Amanda Zapanta asked us to grab a bolster, two blocks and a blanket before we got settled into her Monday morning class. Yoga Sleuth was preparing for a playful, yet rigorous and alignment-focused vinyasa class at Greenhouse Holistic’s Driggs Avenue location in Brooklyn.
We began class lying down in Supta Padangusthasana, holding the big toe or our shins. Amanda had us take our toe down toward the floor, but encouraged us at the same time to take the foot up toward our head. Bringing the foot back to center we switched hands and took the leg across the body into a releasing spinal twist.
Amanda reminded us we could stay here, while offering a deeper version of bending the bottom leg and taking hold of the foot while holding onto the top outstretched leg.
Letting go of the twist, we then rolled onto our bellies and came up into a backbending Salabhasana, which Amanda also jokingly referred to as “Superman.” We then brought our hands to the floor and pushed into a Down Dog Split. The sequence continued with opening up our hips, flipping over into “Rock Star”, lowering into Marichyasana B, then bending our knees and scooping up our shins with our arms and laying down into a supine Pigeon shape before switching sides.
And that was just the warm-up to Amanda’s creative and demanding class.
In the next sequence we moved from a low lunge twist up to balancing in Ardha Chandrasana. Following that we glided from Warrior I to folding forward into Devotional Warrior, then shifting our torsos half way up we turned our torsos into a Revolved Triangle with hands still interlaced. We came back into Warrior II, to Peaceful Warrior and then Amanda gave the option of doing a core-engaging one-legged Vinyasa.
Amanda’s experience as a professional dancer and Thai Bodyworker helped inform her challenging sequencing and attention to body alignment as we flowed through.
Progressively building on her standing sequence, Amanda added Parsvottanasana, Prasarita Padottanasana (with options to twist or take Sirsasana B) into Goddess pose with Gomukhasana arms.
Moving onto balancing poses from Utkatasana we brought our right ankle above our left knee, bending our upper bodies forward and, for those who were capable, scooped up our shins we came into a standing Pigeon shape. From the stretch in our outer hip we had the option to move into Vrksasana or a standing Baddha Ardha Padmasana. For those bound, we let go of the bind and bent our knees into our chest, then extended the leg out for a short, but endurance-building hold before we were allowed to release into Tadasana.
Amanda brought the energy of the class down to a cooling pace with a Pigeon, Crescent Lunge, Trianga Mukhaikapada Paschimottanasana (a half Hanumanasana shape) and Janu Sirsasana.
In closing we utilized all of our props for a restorative Supta Sukhasana. Putting two blankets horizontally under the vertical bolster we used the blocks to support our crossed knees in reclined Sukhasana. This was a dreamy end to a stimulating class.
Bringing the bolster out from under us we rested in Savasana. Continuing the restorative theme, Amanda had us reuse our bolsters as we twisted to our right placing the bolster under the left leg and rested for a few moments.
“Imagine a time when you were a lot younger when you felt free to be yourself,” Amanda suggested, which threw me back in time. Returning to the present I was reminded how taking yoga classes such as Amanda’s are the moments during which I’ve felt the most free, the most connected to myself.
$18 per drop-in class, mat rental $1.
—Marie Carter for Yoga Sleuth
We began class lying down in Supta Padangusthasana, holding the big toe or our shins. Amanda had us take our toe down toward the floor, but encouraged us at the same time to take the foot up toward our head. Bringing the foot back to center we switched hands and took the leg across the body into a releasing spinal twist.
Amanda reminded us we could stay here, while offering a deeper version of bending the bottom leg and taking hold of the foot while holding onto the top outstretched leg.
Letting go of the twist, we then rolled onto our bellies and came up into a backbending Salabhasana, which Amanda also jokingly referred to as “Superman.” We then brought our hands to the floor and pushed into a Down Dog Split. The sequence continued with opening up our hips, flipping over into “Rock Star”, lowering into Marichyasana B, then bending our knees and scooping up our shins with our arms and laying down into a supine Pigeon shape before switching sides.
And that was just the warm-up to Amanda’s creative and demanding class.
In the next sequence we moved from a low lunge twist up to balancing in Ardha Chandrasana. Following that we glided from Warrior I to folding forward into Devotional Warrior, then shifting our torsos half way up we turned our torsos into a Revolved Triangle with hands still interlaced. We came back into Warrior II, to Peaceful Warrior and then Amanda gave the option of doing a core-engaging one-legged Vinyasa.
Amanda’s experience as a professional dancer and Thai Bodyworker helped inform her challenging sequencing and attention to body alignment as we flowed through.
Progressively building on her standing sequence, Amanda added Parsvottanasana, Prasarita Padottanasana (with options to twist or take Sirsasana B) into Goddess pose with Gomukhasana arms.
Moving onto balancing poses from Utkatasana we brought our right ankle above our left knee, bending our upper bodies forward and, for those who were capable, scooped up our shins we came into a standing Pigeon shape. From the stretch in our outer hip we had the option to move into Vrksasana or a standing Baddha Ardha Padmasana. For those bound, we let go of the bind and bent our knees into our chest, then extended the leg out for a short, but endurance-building hold before we were allowed to release into Tadasana.
Amanda brought the energy of the class down to a cooling pace with a Pigeon, Crescent Lunge, Trianga Mukhaikapada Paschimottanasana (a half Hanumanasana shape) and Janu Sirsasana.
In closing we utilized all of our props for a restorative Supta Sukhasana. Putting two blankets horizontally under the vertical bolster we used the blocks to support our crossed knees in reclined Sukhasana. This was a dreamy end to a stimulating class.
Bringing the bolster out from under us we rested in Savasana. Continuing the restorative theme, Amanda had us reuse our bolsters as we twisted to our right placing the bolster under the left leg and rested for a few moments.
“Imagine a time when you were a lot younger when you felt free to be yourself,” Amanda suggested, which threw me back in time. Returning to the present I was reminded how taking yoga classes such as Amanda’s are the moments during which I’ve felt the most free, the most connected to myself.
$18 per drop-in class, mat rental $1.
—Marie Carter for Yoga Sleuth
No comments:
Post a Comment