Galfromdownunder Yoga

One of our more "obscure" muscles (in that, you're not really aware of it on a daily basis like your quads and hammies) is the piriformis . This muscle is located deep in your butt, running from the sacrum to the top of the thighbone.  It's one of the the many hip rotator muscles that collectively turn the hips and upper leg outward (called external rotation), and particularly for athletes, provides stability around the knee when twisting and changing direction. If you sit in a chair, place the right ankle (flex that foot!) just south of the left knee and tip your body forward, you'll feel the piriformis wake up in that very spot. I call this the Piriformis Desk Jockey stretch, because it's an ideal thing to do at your desk. Sitting cross-legged also activates this muscle.  Piriformis as viewed from behind. The piriformis skates somewhat close to the infamous sciatic nerve - the one that often gives grief by sending shooting pains down the...

John Churchill, founder and owner of Samadhi demonstrates Gomukasana (Cow Face pose) with a side bend. Why Cow Face? The stacked knees look like the lips of a cow, the feet like the ears.  Whenever I travel anywhere, I always try to seek out local yoga class. No only does it help me get unknotted from slouching about in bucket-seated motorized transport, I get to learn something new from a professional fellow teacher, in a fresh new place. (I also do this with haircuts - I got an excellent 'do for $2 in Tarma, Peru....). So while visiting Boston with my folding bike recently, I found a studio that was a perfectly civilized 3-mile bike ride from door to door - a lo-carbon emission way to arrive already warmed up to class! The studio:   Samadhi  in Newton, MA. The teacher: founder and master acupuncturist,  John Churchill . John's Open class contained quite a few interesting variations on basic poses that I hadn't come across before. I con...

Danger! Addictive substance! With Hurricane Irene threatening to take a bite out of the Big Apple this Sunday, everyone's battening down hatches, stocking up on water, candles, batteries and favorite addictions - in my case, Trader Joe's Potato Trio chips (no salt, tons of fat) and a case of Chocolate Fudge  Orgain  (guilt free chocolate shake). And we're locking our doors, putting cling wrap around the edges and not going OUT. Some are even starting as early as Saturday. So how do you get your yoga fix when the route to your favorite studio is knee deep in water? Get out your mat, push back the furniture and do a couple of  Storm Salutations for Hurricane Irene. They are basically Sun Salutations, but you stay super low so the eye of the storm somehow misses you. Storm Salutation A: A smooth tumble from Downdog to Plow. You roll out of storm's danger like a tumbleweed!  Start cross legged, hands on knees. Inhale - roll forward onto hands and knees...

Under the Crescent Moon: and the healthy, non-toxic clay walls of YoGanesh! To relieve pressure on sensitive knees:  1. Fold over the side of the mat 2. Activate all leg muscles, drawing energy up through your torso and out through the top of your head Yoganesh , the newish studio where I teach a Monday and Friday evening class, just celebrated it's first Anniversary. Here's my post about it on the YoGanesh Blog . And while you're at it, read about the new classes and workshops . See you in class! 

I'm now teaching the Friday 7.30pm Yoga for Runners+Cyclists class at Yoganesh . Both sports create similar problems due to the 1-dimensional plane they lock you in. Just like, ironically, sitting in a chair all day hunched over a computer! Hope to see you there - or at my ny nite owl class, 9pm Monday nights. Bend it and mend it! Check out my video interview of knee guru Andy Pruitt talking about Cyclists and Runner's knees:

I'm looking forward to sharing my AM/PM yoga practise with fellow New York Cycle Club members at West Point. It's taken me years of riding a bike for a living (albeit not like Lance) to note that a quick leg bend against a park bench - the amount of stretching most cyclists do - just doesn't cut it!  I asked one of my teachers Sarah Coleman, owner of delightful East Village studio Finding Sukha , to demonstrate a nice little routine for cyclists. See the video above for some quad and hamstring lengthening moves. Thanks so much Sarah. Bend it and mend it! The Charlie's Angel stretch is also a good one for cyclists - and swivel chair dwellers ....

I'm now teaching a late nite Monday class at Yoganesh ,  232 7th Ave, NYC  (btw. 23rd and 24th),   9pm-10pm. So it's not that late, but should be easier for workaholics (voluntary or otherwise), nite owls and other after-dark downdoggers to make the class without too much huffing an puffing. And what better way to counter a week of swivel chair sedentariness in advance? Which reminds me - take the stairs when you can. Up, but not down. Descending stairs isn't that good for anyone's knees.Going up - take it two and a time, steadily, using your quads, inhale on the first two, exhale the next. It's a similar thing you do when climbing a steep hill on the bike - your breath will carry you to the top - and in the case of stairs - swinging your arms. Great for the heart, back, leg muscles. Just don't stop breathing! Check out my YouTube interview of knee-guru Andy Pruitt talking about knees! Do pass this on to your yoga-interested pals - it is still a fairly ...

Well, not that late . Hence, the not quite "after dark" shot of the Ganesh mascot (pictured). As of Memorial Monday, I'm teaching a 9pm-10-pm class at Yoganesh , for night owls, workaholics any anyone else who can't seem to make it to the "crowded hours" right after work. Now and then I'll teach other classes there. I've put my 6.30pm Chelsea Recreation Center free class on hiatus, It's just too hard to beat it down 5th, 7th, 9th or the Westside Bike Path (I've tried all four) to make it to the center on time. I'm thrilled that Phil Lynch, a yoga teacher from California, is also teaching at Yoganesh. He's a no-fluff down to earth kinda guy, who, during my training, famously showed us from downdog, how to float your legs forward to meet your hands - with superhuman strength in the elbows and wrists.  I want to learn that! Come on down dawg!

One thing I love about going to different yoga classes around town (and especially when I travel), is that I always pick up at least one new and interesting tip to pass onto my students. No matter where I go, the teacher  invariably does or says something that makes me think, hey ... that's a great idea. It's not just experienced teachers that furnish these aha! moments either - newer teachers, being fresh from the textbooks and training, often remind earlier graduates about the correct way to do things.  So I must thank a teacher at the  Ypsi Studio in Ypsilante, Michigan, a small town near Ann Arbor. I was there for Christmas and persuaded my hosts to drive me through the thick of the snow to a class at this little fitness studio in Michigan Ave. My hosts had expressed enthusiastic interest in doing the class, but as the day wore on, bailed, one by one. There were only four of us in the class, taught by Ed Jackson, originally from LA. Ed showed us a brillia...

NOTE: This post, and future posts relating to the Yoga/Pilates for Cyclists project in collaboration with Karin Fantus will now be continued on this blog: http://yogapilatesnyc.blogspot.com Following our sold-out  Yoga/Pilates for Cyclists Sampler  class in Jan 2011, Karin and I have found a cozy space to continue the series. Judging by the feedback  the New York Cycle Clubbers found our class very interesting and beneficial. (OK, we did hand out 85% dark chocolate with the anonymous feedback sheets). Here's a movie tour of the space: Tour around the space above - and apologies - I couldn't help but tickle the ivories a little, despite a traumatic childhood involving piano lessons and a book of mindless  Czerny Etudes  that resulted in teethmarks on the piano ... A musical space indeed: a 72nd St location - with cushy new carpet - for around 8-10 participants (when we stack the chairs) "What a tangled web we weave ... " It's called the Otello ro...