Sunday, May 25, 2008

Pilates, acroyoga and beautiful Karen

I subbed two Pilates classes yesterday. The funny ting about it is that I have never actually been to a Pilates class before. But our Pilates teacher could not find a sub for her classes and she sounded very desperate, so I volunteered. I just had yoga ab and back exercises done in a gym rep regime and voila - Pilates class! Well, I do not know whether it was in any way close to Pilates, but the students did not complain too much.


In the afternoon I ended up in an Acroyoga workshop. I am not sure why it is called acro-yoga, in my opinion it was a partner yoga. But it was lovely. First we did a guided Thai massage on each other, then - partner yoga poses, and in the end - attempted "flying". I loved Thai massage! I think I might go and get some training in that. Felt delicious! My partner was Conny, my classmate from the Teacher Training Program; we were well-matched in the size and flexibility. So the second part felt very good, too. Having a partner really allows one to get much deeper into a pose, than when doing it alone.

And here is the "flying" part. We suspended our partners on the extended legs, and allowed them to relax and elongate through the spine. Turns out a person can "fly" a much, much heavier partner without any problems:


We had a blast! :)

After the workshop, Karen and I started our session. She is amazing! I am afraid I did not do her justice, after all. And I absolutely hate having my picture with hers in the same post. But nevertheless, here are some of them :



And this one is my favorite:



I think she is one of those rare people who are as beautiful outside as they are beautiful inside.

24 comments:

ashtanga en cevennes said...

Lovely! Especailly the last one.

Alfia, that looks like so much fun. I'd like to try flying someday... I once took a thai yoga massage class that was such a lot of fun.

bonne journée Alfia!

alfia said...

Thank you, Joy!
:)

chitta vritti said...

wow! those are some really nice pictures (and poses for that matter!), beautiful :) the last one i gorgeous!

thai massage is awesome! especially if you and your partner can give it to each other. i so wanted my xbf to learn how to give massages and thai would've been pretty easy, but he was reluctant...

have a great day!

alfia said...

Hi, Chitta vritti!

Thank you so much for your kind words and for stopping by! :)

Oh, thai massage is nice. I really need to learn it.

armani said...

Great pics! Was that you holding up the much heavier guy? You look like Wonder Woman!

alfia said...

Hi, Armani! Thank you for visiting.

Yes that was me. But the idea behind "flying" was that one can easily hold a very substantial weight on the legs, as long as bones were stacked up. So unfortunately, I am not quite a wonder woman. :D

Arturo said...

Hi Alfia
This post is Fabu. I love partner yoga. I think it was in DC that a previous teacher, Samadhi (she renamed herself) was learning what you described and brought it at some workshops in Orlando. It was as you describe, Thai Massage and partner yoga. One time I was partnered with trapeze artist! Karen is beautiful, as is her practice.
Cheers,
Arturo

Arturo said...

oh, and so are you. yes, I had to check that it was you supporting the big guy, as Armani pointed out.

alfia said...

Hi, Arturo!

Thank you, you are very kind. I have more pictures of Karen, and she seems not to mind me posting them. I will show you more! :)

Boodiba said...

OMG you've met my yoga idol!! I like the shot of her in Viranchyasana B. Love that pose.

chitta vritti said...

Boodi, i was wondering who this Karen is?! her poses are truly amazing, and i love how Alfia portrayed them!

Gypsy Girl said...

Love the photos AND the flying act!! When i first tried to get my husband to practice yoga with me I bought a partner yoga book. We tried lots of poses including the flying one. We nearly killed each other, but then during and after several attempts we had great fits of "laughter yoga". I think if I tried it with another person experienced with yoga it might have worked out better...but would have been less funny... laughter is good for the soul!!

alfia said...

Hi, Linda:
Is Karen your yoga idol? Can't blame you. I was telling her about you and she asked me about your website; you might get a visit :)
Are you enjoying a day off?

alfia said...

Hi, Gypsy Girl! Thank you very much! You are right, laughter makes everyting better, even when things are not funny at all. :) I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Boodiba said...

She's on Flicker a lot. I found her when researching Purna Matseyendrasana last fall, when I got the pose. I think she's based in Houston.

chitta vritti said...

oh, i see! thought maybe she was an "official" yogi celeb, so to speak. i can see why she's your idol :)

Alfia, i was actually going to suggest you put the pics on flickr, if she doesn't mind you publishing them there!

Boodiba said...

I posted a pix of her Purna Matseyen when I was trying to figure it out, since Batman wasn't really helping much. And then her photographer found my blog. But this was the last one. I had a chat back & forth with him & so sent him an invite when that one when private, and he was all "Who the fuck are YOU?" in tone. I think he'd forgotten he'd been all chatty? He'd even sent me links to some high res video of Karen doing some 3rd vinyasa.

Funny. His Flicker name is MasTaPiannis. You can see tons of pix of Karen in action, and yes I think her form is truly fucking amazing.

I got a nice handshake and "Amazing!" today. I'm not at all as good as Karen, but a women in the back had witness my Karandavasana and wanted some coaching. I obliged. Don't know if I helped but I gave her some pointers and things to try.
MasTaPiannis'

lwitt said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
lwitt said...

I used to be in Houston, but now I'm in DC, where I practice at the same studio as Alfia (David Ingalls is my teacher, and he's absolutely incredible).

Anyway, thanks for the compliments! It's very flattering, but I must say that Alfia takes great photos and somehow makes me look a lot better than I actually do (and like it's fairly effortless, which it's definitely not!).

Boodiba said...

Oooh where the comment go? Anyway you've got an amazing practice. If I ever visit DC again I'll have to look you guys up. I'm in NYC at Yoga Sutra, with Greg Tebb.

Boodiba said...

Oh there it is.

I am SO terrible with my blog addiction. Right now I am supposed to be looking at my resume.

alfia said...

Yes, Linda, come and visit us in DC! It is going to be great!

Chitta Vritti - I am going to reaseach Flickr. Thank you for the suggestion!

Karen - thank you! It is not true, of course, but makes me feel better. :D

Boodiba said...

I've only been there once. YEARS ago, before I was an Astangi (not that that's been the case for all that long). Went with my mom when there were two John Singer Sargent exhibits up.

alfia said...

See, you are overdue for another visit! :)

 

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