Credit for this lovely image goes to HizKnits who I am pretty sure I passed by right after he took this. The neon itself is courtesy of Levi’s extra awesome (re)branding stunt slash community outreach print shop on Valencia Street.

After leaving tonight’s Green For All party at the shop I wandered home in the San Francisco chill, stumbled into Modern Times, then into the entry of Dog Eared Books where stared at the flyers taped to the glass.

The thoughts in my head went something like this: “Wow people are doing some amazing stuff out there in the world… Maybe I should take that workshop… Oohh a street food festival… I’ve always wanted to try the Opera… a sketching class… why haven’t I started that craft collective yet…?”

And that’s when it hit me: More creation, less consumption.

I’m not talking about growing my own food, although that sounds charming. And I don’t even mean buying less stuff, although I also try to keep that in check. Instead I mean keeping my cultural balance in check. It is all well and good to read, watch and listen, but I must make, do & create. The latter in much higher percentages. Sometimes I am most own worst enemy, I’ve got a list a mile long of projects that I want to accomplish but procrastinate reading blogs about other people accomplishing their projects.

Thus my new mantra: More creation, less consumption.

(New catchphrase, sure, but not entirely novel of an intention… After all, Brendan and I are on our third month of challenging each other.)

friday treats, originally uploaded by katerw.

Homemade nectarine sorbet & basil ice cream topped with cornmeal cookie love.

Happy Friday.

A friend and colleague is headed off on a leave of absence adventure… I thought we’d send him off with some sweet love.

Delicious gluten-free cornmeal cookies intended to top scoops of homemade basil ice cream. Yum.

Haven’t visited yet? Here’s a little visual taste to inspire:

Urban Flow Yoga: How This Came To Be from Urban Flow Yoga on Vimeo.

Intrigued? For the rest of August, there are free lunchtime classes from 12-1 Tues-Friday & every other Sunday Rusty is offering FREE Intro to Yoga classes from 1:30-2:45. Next one is Sunday August 29th. Hope to see you there.

(Props to Daniel Jarvis at Document Document for beautifully capturing the essence of the community.)

The space itself was small, enough for 25-30 people who are ready to be intimate on their mats. And nothing extraordinary about it, except for the fantastically architectural floor-to-ceiling room divider that integrated a reception desk, storage & changing room. Frankly the room divider is so cool it merits a dedicated blog post, if only I had been bold enough to take a ton of pictures.

I didn’t have any crazy breakthroughs like the day before, but it was a totally solid, enjoyable class. Stephanie has a teaching style that combines a good mix of posture alignment vinyasa flow. She advertises as such and she delivered as promised. Practicing with Stephanie was a pleasure, she was easily understood (& heard), led us through interesting sequences and offered a nice amount of adjustments.

By coincidence I am scheduled to end my Wanderlust festival with Stephanie this Sunday afternoon, just like I completed my NYC urban retreat in her class.

Ever grateful…

With something like 40 different teachers to chose from, how do you pick? I decided to use my NYC yoga studio tour to scope out two of the options. First up, Elena Brower, yoga superstar seen famously last month beginning to teach a 10,000 person yoga class in Central Park and then cancelled by thunderstorms.

Elena teaches at her studio, Virayoga, a bit farther south on Broadway from Om & Jivamukti. First off, the studio is one of those NYC spaces you would never in a million years discover unless someone tipped you off. There is no signage, just a small listing on the building’s directory. And yet, of course, the lunchtime class was PACKED, not unlike Dana’s class at Laughing Lotus. (It is worth noting as well that Elena’s class had the most men I’d seen in a class yet in New York.) And the space,was gorgeous, everything from the steel front door to the massively high red walls. The place just felt sexy. It was a challenge not to fantasize about living in a loft so striking.

Beyond her reputation, I was drawn to taking Elena’s class after watching clips of her talking about her yoga practice online. There was something really compelling about her voice and it was just deep enough that I thought I’d be able to easily hear her. Unfortunately it didn’t really pan out that way. Between the many many bodies and the high walls, I had a hard time catching all of Elena’s words. And words there were many. It is hard for me to give a real assessment because Elena’s class was also my first time practicing Anusara Yoga, so I’m not sure what was her and what was the style, but the class was full of inspiring thoughts & quotes. Only a few of which I could actually follow.

I try not to focus on it, but my hearing (or lack there of) can really get me confused in a yoga class. For the most part I was able to follow the poses that Elena led us through, it was just the talking in between that got hazy. I was especially confused at one point when I heard something along the lines of “… well, just introduce yourself at the end, or not.” Huh? And then later she sat on the floor while we all were in a pose reading names off a roster and looking around for people to acknowledge their presence. I was truly baffled. Roll call in a yoga class was totally new to me.

Hearing problems aside, I had an incredible practice that day. Having never taken an alignment oriented class before I enjoyed the challenge focusing inward, holding and adjusting my poses. It was in one of these moments that I had a total Chaturanga breakthrough.

It was as if I had never done the pose before. Holding in plank, Elena instructed us to bring our hearts forward and then go down into Chaturanga. I floated forward a bit, began bending my elbows and realized this felt totally different, and more right than ever before. I did it a second time and felt even stronger. Holy crap! All this time I think my hands have been too far forward. It was one of those truly transformative moments on the mat. And for sure it was the only thing I wanted to talk about for days following.

One final note… After class, blissed out, I went to thank Elena for class and she asked for my name. “Kate.”, I said. And at this point she threw her hands in the air and exclaimed back, “Kate!” and shook my hand. I explained that I was visiting from SF. that I’d be in Tahoe and looked forward to seeing her there and we parted ways. The whole interaction was maybe 2 minutes. It wasn’t until I walked out that I remembered the half-sentence about “introduce yourself at the end…” and then it hit me that maybe she had been talking to me.

She introduced me to a brand spankin’ (just three months young) new studio in the East Village called Finding Sukha. A little before 9a on a bright sunshiny day we climbed the stairs to be greeted by amazing patches of colored light and the studio’s welcoming co-founder Sarah Coleman. Sarah led us through a joyous, playful, well balanced 60 min class that challenged while also giving my body a bit of a breather.

I left class happy, loose and ready for breakfast at MUD. Such a perfect way to start a summer day in NYC.

Nothing beats practicing yoga in community, so if you are in the area, I encourage stopping by and supporting the new studio as well as it’s home the Sixth Street Community Center. For over two decades the center has supported low income people in the neighborhood while promoting sustainable food practices, healthy living and environmental stewardship. They provide the neighborhood with local food through their CSA shares and on Tuesday night host an Organic Soul Café which serves up affordable-good-for-you food.

Yum!

Extra Bonus: Timelapse of Finding Sukha’s mural

The studio was on my short list, but then a friend of my brother’s (and fine teacher of yoga herself) emailed to say that one of the co-owners of Laughing Lotus was in town teaching for the month. I checked out the schedule and saw that Dana was teaching the following day at noon. Sold.

I am so grateful for Francesca’s suggestion because my experience at Laughing Lotus reminded me of the power of a personal recommendation. As soon as I opened the door to the studio I felt how different the vibe was compared to the previous studios. Everything at Laughing Lotus is vibrant - from the purple, orange and pink decor to the pulsating energy emanating from everyone there. And the class was packed. Dana’s class had to be something special because walking into the room reminded me of a Sunday morning class with Rusty. Social, crowded and energetic… and class hadn’t even started yet.

I squeezed our mats up into the front of the room and almost immediately Dana introduced herself. It felt amazing to be visible again amongst this city of yogis. This was the first time anyone at any studio in New York had introduced themselves. So different from the twice-a-class greet your neighbor practice I’m used to.

And the class did not disappoint. It kicked my arse and was far from boring. So far from predictable that at times I found myself a bit lost. As did Leah who got some extra love–Dana reminded the class not to take ourselves too seriously and then gave Leah’s earlobe a little tug. Leah’s presence also made this class extra special. It was the first time we had practiced together since returning from her two-week study in Oaxaca. And how lucky we were to have such a loving class to reunite with.

Dana’s class was demanding, playful and devotional. It was a pleasure to again be in a full room chanting together. I look forward to practicing with her again on day, on either coast.

In short, the experience at Yoga Agora was a mixed bag.

Let’s start with the positives, or more accurately, the one giant positive: the space is absolutely gorgeous. The studio consists of one giant room, with floor to ceiling windows on two walls (kind of like a mini Urban Flow). But what really made the room incredible was that the windows slid wide open, while big flowing curtains provided some privacy and atmosphere. I took a spot right alongside one of the windows, you can see my mat empty in the photo, and imagined I was practicing off a beach somewhere.

So while I was imagining the room was transported to an island, unfortunately I was also imagining a different teacher guiding us. The class was a pretty standard vinyasa class, minus the sanskrit and any assistance. I definitely didn’t love calling Utkatasana “thunderbolt” but it is forgivable. What really made my heart hurt though was how little scaffolding the teacher gave for students at different levels. As you might imagine, that $5 open level class was not full of students ready to flip up into a handstand in the middle of the room. So when the teacher instructed everyone to bind and I glanced back to see one student struggling just to do the base of the posture while attempting to bind her arms… it was too much for me to handle.

Granted this was just one teacher at Yoga Agora and is by no means a reflection on the whole studio. I am grateful that they are providing affordable yoga for their neighborhood. I just hope that at some point the students there experience a teacher who makes it ok to take your vinyasa through child’s pose.

I had been to Om once before, with my brother years ago. I think it was probably my first urban yoga class experience. It was at Om that my brother furthered his practice and where he completed their 30-day October challenge (that would inspire me years later to do my own…)

We took at 10a Saturday intermediate/advanced class with Frank that challenged and inspired, but again didn’t blow me away. His teaching skills were evident and I appreciated the technical instructions on particular asanas, but I can’t say that I loved the vinyasa sequencing. I think I am just used to a faster and more varied practice. That said, I would definitely go back for more.

Next up: yoga for the people of Astoria