Sounds Like Yoga, Volume 9

Sounds Like Yoga is back with another installment of our yoga teachers' favorite tunes from class. This week is a great one from Donnalynn Civello, featuring Train, Beyonce, and Blue Mitchell! Catch Donnalynn's classes on Mondays from 6:20am to 7:20am (Vinyasa All), Wednesdays from 7:35pm-8:50pm (Vinyasa All) and 9:05-10:20 (Candlelight), and Sundays from 8:20am-9:35am (Vinyasa All), all at the York Studio.Visit the playlist on our YouTube channel and zen out!

New York Yoga's Jenny Gammello is a Lululemon Ambassador!

This past Sunday New York Yoga's own Jenny Gammello taught her first class as a Lululemon Ambassador at the new Lululemon Athletica location on 85th and Madison. We're so proud of Jenny, and we're excited to see what else she'll be up to. Who knows? Maybe she'll be able to score us some free gear...

Here's some insight from Jenny on her experience so far:
It is a beautiful feeling in life to be supported and encouraged by community. I found that at New York Yoga, and now I'm expanding my family tree by becoming an Ambassador at Lululemon on Madison Avenue. At the opening of the store the excitement and positivity in the air was electric as we met the team and all the Ambassadors got to see our photos on the wall. Our new Lululemon on the UES offers the opportunity to reach out to and inspire even more people to find bliss and peace through the practice of Yoga, and our community so much richer for it!

Jenny Gammello, right (and above in the photo!),
with General Manager LeighAnn Monteith, left.

Got the Yoga Munchies?

I don't know what it is, but savasana brings out the hungry in all of us. If we're not jumping right into a meal, though, what's best to snack on in the meantime? We've posted before about various post-yoga snacks, and here are some more for you. A recent article on FitSugar gives some great suggestions that are not only good for you, but tasty too, like bananas and chocolate peanut butter! For more information, check out the article here. What are your favorite post-yoga snacks?

How Yoga Won The West

Hey New York Yogis,

Check out this interesting article, "How Yoga Won The West," by Ann Louise Bardach in The New York Times. It highlights the Indian monk Vivekananda and how he brought yogic spirituality to the west. Vivekananda popularized the practice at the end of the 19th century, preaching simply "work and worship," and was almost instantly a hit here in the States. When we're on our yoga mats today, we have him to thank.

October Specials!

 

Put Down Roots with Vrksasana

October Pose of the Month: Vrksasana

By Rebecca Merritt

Autumn bring us a new season and with it a new schedule. As the kids go back to school we are reminded once again to rededicate ourselves to the practice of yoga. If you feel like time is rushing by or if there are too many to-dos on your list this month, return to your mat and notice that you can slow time down. Vrksasana or tree pose reminds us that we can be flexible and rooted, even when the wind tries to blow us every which way.

Benefits:

• Strengthens spine
• Strengthens thighs, calves, and ankles
• Stretches inner thighs
• Stretches chest and shoulders
• Improves balance
• Relieves sciatica
• Reduces flat feet

How to:

1. Begin in Tadasana.

2. Shift your weight slightly onto the left foot, as you bend your right knee.

3. Begin to lift the right knee towards the chest so that you can reach down and clasp your right ankle with your right hand.

4. Draw the sole of your right foot up and against the inner left thigh; if possible. The foot may also rest on the side of the calf if the thigh cannot be reached. (Just be sure to avoid rest is on the side of the knee.)

5. Try to keep the pelvis square over the left foot and in a neutral, parallel position – you can place your hand on your hips to help find this steadying position.

6. Lengthen tailbone toward the floor, press the right foot against the inner thigh as you resist with the left leg.

7. Draw hands together in Anjali Mudra – in prayer at the heart – and with a soft gaze focus on a fixed point in front of you on the floor.

8. Stay for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Step back to Tadasana with an exhalation and repeat for the same length of time on the other side.

The Yogasm Exists?

According to an article in today's Daily Beast, the possibility of achieving an orgasm from yoga is entirely possible and happens more often than you'd expect. It comes from engaging the muscles around the mula bandha, the genitalia, for both men and women. As writer Lizzie Crocker reports, sexologist Dr. Jeffre TallTrees says: “When women engage their PC [pubococcygeus] muscles, the tissue around the g-spot swells, which can lead to climax.” For men it's a little different: "When a man draws his sexual energy in, and up toward his navel... he increases his ability to prolong his stamina in the bedroom." So yogasms aren't just an urban myth! Check out the rest of the article here.