Galfromdownunder Yoga

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...

SIGN UP for this workshop here or if you can't abide Facebook, here . Caught mid Warrior II on Arizona Desert Camp 2010, where I taught a daily Yoga for Cyclists class.   See a shot clip . By cyclists, for cyclists ... I'm going to be doing a workshop in January in collaboration with Pilates teacher and cyclist Karin Fantus. For the yogaphobic and pilates-curious, it's a little back-to-back intro for newbies that demonstrates flexibility techniques (yoga), resistence techniques (pilates) and core strength (both). Karin Fantus with a client in her pilates studio Details below. It's sponsored by the New York Cycle Club, which is always coming up with fun and interesting ideas for its members - the last one was a group visit to the Bespoke Handmade Bicycles Show at MAD. You can sign up on my Facebook Event page , which will simply help organize responses and let you post questions and comments ... or, if you can't access that for some reason, there...

For those who've never experienced a Kirtan (call and response) chant beyond encountering a bunch of Hari Krishnas in the street, here's a little sampler.  I recorded this during one of the Sivananda Vedanta NYC's 8pm Wednesday Satsangs, comprising half hour meditation, half hour chanting, half hour lecture. Yes, you will indeed hear Hare Krishna sung, but you are far from being "converted" against your will. Rather, the chanting is infectious, and wonderful way to free that inner singing voice that unites us all. Have a listen, rock yourself along to one of the Satsangs, and see you at my Tuesday yoga class, where we do just a little of this to get things going! I wrote about some of my chanting and meditation excursions a while ago, including Sivananda.