Friday, November 19, 2010

Free Download Friday

Every Friday Spirit Voyage offers beautiful yoga music downloads for free. This week it is Guru Ram Das by Gurunam Singh. I loved it and thought I would share it with you. The website is http://www.spiritvoyage.com/Friday-Download.aspx?id=37 Download free music. It rocks!!

Hatha yoga will be held at the yoga loft at Etro Salon on Sunday at 10:30. Hope to see you there.

Monday, November 15, 2010

The 2010 Yoga Journal Conference

Last Saturday Ruth and I went to the Yoga Journal Conference at the Diplomat Hotel in Hallendale Beach and it was truly a wonderful time. I am feeling sore now but I am so glad that I went. I am very lucky to have a good friend like Ruth who is also a yoga teacher (we did teacher training together) and shares my passion for yoga.

Ruth and I so happy to be at the conference

Ruth picked me up at 5:45 am and we set off on our adventure. When we arrived at the hotel I was totally blown away by the beauty of the Westin Diplomat. We walked around for a while checking the place out and scouting out the room where our first class was going to be. Then we to the Cafe and had some coffee in this gorgeous hotel.

Arriving at the hotel

Hips and Twists with Rodney Yee was going to be our first class and we were extremely excited about it. We were the first ones to put our mats down and we made sure we had a good spot. I have been doing Rodney's DVDs for years and I was sooo psyched not only to see him in person but to take class with him. All of a sudden the door opened and there he was. The famous and fabulous Rodney Yee sat on the stage in front of us with his wife Colleen Saidman Yee.

Ruth waiting for Rodney Yee


I was waiting for Rodney too!!!


Rodney and Colleen

We worked hard in the two hour class that focused on hip opening and twisting. Rodney and Colleen took turns teaching and adjusting students in poses. When they brought us into downward facing dog with a twist Rodney came over and grabbed my extended leg and helped me go further into the twist. I felt like I was just touched by......well....the Yoga God. LOL I was surprised by how down to earth and friendly he was. He taught us with a sense of purpose but also a sense of humor. It was an honor to be in the in same room with this amazing teacher.

Rodney in Side Angle

When class was over we met him and Colleen and he was nice enough to sit and pose for picture with both Ruth and myself. Ruthie and I were like groupies. LOL It was the perfect beginning to a wonderful day.

Rodney with my hand on his knee. Yeah, I had to touch him. :)


Rodney and Ruth
After taking pictures we ran to our second class which was a fun class about unstacking or decomposing postures. The teacher was Cindi Lee and she really taught us a lot about starting in simple poses and working up to more difficult postures. It really gave me food for thought.

Then it was time for lunch and shopping!!! We had so much fun walking around the yoga marketplace buying new shirts, mugs and of course, a shirt for Ruth's granddaughter, Emily. I managed to spend all the money I had allocated to this shopping spree and more. It wasn't hard to do. :)

We had an hour or so to relax and hang out so we walked around and went out to the pool area to find a place to sit and regroup. The weather was beautiful as was the pool at the hotel.

Ruth and I by the pool

We were pretty tired by this time but we managed to find a way to have fun and laugh. Boy, did we laugh.

Gangsta Yoginis

Our last class turned out to be a bit of a surprise. We thought we would be taking a class on how to teach beginner students but it turned out to be a beginner student class. We had a totally fun time in this class just being together. There was a lot more laughter in this class than there probably should have been.

Then it was time to go home. We were both very tired but so happy we had gone to this conference. It was a time that neither one of us will ever forget.

Waiting for the car


I don't know about you Ruth but I am looking forward to next year's conference. If it is half as much fun and inspiring as this was it will be fantastic. :)

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Last night and some changes.

Class rocked last night. I got so into it that I ended up going an hour and 45 minutes. I just couldn't stop. :) We worked from the back, seated, straddle, all fours, standing....we did it all. We even did some Breath of Fire for the first time. The students did really well. I am very proud of my students. They are getting stronger. I can see that in the way they are holding the poses longer and how much stronger they look in their postures. We worked a lot in Downward Facing Dog, floating into plank, pushing back into dog, 3 legged dogs, side angles into Pigeon to name a few. This was a strong class and everyone did well keeping up. :)

Claudia in Downward Facing Dog
It's looking like I may change my Saturday Class to Sunday. I have spoken to my Saturday students and they are liking the idea of the change. The salon is closed on Sunday and it will be much quieter. It sure can get noisy on Saturday morning in a hair and nails salon. :) We will be trying out the new time this week so there will be no class this Saturday. It has been rescheduled to Sunday, October 14 at 10:30 am.

Today I am subbing for Juliana at her house. It is her Wednesday class which is a level two kick butt class. I love teaching this class. It's fun and challenging all at the same time. Today will be lots and lots of standing postures and flowing. My intention for this class is movement.

I am also subbing for Juliana again tomorrow which is her level one class. I'm am looking forward teaching to both classes in Juli's studio. It's where I did my teacher training. It's like coming home. :)


Friday, November 5, 2010

New time on Saturday

Hi Everybody,

After asking my regular students I have decided to chance the time of my Saturday Hatha class from 11:00 to 10:30 am at the yoga loft upstairs from Etro Salon in Coral Springs. I hope you will come on by and take a class with me. :)

Namaste,
Claudia

Monday, November 1, 2010

Back to my old schedule and subbing too.

I have been back from LA and I'm happy to say classes have begun again. I am making a change to my Saturday class schedule. The Hatha one class will start at 10:30 am instead of 11:00 am starting on November 6th at the yoga loft at Etro Salon .

Tuesday night's Hatha class will resume tomorrow night at 6:30 pm. I am looking forward to teaching class tomorrow. I've gotten a couple of cute emails saying that my students are happy that I am back too. That's a nice feeling. :)

I will also be subbing for Joy on Wednesday morning at 9:00 am at The Yoga Source on Wiles Road in Coral Springs. I am extremely excited about this. Come and check out my class!!!

Namaste,
Claudia