New Experiences

Last night I had planned to go to yoga at 24 hour fitness at 5:30. Since I had a bit of time between teaching and my class I decided to drive to the high school to catch up on some work. By the time I was satisfied with what I'd accomplished it was 5:30 already. In other words, I was going to miss my yoga class.

I figured I could just go to Zumba at 6:30 instead but it occurred to me that I didn't have my tennis shoes. I need a gym bag for my car that I keep all of these things in. *noted* So I decided to use the power of smart phones and find another drop in yoga class.

I must say, there are far more yoga studios than I expected in Portland. They aren't quite as frequent as Starbucks, but there's at least 3 in every neighborhood. Anyway, I found a drop in class that was reasonably priced so I made my way to the studio.

I took this picture outside the yoga center. I liked how
the flowers on the tree were the same color as the rusty wall
of the building.

I ended up going to The Bhaktishop Yoga Center on 26th and Division. When I first got there, the door was locked, but I could tell there were people because there were shoes and bags everywhere. I went back to my car to chill for a bit and then went back. I was pleasantly greeted by a very nice lady that could be the twin of a friend from high school.

The teacher for the class was a recent graduate from their yoga school. They have donation classes throughout the week taught by new teachers. It was a much slower paced yoga and I was really grateful to have things well explained. I know how to breathe for yoga now!

After the class she was really happy to show me modifications for some of the poses that I have a really hard time doing like plank and low lunge. I asked her about what sorts of things I could do for post-pregnancy as well and she had some ideas, but was really intrigued by my questions and said she'd ask some of her instructors for more ideas.

I think I will try to work both the donation or $5 classes at Bhaktishop and the classes at 24-hour fitness into my yoga practice. They really seem to compliment each other. Bhaktishop is more about perfecting the practice and learning to do yoga well where 24-hour is much more about getting a good workout and I feel sore every week.