Since I'm currently testing another yoga studio not too far away from where I live: woyo yoga, I figured I might as well try the owner's signature class. It's got the promising name: Energy Yoga.
I can certainly use some more energy right now! Feeling a bit drained with starting work again and continuously juggling work and the kid. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to be back at work and am lucky in the sense that I get to work from home and am free to organize my own time according to my schedule. Yet, it is an adjustment. Not simply because I have been at home for the past year but rather because life has changed so much and you always feel like you're missing out on something. Working part time is definitely something you have to practice. I underestimated that. Also working from home can be challenging for someone who's used to working in an office as part of a team. I miss the casual interaction with co- workers although of course that happens via chat or email but it's not quite the same. I also continuously ask myself how much you can get done within 4 hours or rather how little...
A more experienced mummy told me recently that you need to shed the bad conscience but I am still working on that- you constantly feel like you're not giving enough - whether at work or at home when in fact you're giving plenty and what you should be focusing on would be more giving back to yourself and finding time to do what nourishes you. So there we are: energy yoga!
I was curious because the teacher told me it was a combination of hatha yoga and TCM - something I had not seen or heard about before. And in fact what she did was using a lot of the techniques from traditional Chinese medicine like acupressure. At the beginning of class we were given a small, round piece of wood and we used that as well as our hands to apply pressure to certain points of our bodies. It's so interesting how a subtle pressure really makes a difference. For instance as we were massaging our ear lobes we discovered that there was an increased blood flow to our head, improving circulation and creating heat. When we had to use the piece of wood to apply pressure to our feet, I noticed that I have not been giving my feet enough attention lately. Or rather that I tend not to give them enough attention - it really hurt and I noticed that I hold a lot of tension in the soles of my feet. So already this showed me that there is something to the TCM method - the Chinese see your feet as a mirror to your entire body and focus a lot on it in massages etc. Good to know that there is room for improvement for me. In terms of how she mixed the TCM elements and Hatha yoga, it was interesting that I got the feeling there was more TCM than yoga in the class. But then out of the blue she said, don't worry there'll be yoga in this class too - I liked the way she read my mind there. She had us do utkatasana while standing on the little piece of wood for instance - so it wasn't simply TCM and then yoga but rather a real mix which I truly enjoyed and would like to come back to. I also liked the way she weaved in some of the physical benefits of the practice for instance its effect on our organs and glands. It never felt like she was lecturing us but I still learned a fair amount. She also really stressed the aspect of listening to your own body, mentioning that even with a cold you should not come to your regular yoga practice until you feel like the cold is receding. Sounds reasonable but how many people go for class with a cough or a runny nose?
The one thing about classes at woyo- they are only 75 minutes and thus always seem really short to me. Oh and yeah, in terms of my energy level- I did have the feeling of having more energy the next day but then again, the day after the effect had already vanished.
So I guess energy yoga every day would be the answer ;-)
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