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because my life got totally insane, like WHOA, i started another 30-day bikram challenge. (hectic life? subtract 2+hours out of each day.)
today was day #12. i'm really feeling stronger and waaaay more patient and centered. and my students keep encouraging me to go, i think because i'm not such a stressed-out psycho all the time. it's pretty amazing how non-reactive i am to a lot of things.

anyway, yay, yoga, for helping me not totally hate life!

I did a 30 day Moksha challenge last fall and it was SO centering. Definitely would like to do it again, it helps me deal with stress, but sometimes it's hard to fit it in with my student schedule.

i'm working and in grad school, so i totally know what you mean. for me, it just became clear that i had no choice but to commit with regularity. it was either that or die from stress.

or suffer regular "titty attacks," as one of my students calls them.

I do hot/power yoga whenever I can, which is not as often as I'd like to since I have class Monday - Friday and work at least a couple nights a week. but it really does help to chill me out from every day stress, even if I have to squeeze it into an already overwhelmingly busy day.

I've been struggling with anxiety attacks ever since my move in spring of 2009 and while they've been getting much better, were still always with me grumbling under the surface, but anyway, I've been doing a 90 minute Kundalini practice with a group every Wednesday night for a month now and those last vestiges of panic seem to have left me at last. I feel like me again, relaxed and able to live my comfortable life. Yay! It's been a great help.

Yoga has made me less anxiety driven since I started like 45 days ago!

I've heard a lot about hot yoga, but I've ever taken yoga classes before. Do you think it matters if someone hasn't gone to a class before? I've done yoga in my living room for a few years now, but I wonder an actual class would be much more difficult.

What a good idea! I should do this!
I do Iyengar yoga, and I've been doing classes every week for a while now... I just moved into a more advanced class and went from the person that comes into moves easiest to the one that goes into moves with the MOST difficulty... ._. So my pride hurts but my body feels great (is pleasantly sore.)

i didn't really practice before i started earlier this year and didn't have any issues other than adjusting to the heat and routine. i once took a hot yoga class that was intense, but bikram is a "beginner's series," just meaning the individual poses are really accessible. i really like the heat and highly recommend giving some kind of hot yoga a try. sometimes it sucks in the moment, but it feels soooo good afterward.

yoga = the best. i miss my swami so much.

I have practiced various types of yoga on and off for a couple of years, but I have recently discovered hot yoga. I have no idea why I waited so long. Hot yoga is amazing.

i was reading the SAD thread and it got me thinking about hot yoga. now im curious about whether it could help. unfortunately i dont have anywhere to practice here.

That's great, calcuhater! Especially with being busy with school/work. My mom is really into Bikram yoga, and when I'm home from school, I go to class with her 2-3 times a week. Bikram isn't my favorite type of yoga, but I like it from time to time, and I always feel great afterwards.

I like most types of yoga that I've tried, but my favorite is probably Kundalini. At first, I didn't really like it because it was so different than the Western-style yoga that I was used to, (because of all of the chanting, pranayamas that I had never done before, etc.) but I kept going because it was the only yoga class that I could get to. It's grown on me over the past year or so that I've been doing it, and now I really look forward to it.

my bff really loves kundalini, but i've never tried it.

i started a bikram blog earlier this year and today my topic is "the four horsemen of the bikrocalypse," all of which made my class tonight a nightmare:

1. don't get enough sleep
2. be dehydrated
3. eat crappy food
4. eat late

the "floor series" was very literal for me tonight and 1000% humidity in the room wasn't helping.

I finally convinced my mother to go to yoga classes. She went for the first time today. I asked her what kind it was and she didn't know but we were able to determine that it is Vinyasa yoga. She said she really liked it and will be going again. The classes are really cheap-8 classes for $80 or unlimited for $100. I told her to go for the unlimited.

I tried the bikram yoga and I just can't handle the heat (I swear my internal thermostat is broke... it can be 50 degrees and I am still sitting around doing nothing and will still sweat.. it's gross).

I need to get back into yoga, I think it might help with my chronic pain but I am not sure which type I should start. Any suggestions?

I sat next to a yoga instructor on a plane and asked her what's the best type of yoga classes to take and she suggested Iyengar (she herself didn't actually teach Iyengar) but she says she suggests it because it's the yoga that best emphasizes proper alignment. I tried it at home myself some years ago (never took classes) and it relies more on blocks and straps than other styles and yes, I remember the theoretical emphasis was really on proper alignment (as it is in some extent in all yogas, but the Iyengar method builds the alignment principles into the practice). So it's probably good for someone with chronic pain as well, with the focus on proper body positioning.

Here's a wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iyengar_Yoga

Oh, re my post above, I should add: the yoga lady on the plane also suggested Iyengar because to become a teacher in that discipline requires the most rigorous certification standards, so the teachers in that particular style are the most well-trained, require the most hours before achieving certification and the like. I think that was her first and foremost reason. And the proper body alignment thing.

Any and all yogas are good in my opinion so whatever feels right for you is really best of all! <3

i live with not one, but two yoga instructors.
i like vinyasa a lot, but i haven't tried a lot of others yet.

Going to have to look at that one... it might be very helpful since most of my pain is back pain. Thanks!

Now that my flow class has really started actually teaching us things (my teacher was distracted by his level one examination (but he passed and now he can teach level 2!)) Hem. So now that we're doing more flowing, I'm getting the poses down a lot better, plus I scored a sheet from him with diagrams of poses.

The point I'm trying to make is that I'm doing yoga every day now and it feels sooooo nice. : )

Does anyone want to learn to instruct yoga?

I've been doing Iyengar for just over a year and really, really love it. I had some major surgery and it took awhile to get back into it, but even then, the instructors work with me and I feel I am doing much better than if I were not doing yoga.

Definitely it can help with pain.

I just finished my first 30 day bikram challenge. The scheduling and laundry aspects were not fun, but I'm so glad I did it. I can't imagine trying to fit it in with work and school though. It was hard enough to schedule classes with just work.

The funny thing is that after taking 4 days off after the challenge, I had to go back. I wasn't sleeping as well, my allergies were worse. It might have been psychosomatic, but I feel so much better when I do yoga a few times a week.

i've got bryan kest's power yoga dvd so i lay out my mat in my lair and do it. it's nice. i feel so sleeepy after (doesn't help that it's like 11 at night)

RAWR MUSCLES

I heart yoga!
I can only do really gentle stuff right now because of my back, but it helps my back and the rest of me to do it every day.
I need to find classes near me, I miss my old ones.
Anyone know any yoga places in Portland, Maine?