Kishan Shah

There's nothing like a rockin vinyasa class in the evening...unless you're in Venice, and that class has dubstep, and an instructor with the best adjustments I've seen on the west coast.

Kishan's Shah's class is a beautiful combination of depth and bass, a solid sequence mixed with sweet spirituality, and an opportunity to sweat it all out.

As much as I appreciate challenge in my classes, I really much prefer it when there's an element in the class that ignites a fire within me, instead of pushing me.

Kishan is quite at home in Exhale's golden Sun room, and he splits his passion between standing meditation and yogic squats. The first time I went, I was so moved by the music, I felt I was stretching far into the sky in my standing poses, particularly the heart-opening lunges. I was so happy I decided to arrive at the studio that evening. I had heard of Kishan a few times, and had the intention of trying out his class for a while. So one unproductive day (I should wisely abandon accomplishment until after 7, really), I came in and let go of a whole bunch of stress: it was fantastic!

The next time I took class, I arrived after spending a weekend hiking 12 miles back and forth to a place called 'The Bridge To Nowhere'. My legs hurt, to say the least. Kishan's concern was apparent as he came over to me in my third or fourth time in child's pose, and asked me if I was. Just sore, I assured him, thankful for the attention. A little while later, he brought me into the deepest twist I had ever experienced, with my chest straight up into the sky in a twisted lunge. Impressive, and challenging : )

An afternoon with Kate Duyn Cariati

When I walked into Kate's class, I joined several other women who were undoubtedly in the same space as me: craving an afternoon break of movement and meditation.

Kate's creative sequencing was truly spectacular, especially her fearlessness with arm balances. It was a Level 2/3 class, so there was certainly an element of challenge to the practice.

I had come in, admittedly, a slightly unbalanced state, and I was grateful for Kate's patience as I shed a silent tear or two, and fell out of more than a few poses. I really appreciate it when a teacher places me in situations that I'm usually a bit to lazy to enter into during my morning practices, like eka pada koundiyanasana (yeah, I had to look that up...). Kate led us into these spaces with a graceful, sweet and friendly air. Several times, she came over to whisper a friendly word of encouragement in my ear- much appreciated!

Overall, I left Kate's class with a sense of peace and accomplishment, and undoubtedly a stronger core as well : )

Isabelle Du Soleil

If you've ever imagined what is it like to do yoga in the french countryside, Isabelle Du Soleil has you covered.

Isabelle was subbing Annie's SMARTflow level 2/3, a class that's always challenging and requires a bit of mental pep talk to get to in the morning. About half way through the class today, I realized that just because Annie wasn't teaching, didn't mean we were taking it easy. That was okay, because half way through the class, I was in the flow and not wanting to back down either.

Isabelle has a charming french accent and an allure of grace and familiarity. Imagine receiving an invite from your sweet cousin in Alsace, inviting you over for yoga kriyas amongst the lavender.

I picked up on a lot of Shiva Rea inspired movement, as well as very Annie Carpenter like precision and attention to the student bodies. My favorite part of the sequence, however, was the hip opening ending. I always seem to forget about hanumanasana (splits) in my own practice, so it's nice to have the focus go there in class. Isabelle shared that hip openers brought her closer into herself, into a deeper truth and connection with the earth. I appreciate that.

Why I'm Scared of My Hips

I was lucky enough to be able to take Annie Carpenters last week- a hip opening session that, like all her classes, offered enough information to be considered a workshop.

Annie has this incredible creativity that disguises itself in simplicity and modesty. And we did a lizard lunge: instead of bringing the back knee down, we extended our hands right away.

Like always, I wish after class I had written down all the techniques we used, but as I recall, the main emphasis was on squaring the hips and rolling in the inner tight. This had the effect of engaging mula bandha and lifting the pelvic floor.

Then we went up against the wall, and, again much like Natasha's, that's when things got tight. We put our knee against the wall, top of the back foot on the wall, and began to move into a low lunge. In the words of an acquaintance, 'Oh My Science!'.

I was really scared. I had so much anger, resentment, annoyance stored in there. Although in the back of my mind, I know all emotions, all human possibility is accessible to everyone, there is a part of me that refuses to believe that I can be an angry, jealous, or resentful person. And like how I can. The moment I stepped into the lunge- I don't remember the thoughts, only their quality- they all jammed up into my head and attacked me. I was terrified.

And that type of radical self-knowledge and fear-facing is what I want to discover through yoga now.

Subtle Heat: Matthew Cohen's Chi Kung and Yoga

Matthew began class in my favorite way: asking his students how they were feeling. Tired, sad? Ok, tired yes, but not so sad. Ok. So, tired. Hip openers?

Reclining twist, hugging in the knee.....(oh, good, I think, this is the practice I was in the mood for...Chi Kung, yoga....sounds easy, right? A few hip openers....).

Yeah, right. Matthew is a martial arts instructor, and easy and martial arts, in my experience, is anything but easy.

First come crunches. And ok, I'm into crunches. I love awakening my core, even if my brain hasn't caught up yet. The first lunge I took half asleep....and then something snapped. We didn't leave the lunge. We lept up, into crane, half moon, dragon*. The best way to describe it, as Matthew said, was forming half a ying yan symbol. He came up to me and adjusted me so that I twisted deeper, and I understood why. I'm wide awake by now, and we move into warrior two, reverse warrior, triangle (an amazing neck adjustment!). I'm burning up with heat and completely confused as to why- we had, after all, done only a few lunges, right? Ah, but there's the energy of the class....

After a long lunge series on each side, we did a series of pidgeons as part of padmasana preparation. After which we did one of those surprisingly mind-boggling tricks: rotating the torso in opposition to the arms. Tricky.

The most powerful element I took out of class was Matthew's advice that, in his heritage, practitioners softened their chest (mine has a permanent rise per Colleen's memory). The heart is softened, and the spine, the central channel, rises instead. See how that works with your body, he offers, try it out...

*I believe it was called dragon. I'll have to ask.

Annie Carpenter

Annie is not the sort of teacher, nor is a Level 3/4 class the sort of place, that you would expect your instructor to make a "blarh" funny face to get you to loosen up. So far, SoCal is wonderful: brilliant, intelligent, super-aware yoga, down-to-earth vibe.

Annie teaches in Sanscrit, which is just right for a Level 3/4 class, but I actually haven't seen pure sanscrit in a while, so it caught me off guard. I like having something hold me accountable though. Her style reminds me so much of Natasha Ritzopoulis, it's nice to be able to have such teaching over here.

In the very beginning, class begun with a restorative virasana, which I so appreciated and wish I could have stayed longer. Afterwards, we moved into a cat/cow, when Annie pressed into my back and said "Oh, that's your spot, isn't it?". Yup, that's the place I'm always scared to backbend into, but I really, really need to because it's a huge area of growth.

One of my favorite moments in class was when we did drop-backs into pincha mayurasana. Annie had me demonstrate one and really helped me get into it in a way that was controlled and safe. Pincha mayurasana against a wall was an incredibly heart-opening practice and may be one of my favorite backbends. Can't wait to come back to class.

Erich Schiffman

Erich's class has a novel structure: he begins with moments of acknowledgement to his students, and togetherness, and then moves into lecture. Afterwards, there is a free flowing practice *and to see a room full of west-coast yogis move into their own practice- amazing*.

So, Erich's main themes for class involved not seeing yourself through the lens of birth and death. This, he says, is a main cause of "meaninglessness" and not taking accountability for your actions. He talked about how most of his life, he saw himself as mortal, and that caused him to be less present and care less. Later in his life, he saw himself as pure consciousness beyond both birth and death, which caused him to be more committed to his actions and the way he treats people. ('you'll have to meet that person in another life".

Now, it's interesting, because I would use the opposite phrasing: become more aware of your mortality, become more aware of death and how we all share it. Our actions may be absurd and meaningless, use the power of courage to create meaningful actions in spite of that potential absurdity. True compassion comes out of that place of embracing the unknown, the uncertain. And if you begin to observe your experience, you'll notice that your actions have a profound effect, they may not always be the means to the end you thought, but they create heaven and hell through your mindset in a moment.

...and really, though the language is completely difference, we are saying the same thing. Be present, have compassion, create meaning through your actions, read between the lines. I had a wonderful chat with Erich in which I discussed these things with him, and also how my seed-planting-instant-karma beliefs were also from a place of "you'll have to meet that person in another life". (Except, I think, in another form that you project outwards, in five minutes).