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May 15, 2012
Austin Yoga Expo this weekend
I started taking a weekly yoga class here at the Austin American-Statesman about a year and a half ago.
I already get plenty of cardio exercise. What I was missing was stretching and core work — plus an hour in a dimly-lit room to focus on calming my mind and body.
Want to learn more about yoga? The Austin Yoga Expo & Conference this weekend will include an array of yoga classes, workshops and lectures.
The schedule includes everything from yoga for beginners to yoga for athletes, pre-natal yoga, workplace yoga, yoga for weight loss, therapeutic yoga, yoga for creativity, yoga for stress reduction, family yoga and about a billion other types of yoga. (OK, I exaggerate, but you get the idea.)
The two-day event starts at 11 a.m. each day at the Palmer Events Center, 900 Barton Springs Road.
The expo is open to everyone, whether you’ve never done a downward dog or you’ve been practicing for years. Teachers, musicians, authors, academics, doctors and heath professionals will be on hand.
Daily passes are $10, $44 or $79 for Saturday; $10, $44 or $69 for Sunday; or $144 for an all-access weekend pass. For more information go here.
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April 29, 2012
Laugh (and yoga) your cares away
Because everything’s better when you chuckle about it, we bring you laughter yoga.
Carla H. Brown, a certified laughter yoga instructor, will lead a free public laughter yoga session at 2 p.m. May 6, under the big shade tree on Robert E. Lee Boulevard near Lund Street, on the back side of Zilker Park.
The timing’s appropriate. Sunday is World Laughter Day.
And what could be more funny than a bunch of downward dogs?
Brown says that laughter lowers stress levels, boosts the immune system and improves health. Even if you fake laughter, you’ll feel better, she says.
Want to lead laughter yoga sessions of your own? Brown will lead a two-day workshop and certified laughter yoga leader training session May 5-6 in Round Rock. Cost is $295.
“We are too serious and life has become too heavy. We can be disconnected, rude, and shut down - it just means we’ve spent too much time in our head,” she says. “No biggie, laughter yoga is an easy remedy to that. It frees us up to laugh at our problems and lighten up..”
The Austin Laughter Yoga Club meets at 11 a.m. Saturdays at Zilker Park. For more information go here.
For more information, email Carla H. Brown at livingfromjoy@gmail.com.
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April 11, 2012
Wanderlust LIVE opens its doors with yoga, music ... and beer?
Yoga, music and beer — the perfect wellness trifecta?
It might sound like a wacky combination, but it’s all coming together under one roof that’ll swing open its doors in Austin this weekend.
Wanderlust LIVE, a home base of sorts for the Wanderlust Festival series that draws thousands of healthy living revelers for a multi-day mashup of yoga, music and booze in places like Whistler, Copper Mountain and Tahoe City, is taking up residence in the old American YouthWorks building at 206 East Fourth Street.
The 6,000-square-foot venue will feature two studios — one for regular yoga classes and one with a built-in stage and sound and light system for music performances — plus a locker room and boutique that sells yoga gear and apparel.
It’ll double as a cafe, too, serving organic acai bowls, natural fruit smoothies, coffee and tea from Austin’s Blenders and Bowls on an outdoor patio. During live music events, organic beer and wine will be available, too.
The place, a joint effort between the creators of Wanderlust Festival and Lollapalooza, including Austin’s C3 Presents, in partnership with Austin yoga teachers Ashley Spence Clauer and Joanna Kutchey, will host teachers, musicians and leaders in the wellness industry, year round.
“In Austin there are so many incredible yoga studios already in place, we knew had to do something different,” Clauer says. “We’re using all the components of the festival and bringing it under one roof in a permanent space.”
The music will be diverse, not just that serene chanting that most folks associate with yoga, she says.
Their studio motto? “A new place to rock out, consciously.”
Regular yoga classes will begin Monday, after a Friday open house. The studio will be open seven days a week, offering seven or eight yoga classes a day, in a range of styles. Besides traditional flow yoga, it will offer yoga with hand weights, yoga to live music, power yoga and a yoga-hula hooping fusion class.
The studio will offer membership packages and drop-in class rates. The first class is free. For more information about the new Austin venue go here. For more information about the festival, go here.
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March 2, 2012
Yoga events this weekend
OK, yogis. A few interesting events for you this weekend.
First, Yoga Yoga is offering more than 50 free yoga classes on Saturday, March 3, as part of the second annual Another Free Day of Yoga. Choose from beginner-friendly yoga classes, prenatal yoga classes, a children’s yoga class and teacher training information sessions. Discounts for yoga passes and retail items will also be offered.
All classes are free and open to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis. Arrive 30 minutes early.
For more information go here or call (512) 326-3900.
Second, Mind Body Yoga will host First Sunday for Community Yoga, a monthly fund-raising event that helps bring no-cost yoga classes to people who otherwise wouldn’t get to take yoga.
Instructor Jenn Fairbanks will teach vinyasa yoga from 9-10 a.m. Sunday, March 4 at Mind Body Yoga, 12636 Research Blvd., No. C206. A donation of $15 is suggested.
Each month a different Austin yoga studio donates one of their regularly scheduled Sunday yoga classes to Community Yoga, as a way of bringing together members of the Austin yoga community in an effort to help the organization continue to share the practice of yoga.
For more information go here or email info@community-yoga.org.
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December 23, 2011
The perils of yoga
I nearly clocked a co-worker in yoga class the other day.
There we were, trying to kick our legs up over our heads to lean them against the wall in a perfect inversion.
I’m new to yoga. Sometimes it’s a little scary. This was one of those times.
I’ve never been really good at head stands, and we were attempting our first “pincha mayurasana.” The photo to the right shows our class instructor, Kandice, demonstrating perfect position.
I placed my hands next to the wall. I lowered my forearms to the ground. And then I kicked up, with authority.
A little too much authority, apparently.
When my foot hit the wall, the clock came crashing down. It missed photo editor Nell Carroll by inches. It came so close that she felt the breeze.
Whew. That was a close one.
Oddly, the clock fast forwarded about 15 minutes, to the exact time class was scheduled to end.
I think it was sending me a message.
That’s Nell (and the clock, which survived the incident) in the photo below.
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December 6, 2011
Restorative yoga calms frayed nerves
My husband attended his first yoga class ever over the weekend.
OK, it was restorative yoga. Not exactly the downward-dogging, one-leg-balancing, ab-scrunching yoga class that so many Austinites make a part of their exercise routine.
But it’s a start, even if he did call it “nap time yoga.”
Everitt Allen’s hour-and-15-minute restorative yoga class at YogaYoga360 consists of three long, relaxing poses. We used cushy bolsters, a couple of soft blankets and eye pillows to get comfortable, then listened as he gently clanged three sea turtle-sized gongs and more than a dozen metal “singing bowls,” sending ripples of sound and vibration through our bodies.
We did not sweat. We did not elevate our heart rates. We did bend like pretzels or strain a single muscle.
We did lie quietly.
If you’re prone to dozing off, you might bring an alarm clock to your next restorative yoga session.
I do enough swimming, biking and running. What I need in my life is a little more calm. For that, restorative yoga is perfect.
As for Chris? I’m not sure he’s hooked, but he did enjoy the class. He managed to slip into dreamworld for a few minutes during the first pose.
And when I posted on the Fit City page on FaceBook that he’d gone to yoga with me, one surprised reader (who knows Chris well) replied with the only explanation he could think of:
“He thought you said yogurt.”
(Photos of Sunday’s class — and no, that’s not Chris in the second shot — by Karla Held.)
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August 30, 2011
Free Day of Yoga is Monday
I started attending yoga classes at the gym here at the Austin American-Statesman about six months ago.
I don’t need any more cardio — I swim and bike and run. What I do need is an hour of stretching and balancing and abdominal work in a dimly lit room. It’s soothing and peaceful and helps me face the stress of a busy newsroom.
Never tried yoga?
You can try a class for free on Monday, Sept. 5, during the 13th annual Free Day of Yoga in Austin. More than three dozen studios will participate.
An opening festival is scheduled for 10 a.m. to noon Sunday, Sept. 4 on the upper deck at Whole Foods Market, 525 North Lamar Boulevard. Bring a yoga mat if you want to take part in free yoga classes or drawings for yoga gear. The first 100 visitors will receive a gift bag, too.
Then, on Monday, yoga teachers and studios all over the city and surrounding area will offer free classes to heighten awareness of yoga and its benefits.
A variety of styles of yoga will be offered, from Ashtanga to Hatha to Bikram and more. Some styles are physically challenging and athletic; others focus on relaxation and meditation. The benefits of practicing yoga include increasing flexibility and strength, improving balance and relieving stress.
“The Free Day of Yoga is our way of saying thank you to our community for supporting us in our quest to expand the awareness of this ancient practice,” says organizer Mary Esther. “Because we offer such a wide variety of yoga teachers, styles and classes on Free Day of Yoga, there is a class for everyone — whether you are tall, short, round, thin, physically active or sedentary.”
For a complete class schedule, go here.
Be sure to arrive at classes early. Wear loose, comfortable shoes and be prepared to take off your shoes. Bring a yoga mat.
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August 10, 2011
Yoga studio opens on Rainey Street
A new yoga studio has opened in the Rainey Street district of downtown Austin.
Be Yoga will celebrate its grand opening with a party from 8 p.m. until midnight on Aug. 14.
The studio, located at 43 Rainey, No. 104, is adjacent to the hike-and-bike trail around Lady Bird Lake, where the studio has been setting out water for runners and walkers. (Thank you!)
Be Yoga’s 13 instructors will teach an array of yoga classes, including hatha, ashtanga, restorative, hot vinyasa and kundalini, as well as beginner-oriented gentle classes. They’ll also offer special interest services including reiki, dosha, massage and crystal healing.
Weekday classes are offered every other hour from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., with weekend classes from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Private sessions are also available. Be Yoga operates on a donation model, with a suggested donation of $20.
The studio, owned by CiCi Parsons, has floor-to-ceiling windows that let in natural light and provide a view of the lake.
The Aug. 14 launch party will include champagne cocktails, sushi from Piranha Killer Sushi, complimentary chair massages from Knot Anymore, gifts from Lululemon Athletica and Elements Day Spa, and summer film passes from the Paramount Theater. Firedancers will perform to a light and music show, and mini workshops are scheduled all night long.
For more info on Be Yoga, go here http://behappybeyoga.com or https://www.facebook.com/beyogaatx.
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June 27, 2011
Is Austin a yoga-friendly town?
The August 2011 issue of Yoga Journal (yes, we can foresee the future) has declared Austin one of the United State’s 10 most yoga-friendly towns.
The others making the list are Asheville, N.C.; Boulder, Colo.; Encinitas, Calif.; Minneapolis; New Orleans; Portland, Ore.; Salt Lake City; Washington, D.C.; and Woodstock, N.Y.
I’m beginning to see the beauty of yoga myself.
For the first time in my life, I’m taking a yoga class at the company gym here at the Austin American-Statesman. Once a week I bend, stretch and flex my way through an hour-long session.
It’s so different than the swimming, biking and running that’s part of my daily schedule. It’s less heart pounding and more introspective. Most of al, it’s calming. Who couldn’t use an hour in a dimly lit room with soothing music playing in the background?
The balancing part of yoga hasn’t come easily. I teeter and wobble while others stand firmly, their feet planted in the ground and their arms extended overhead.
It’s only been a few months, though.
I’m already better at touching my toes. I breathe more deeply during class, and I feel a sense of calm afterward.
Soon, Grasshopper, I’ll be balancing like a pro.
Do you practice yoga? Does Austin deserve it’s ranking of one of the top yoga-friendly towns in America?
(Photo above by Laura Skelding).
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March 14, 2011
Yogis to protest regulation on Capitol grounds
Some serious bending and stretching is expected to unfold on the lawn of the Capitol Wednesday, as yoga practitioners gather to protest regulation of the practice by the government.
The demonstration is scheduled for 5:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday on the southeast corner of the Capitol lawn at Congress Avenue and 11th Street. The public is invited to participate.
Jennifer Buergermeister, who owns two yoga studios in Houston and is founder and executive director of the Texas Yoga Association, will lead the session. She and other yoga practitioners are traveling from Houston to show support for proposed legislation that would prevent the government regulation.
In the last year, the Texas Workforce Commission has sent letters to several businesses that offer yoga instruction, advising them that they must be certified in order to operate as a career school or college.
Certification costs $1,001 for small schools or $3,000 for large schools. Exemptions are allowed for training that costs less than $500, lasts fewer than 24 hours or is designed to teach recreational or avocational subjects.
“We believe it’s just a revenue generating movement,” Buergermeister says. “Teachers have been teaching students yoga for thousands of years.”
“I don’t think the government has a right to step in and change and transform the essence of this particular way of life. There’s no reason to try to tap into something that’s more like an art form than an industry.”
(Photo by Ralph Barrera)
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February 24, 2011
A fish on a yoga mat
I feel graceful in the water.
My coach might disagree, but I think I slice through it sort of like a fish, surging forward and spawning tiny bursts of bubbles that glint in the sunlight with each stroke.
I’m at home in liquid. I’m fluid and relaxed and I feel (most of the time) like I was built to swim.
I’m not at home on a yoga mat.
I’ve taken a handful of yoga classes in my lifetime, mostly as research for stories I’m writing.
Today I took an hour-long lunchtime yoga class at the Austin American-Statesman’s new company gym.
This, after a consultation with the gym’s trainer, in which we decided I need to work on core strength and flexibility. And I could use a little stress relief.
Yoga!
Problem is, I feel like a big goofy dork trying to hold the warrior pose or contorting my body into the frog position. Even downward dog has its challenges.
I am uncoordinated. I have terrible balance.
I’m good at muscling through things, not finessing them. While the women next to me flowed smoothly from one position to the next, I wobbled and quivered, tipped over (really!) and pretty much did my best impression of a pirouetting elephant.
Thank goodness there are no mirrors in the room.
I am not good at yoga.
But it’s good to stretch, both literally and figuratively. With yoga, I can do both.
So I’m sticking with it. I vow to try, and I vow not to be humiliated when I can’t hold a pose.
It’s good to try something new.
Now can someone just teach me the fish position?
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January 20, 2011
Austin screening of Titans of Yoga
Boxing, running, football, baseball — inspiring movies have been made about all of them.
But until now, I couldn’t think of a single yoga-themed movie.
The Austin premiere of the documentary “Titans of Yoga” will screen at 6:30 p.m. Friday, 6:30 p.m. at Yoga Yoga Westgate, 4700 S. Lamar Blvd.
The movie features 25 prominent “titans” in the worlds of yoga, mindfulness and meditation, including Dr. Dean Ornish, Seane Corn, Gary Kraftsow, David Swenson and Shiva Rea. They share their life experiences, from addiction and depression to an HIV positive diagnosis. Then they explain how they overcame these challenges.
Watch a trailer for the movie here. It made me want to bend like a pretzel and calm my inner thoughts.
Yoga Yoga founder Mehtab will introduce the documentary and a Q&A session with four Yoga Yoga teachers will follow.
Space is limited. To reserve a seat go here http://www.yogayoga.com/press-releases/yoga-yoga-screen-titans-yoga-movie.
Proceeds from the donation-only event will benefit Yoga-Recess in Schools, which brings yoga-based health education into classrooms.
For more information go here or call (512) 358-1200.
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November 4, 2010
Win free yoga book
Who’s into yoga?
A cool new book arrived on my desk this week, and I want a real yoga buff to get it.
“Anatomy of Yoga, An Instructor’s Inside Guide to Improving Your Poses,” by Abigail Ellsworth, is packed with detailed photos, diagrams and explanations of an array of yoga poses.
Do you deserve it? Tell me why by posting below.
The best answer wins the book.
Good luck!
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March 31, 2010
Free yoga in the park starts April 7
Curious about yoga? Now’s the perfect time to try it, for free.
Yoga Yoga is offering free outdoor yoga classes at noon every Wednesday in April at Republic Square Park, Guadalupe Street between 4th and 5th Streets.
The classes are open to all ages and abilities, and will be led by registered yoga teachers from Yoga Yoga.
Wear comfortable clothing and bring a yoga mat. For more information, contact Yoga Yoga at www.yogayoga.com or call (512) 380-9800.
In other yoga news:
- Yoga Yoga offers donation-only classes from 7:30-9 p.m. every third Friday of the month. Teachers donate their time and all proceeds benefit a featured non-profit. The next donation-only class is April 16 at Yoga Yoga North, 2167 W. Anderson Lane, and will benefit Doctors without Borders. For more information, go to www.yogayoga.com.
- Yoga Yoga is sponsoring a “40 Day Yoga Challenge.” The program, which runs April 1 through May 10, is designed to encourage new or continuing students to practice yoga every day for 40 consecutive days. Registration is online at www.yogayoga.com or at any of the five Yoga Yoga locations in Austin.
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March 10, 2010
Win yoga book for expectant moms
I’ll be gone for the next few days, but I leave you with this: A really cool book for some lucky expecting mom.
If you want to win the copy of “Iyengar Yoga for Motherhood: Safe Practice for Expectant & New Mothers,” by Geeta Iyengar, Rita Keller and Kerstin Khattab that arrived on my desk this week, post here and tell me why you deserve it.
It’s a fat, hard cover book filled with illustrations and tips for women who want to do yoga throughout their pregnancy and into motherhood.
I’ll pick a winner when I get back to Austin.
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October 25, 2009
Win a free heavyweight yoga DVD
Abby Lentz wants you to know that yoga isn’t only for the pretzel thin.
Lentz, 61 and plus-sized herself, teaches heavyweight yoga here in Austin. She’s just released her second instructional DVD, “Change the Image of Yoga.”
She sent over three copies of the DVD for me to give away. Want one? Post here and I’ll pick three winners in a few days.
The new DVD features Lentz plus eight of her Austin students on the mat, demonstrating their yoga practice and sharing inspirational stories. Among them are Marie, an 82-year-old cancer survivor; Chris, a 47-year-old who’s had five knee surgeries; and Sharon, a 39-year-old woman who is super-sized.
Lentz’s message? Anyone can be fit and flexible, regardless of shape or size.
Lentz weighs 232 pounds and teaches a modified style of yoga aimed at other people of size or those with limited flexibility and mobility. The moves are slower paced and sometimes use props. With the DVD, they can be done in a safe, non-judgmental environment.
“It’s about giving people a way to recover their health, regardless of their size or circumstance,” Lentz says.
The DVD sells for $16.95 and is available at http://www.HeavyWeightYoga.com or on Amazon. For more information about Lentz, go here.
And remember. To win a copy of the DVD, post a comment on this blog.
Permalink | Comments (7) | Categories: weight loss, yoga
June 25, 2009
Win "The Athlete's Pocket Guide to Yoga"
Endurance athletes need yoga.
All that running and biking makes for tight muscles and stiff bodies. But in the thick of triathlon season, who’s got time for yoga class?
“The Athlete’s Pocket Guide to Yoga: 50 Routines for Flexibility, Balance, and Focus” by Sage Rountree guides you through yoga routines at home. And they’re specially designed for endurance athletes.
Rountree is an endurance sports coach, yoga instructor and contributor to Runner’s World and Yoga Journal. She’s an athlete, too — she competes in foot races and triathlons, and raced for Team USA at the 2008 Short Course Triathlon World Championships.
I love this book. It’s spiral-bound, so you can lay it flat on the floor while you use it. It outlines 50 simple yoga routines, including warm-ups and cool-downs, plus sessions aimed at relieving muscle tightness, strength sessions for the off-season, and exercises to sharpen mental toughness or speed recovery.
It’s packed with photos of athletes demonstrating the poses. The back part of the book features longer routines, mapped out in a series of tiny pictures. It’s easy to follow, even for a yoga klutz like me!
The book is brand new, but Velopress sent me a copy, which I’m going to give away.
Post here and tell me why you need it. I’ll pick the best answer as the winner. Check back — I’ll name the winner and that person will need to email his or her snail mail address to pleblanc@statesman.com.
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January 9, 2009
Free yoga on Saturday
Austin Kula Yoga is hosting an open house on Saturday, with free classes all day long.
Besides adult yoga classes, the studio offers a breadth of family classes, including pre-natal, mom and baby (post-natal), children’s (with or without your child), pre-teen, teen and seniors.
Austin Kula Yoga is located in the Tarrytown Shopping Center at Windsor and Exposition.
For more information, go to www.austinkulayoga.com or call 512-542-3334.
Saturday’s free classes are:
- 7:30 a.m. — Vinyasa flow with Lara
- 9 a.m. — Hatha with Mary Ann
- 9 a.m. — Hip hop with Chelsea
- 10:15 a.m. — Pre-natal with Meg/Tracy
- 10:15 a.m. — Yoga for Athletes with Amy
- 11:30 a.m. — Core yoga with Caroline
- 11:30 a.m. — Family yoga with Shannon
- 1 p.m. — Kundalini with Betsy
- 1 p.m. — Restorative with Leslie
- 2:15 p.m. — Pre-Teen with Brandy
- 2:15 p.m. — AcroYoga with Ashley
- 3:30 p.m. — Teacher training session with Elizabeth
- 3:30 p.m. — Vinyasa flow with Tres
- 5 p.m. — Sound meditation with Jennifer
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November 25, 2008
Yoga on the airport shuttle?
Don’t be surprised to see a downward-facing dog at the airport today.
Or a warrior, half moon, pyramid or lizard.
Airport Fast Park, an off-site parking company at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, has hired Austin Yoga Institute instructors to give yoga tips to travelers onboard its airport parking shuttles.
Air travel this time of year can sap your sanity, that’s for sure.
But yoga? On the shuttle bus? I’d like a front row seat to watch the hilarity. Like when the yogi tries to fold the boots, hat and jeans-wearing rancher into a pretzel. Or the stroller-juggling mom into a bowl of spaghetti.
Actually, they’ll be sticking mostly to breathing and relaxation techniques, which could come in handy when trying to cope with a delayed flight, lost bag or long layover.
The tips will incorporate techniques passengers can do sitting down, whether they’re on a bus or plane, at the airport terminal or in their hotel room.
Airport Fast Park is located at 2300 Spirit of Texas Dr. Yoga instructors will be riding between 9 and 11 a.m. Wednesday.
What do you think? Handy or laughable?
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November 15, 2008
Free yoga!
How about a free yoga class?
To celebrate the opening of its fifth Austin location, Yoga Yoga is offering free yoga classes and mini spa treatments from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. next Saturday, Nov. 22 at its new yoga wellness spa.
Yep, the new location isn’t just a place for you to bend yourself into a pretzel. Besides the usual array of yoga classes, it offers specialty massage, body treatments and holistic skincare. It’s located at 2501 South Capital of Texas Highway.
An annual pass valued at $1,295 will be given away.
For a schedule of classes and more information, go to http://www.yogayoga.com/360 or call (512) 381-6464.
