to yoga as usual, but was very excited because we were having a new substitute teacher i didn't know. i love trying new teachers and seeing what they have to offer.

and i was greeted by the excruciatingly gorgeous sadie, whose face was beyond any botticelli angel. you literally cannot help but stare at her -- she is that mesmerizing.

however, i didn't enjoy my time with sadie. why? she proved the very archetype of what some call "the iyengar alignment nazi."

yup, we weren't 10 minutes into class before she whipped out a tiny skeleton and began to explain the anatomy of the shin bones and forefoot in endless detail. most of the class had no clue what she was talking about, i'm afraid.

we slowly moved in and out of the same lunge to discover the interaction between our talus, tibia, fibula, and calcaneus. yup, the entire class was about the anklebone.

now, i appreciate iyengar yoga, even tho' i haven't always had a great experience with it. long-time readers know i've raved about senior iyengar teacher francois raoult and younger teacher karl erb.

but it was when she asked us to drop our liver and turn from our spleen that i completely lost it. why do so many iyengar yoga teachers teach in this cold, mechanical, overly-perfective way?

yes, i spent 1-1/2 hrs. in exactly 3 poses. i don't mind that per se. maybe it's my personality, but after sitting at the computer all day, i love the aspect of yoga that is moving meditation.

so my best yoga with sadie was mental. i mean, trying to let go off the intense aversion i felt toward her yoga teaching style.

don't get me wrong. sadie has a pleasant personality and a nice manner; she's a good teacher.

i appreciated her exact knowledge of anatomy and wish more yoga teachers possessed it. what makes raoult so fantastic is that he has all this knowledge. . .and a sense of humor!

lighten up sadie and you'll be unstoppable. i predict in 4 years you'll see her videos everywhere. . . .

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