I have been practicing yoga on a regular basis for over a year. I started with Bikram yoga, which is a specific style of Hot Yoga. Bikram yoga  is known as one of the most difficult yoga practices mainly because of the heat, but I loved it right from the start and became addicted. For a year I practiced only Bikram yoga 1-3 times a week. Not only did the Bikram heal my aches and pains and reshape my body, it also healed my mind and my sole. Bikram yoga to me is physically very strenuous because the poses require strength and balance, but it is also a mental challenge to get trough these difficult poses in a room heated to 105 degrees. It took absolute focus on myself, inside and out, to make it trough the 90 minute class, but afterwards I always felt empowered and cleansed. Yes I was hooked. And I will sing Bikram’s praises anytime, anywhere. But ultimately I had to move on and check out other yoga studios. I needed the research for my Blog and I also wanted to find out more about the different practices and how they will improve my body, my strength and my physical well being.
This week I checked out two different yoga studios in my quest for the ultimate yoga experience. On Monday I chose to explore Forward Fold Yoga, (read more about this studio in my Review section). I picked a Level 1 class because the hours worked with my schedule. I did not think that Level 1 yoga would be too much of a challenge for me considering I am in pretty good shape from teaching cycle classes 5 days a week and practicing Bikram yoga at least once a week. Nevertheless I wanted to get a feel for the studio and see what Level 1 has to offer students.
During my 1 hour 15 min practice I really never broke a sweat and none of the poses seamed very challenging to me. I felt vindicated in my believe that I was in great shape. OH WELL….!! I was proven wrong the next morning when I woke up with my muscles aching in areas they had not ached for a very long time. I felt muscles soreness in my legs, my glutes and my arms. I guess Level 1 yoga is not as easy as I thought! But despite my aching body I was on a mission to do more research on Tuesday. I had already lined up another yoga studio I wanted to check out and I decided on a “Mixed Level” class that worked with my schedule. I was secretly hoping it would be easier and give me a chance to stretch my aching muscles.

At 12:15, I entered The Yoga Loft (read more about this studio in my review section), and signed up for the 2 week introductory special. The class started out very relaxing, and I started thinking that this is just not going to do! But 20 min into the class I had to remind myself why I was here! First of all I needed to give my body a break and second of all I needed to check out this class so I could review it for other people that might be looking for a class like this. So I started relaxing and allowing myself to enjoy the practice for what it was and giving my body a chance to heal and recover. The class turned out to be just what I needed that day. Little strengthening, more stretching and a lot of relaxation. After class I felt great and I loved the tea and biscuits the teacher offered the students after class. It was the perfect finish touch to great yoga experience.

After my rejuvenating yoga class on Tuesday, I felt ready to take on a Level 1-2 class at Forward Fold Yoga. And READY, I needed to be! Level 1-2 is definitely a challenging class. I was still tight from my Monday class, and the poses in this Level are more difficult because they use more strength and endurance, and students move between poses quickly, so coordination and focus is required to stay on track. Nevertheless I did enjoy the class and felt like I had gotten a good workout. My body continued to ache the rest of the week! A few days later I decided to audit one more class at Yoga Loft before my trial period ran out. I decided on a class called Iyengar Yoga Level 1. I did some researched about  Iyengar Yoga and found out that it is a practice that focuses on proper alignment and proper execution of poses. I was definitely interested. The class was full, and I was exited! The class reminded me of Bikram without the heat. And yes my research was correct, this class was about proper alignment and perfect posture in every pose. The teacher walked everybody trough the poses slowly and made individual correction where needed. This practice will give students a good solid foundation to built from. I would highly recommend it for beginners, so they will start with proper posture from the ground up.

My first, 2 week yoga challenge as come to an end, and I loved every minute of it despite my aching muscles. I learned that yoga is a diverse practice that has something to offer to everybody. And its not about finding the perfect yoga class but about finding the right recipe for your body at the right time. Try things, experiment, learn, grow and have fun and that’s what makes a FITASTICGIRL :)