by Jasmine | Nov 19, 2016 | Couples Yoga, Partner Yoga, Yoga Teacher training
Top Ten Tips
How to be a Bad Yoga Partner when you are doing Couples Yoga
Partner Yoga is a niche kind of yoga that is like having a stretching partner. Using the energy of the partner dynamic, you can go deeper in some of the poses, remain steady in some of the balancing poses by using your partner’s weight and get direction and support, while at the same time supporting, guiding and encouraging your own partner. It can be done with two solos who just met or with longtime couples.
You will take turns placing each other in restorative poses and then massaging your partner’s hands, feet, neck and face while they simply get to relax and melt. In poses and exercises, partners rely on each other’s support to keep correct body alignment, balance, and concentration. In a deeper sense, this physical support fosters deeper feelings of nurture and acceptance.
Here is a list of the ways you can be a partner that no one will want to practice with again.
Don’t shower or wear deodorant. You want to smell earthy and musky and be dripping sweat on your partner.
Forget to brush your teeth in class. This is really paramount for couples. . . . . your wife won’t want to get close to your tuna fish onion sandwich breath, especially when she is a few inches away in some of the more cuddly poses.
Another bonus tip – Don’t eat a fish and onion sandwich before a romantic date night.
Rattle your partner. When you are in the balancing poses, keep knocking your partner down and ruin their concentration.
Forget to wear yoga clothes to class. Don’t you love it when you jeans or tight pants rip down the middle and cause a scene. Also the view for your partner must be great now too!
Come to class late. This is really pivotal if you are coming alone and everyone has already been paired up. Even better if everyone is in a more silent, meditative pose and you disrupt everyone so that they can make space and find you a partner.
Check out the hotties. Keep staring and ogling the hot yoga chick in the tight pink pants next to you. Your partner doesn’t need you to be present and concentrate. Even better, if you came with your wife or girlfriend.
Show off your skills. Try showing off your range of motion and flexibility so that everyone knows you are the best in class. Even better if you are partnered with a yoga newbie or someone that has a limiting injury.
Keep your blackberry on. Leave your cell phone on that has an obnoxious ring tone. This works best if you can make sure to take calls during the meditation part and shivasana. Bonus points if you have a phone that flashes lights when you have a text or email waiting for you. Another bonus point if this is during the lights-dimmed relaxation part of couples class.
Push your partner past their limit and boundaries. Don’t they want to feel something intense in the poses? Don’t let your partner wuss out.
Criticize your partner. Why can’t they try harder to get their foot behind their head or stay longer in a handstand. Again, don’t let them wuss out.
by Michael | May 19, 2016 | Partner Yoga, Yoga Clothes, yoga mats
Best Yoga Mats
Part 2 of 3
THICKNESS
If you are older or you have knee issues you might want a thicker mat. It will provide more cushion that you will need. If you have sensitive knees then when you are in the lunging poses, a thin mat will be your knee’s worst enemy. If you do have a thin mat you can always roll it up a bit under your knee or put a folded blanket underneath. The tradeoff is that thick mats can make it harder for you to feel a strong connection to the floor, making you more wobbly in tree pose. You can always stand off the mat in the balancing poses. For beginners, I often have them use a wall without a mat for extra support.
PORTABILITY
A standard mat is about 1/8 inch thick, while the thickest swell up to 1/4 inch. There are also wafer-thin mats, often billed as “travel mats,” that are a mere 1/16 inch thick. They fold easily and don’t weigh much, making them a cinch to fit in a suitcase. Consider how much room you have to stow your mat, how important portability is, and where your sweet spot is on comfort.
If you use public transport or walk to your yoga studio, you will probably want a lighter mat. I’d also recommend getting a mat bag as well if that is the case.
If you drive right up to the studio, then a heavier, thicker mat won’t bother you and there’s not much point to geting a mat bag. If you are on airplanes a lot and who wants to pay the extra $25 each way to check luggage, then get yourself a foldable travel yoga mat in the 1/16 inch range. I haven’t used them yet, but am always temped to buy the Yoga Paws so you just put on yoga gloves and slippers and don’t have to worry about carrying a mat. Has anyone out there tried them…what do you think?
TEXTURE/STICKINESS
The texture of your mat dictates how much traction it provides. Like stickiness, texture affects how much slipping and sliding you do. It provides physical barriers to sliding (whereas stickiness relies on suction). And because texture affects the way a mat feels, it’s also a component of overall comfort. If you’re a Princess and the Pea type, any bumpy texture will likely aggravate you in savasana. Texture is more important for those hot, sweaty classes where you are more likely to slip on a smooth surface that doesn’t give you any traction.
If you’re looking for a mat that prevents slipping and you’d like to avoid PVC mats (the traditional sticky mats), look for a rubber, jute or cotton mat that has a raised, tactile pattern. The added grip the raised texture provides can help you stay put no matter how sweaty or vigorous your practice gets. If you are new to yoga, take off your socks in the standing poses or you might slip. (I’m always surprised how often I have to tell this to my yoga students in class.)
If smoothness is of prime importance to you, a PVC mat is the way to go. And if you relish stickiness but are curious about the newer, more earth-friendly options, test drive a few before you buy. Some eco-friendly mats may surprise you with how much traction they provide even though they don’t have the traditional “sticky” feel.
by Jasmine | Feb 10, 2016 | Couples Retreat, Couples Yoga, Date Night, Partner Yoga, Yoga Retreat
Evolve Music and Yoga Festival in New Jersey
How did it go at our Couples Retreat.. NJ at the Evolve Yoga and Music Festival in New Jersey?
I don’t know if most people would think of the Evolve Music and Yoga Festival as a retreat but a few years ago, my newlywed hottie hellenic hubby and me decided to take a hippie-flavored Couples Retreat ..NJ. It was quite a long drive from Philly, we actually took a wrong turn and it took us about 30 minutes longer to get there. It was fairly loosey-goosey, which suited us just fine. When we got there there was a main music stage that had some pretty decent bands on there. We arrived during the day and there were lots of vendors selling things like raw, vegan, organic food, crystals, incense, clothing, jewelry and it was tough to resist buying lots of tempting stuff. There was also someone there that had a monarch butterfly tent and we got to play with the monarch butterflies at this couples retreat…NJ.
We went up the the yoga pavilion and every 1-2 hours there was a different kind of yoga being taught. I was most excited about the acrobatic yoga that was being taught. I’ve always loved acro yoga and found a studio in NYC that taught this on a regular basis. I am somewhat of an amateur with acro yoga.
It’s always been hard to find a yoga partner since they seem to come on two ends of the spectrum. the brand new beginner that I have to teach the basic moves to like folded leaf or the almost pro acro yogi who can fly people and toss them around on just their feet in the air like they are salad. It’s a lot easier to teach someone to be the flier and a lot harder to teach them how to be the base so when I am teaching someone I always end up basing them for awhile and that ends up hurting my knees if I do this for too long.
The last time I practiced with someone that is actually a professional acro yoga teacher then ended up dropping me on the ground ( fortunately it was the grass) but it was still a solid drop. So I had a quite large and quite painful and quite dark black and blue mark
So we didn’t end up doing too much acro yoga since I can only base someone for so long. Here are some pics though of when we did the acro yoga which is also called partner yoga.
I think we stayed through dinner time at the festival. It was starting to get chilly and we did bring some gear to keep warm but I was getting quite cold. We found a meditation tent and got to go into a sound bath filled with crystal chimes and zen bells. It really transported us…WOW!
At night, it was non-stop music that usually have a techno flavor to it. There were all kinds of bright lights, neon lights and fire spinning at the festival. I think the festival really heated up probably pretty late but since we had gotten to the festival so early in the day I had kind of had enough and was ready to just go to sleep at our hotel. Almost everyone else had camped out but we didn’t have our camping gear and we figured that by the time we bought all of our camping gear we could just get a cheap hotel room nearby ( although nearby ended up being about 45 minutes away).
The next day after our couples retreat..NJ we ended up going to a winery nearby called Warwick. They had the most yum-yum Rieslings there and we ended up buying a case of Riesling… I’ve never bought a case of wine in my life…
What a romantic weekend! What is your idea of a romantic weekend? Write your answers on our Facebook page.
by Jasmine | Jan 18, 2015 | Partner Yoga
Very rarely do we take time out of our busy schedule to sit back and indulge ourselves for a few minutes. Usually, a soothing cucumber mask or an oatmeal, almond and avocado body scrub are fleeting fantasies during the day. As soon as the stoplight turns green or a telephone shrills ten we must snap out of the calming thoughts of spa indulgences and return to our daily grind or screaming, whiny kids (or husbands) and demanding bosses sending emails on your blackberry after 6 pm every five minutes asking about the status of an overdue project…….
This is for the woman who can’t get away to a spa but can luxuriate at home with recipes for lotions, oils, rubs, scrubs, wraps and cuisine. You can also use these treatments for a romantic night at home with you and your sweetie (with no other men around, you’ll be surprised to see how much the man in your life enjoys being pampered) or have an at-home spa party with you and some girlfriends. If you are not inclined to personally concoct these simple recipes, then you can go to a store that sells beauty treatments with some of these ingredients or look for a spa that has treatments with some of these ingredients.
Coconut Oil Hair Conditioning Clay
This is a both a deep cleanser and deep conditioning treatment. The clay will remove dirt and hair product residue from the shaft while nourishing the scalp. Use a gentle white clay since the red and green clays might be too harsh on the hair.
1/2 cup jojobo oil
2 tablespoons coconut oil
4 tablespoons powdered white clay
1 cup distilled water
In a small saucepan, heat jojobo and coconut oil until melted on low heat untill melted. Remove from heat and slowly add water in the form of a paste. Apply a palm full of treatment to your hair.. Cover hair with a cap and let stay in for 15 minutes. Shampoo hair as usual.
Coconut Body Scrub
This is great to do in winter when elbows and feet are especially crackly.
1/2 cup coconut oil ( gentle melted in a saucepan)
1/4 cup coarse salt
1 lemon
Combine ingredients and vigorously scrub on feet, hands, elbows etc.
Ginger and lemongrass are highly rejuvenating. Ginger is typically cultivated in Southeast Asia. The citrus-y scent is very uplifting.
I cup fresh lemongrass, cut up into stalks or 1/2 cup dried.
1 3 inch long piece of ginger root grated
1 cotton sheet, cut into 3 inch wide strips.
1 plastic sheet or shower curtain liner
1 or 2 blankets
Place lemongrass and grated ginger in a pot filled with water. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. With a strainer , scoop out as much ginger and lemongrass as possible. Put the strips in the water, wringing out the water as much as you can each time. Start wrapping yourself with the strips snugly starting with your legs and work up to the torso and then arms. Lay in the tub for 15 minutes, wrapping yourself in a blanket for warmth. Remove the strips and then take a shower to rinse off any ginger or lemongrass.
by Jasmine | Nov 18, 2014 | Alternative Health, Partner Yoga, Prenatal Yoga
WHY PRENATAL YOGA?
Pregnancy is a great time to learn how to emotionally, spiritually and physically release, open up and let go. Yoga also help you find the time and space to look within yourself, allowing you to openly explore your own intrinsic knowledge about the cycles of life.
Yoga is a comprehensive and safe form of exercise during pregnancy and postpartum. Prenatal Yoga Classes are taught by highly qualified staff trained in Yoga Alliance Certified guidelines, methods and practices. Our yoga practice is gentle and nurturing, yet safe and supportive, so that mother and baby obtain the maximum benefit from postures without any strain.
Prenatal yoga links postures and breathing exercises to create awareness of your own mind, body and spirit, and the spirit of your baby. Pregnancy Yoga is ideal preparation for giving birth. Our yoga program is taught in a way that will help you access your own intuitive understanding of birth while helping you to connect to your partner.
Breathing practice during pregnancy opens the chest and helps to improve circulation in both mother and baby, ensuring a better supply of oxygen to the blood. It also calms the nerves and gives the mother greater control of her breathing during labor.
CAUTIONS
Since nausea is common during the first trimester, it may be helpful to practice in a well-ventilated room. During the second trimester your growing belly will require modifying some poses. Use common sense and avoid putting undue pressure on the abdomen in poses like Head To Knee Postures, Seated Forward Fold, and Forward Bends Towards the Knee, as well as Seated Spinal Twists.
You may also choose to reduce the amount of vinyasa (flowing postures) if generating heat in the body makes you uncomfortable. The third trimester will require you to continue to adapt and even omit certain postures. Standing poses like Extended Triangle Pose, and Extended Side Angle Pose can help relieve back pain. A simple inversion such as Legs-Up-the-Wall-Pose can help to relieve swollen ankles. Some poses might require additional props or support (blocks, blankets, bolsters).
Through each trimester the most important thing is to tune in to what your body is telling you and alter your practice accordingly. During and after your pregnancy, try not to be attached to your previous abilities or level of flexibility.
Safety Guidelines
All pregnant women are welcome to attend the class, whether you have a regular practice or want to start yoga during pregnancy. It is very important to inform the teacher of any complications (current or past) or any treatment that you are receiving.
During pregnancy ligaments around the joints become loose and soft. Care should therefore be taken not to overstretch the body. The abdomen should remain relaxed and soft at all times to allow room for the baby.
Pregnancy can make you feel more tired than usual. It is essential to be aware of this and try not to do things to the point of fatigue. If you feel tired after yoga or any other physical exercise, it means that the practice has been faulty or that you have done too much. Signals such as pains, stitches, cramps, nausea, dizziness, headaches and contractions should never be felt during or after yoga practice. Yoga generates energy, rather than dissipating it.
Is yoga just a set of poses and stretches? Yoga is not just a set of physical poses. Yoga does not refer just to the poses as is commonly thought in the West. Yoga is a series of lifestyle practices that include diet, hygiene, yoga philosophy, breath-control techniques, meditation techniques relaxation techniques, awareness techniques, self-mastery techniques and physical poses that lead to self-realization, compassion and evolution. Yoga philosophy emphasizes non-judgement, acceptance and compassion at its core.
Is yoga just a set of poses and stretches? Yoga is not just a set of physical poses. Yoga does not refer just to the poses as is commonly thought in the West. Yoga is a series of lifestyle practices that include diet, hygiene, yoga philosophy, breath-control techniques, meditation techniques relaxation techniques, awareness techniques, self-mastery techniques and physical poses that lead to self-realization, compassion and evolution. Yoga philosophy emphasizes non-judgement, acceptance and compassion at its core.
Prenatal Yoga Classes
• Find a circle of other moms who are at all stages of pregnancy
• Connect soulfully with your baby through breath, movement and intention.
• Improve your postpartum recovery
• Helps to strengthen the body for child bearing and aids in relieving the common discomforts.
• Alleviate many of the discomforts of pregnancy such as nausea, constipation, varicose veins, swelling, back pain and sciatica.
by Jasmine | Sep 26, 2014 | Couples Yoga, Date Night, How To Keep The Intimacy Alive, Partner Yoga, Valentines Day
Just wanted to let everyone know that we will be holding our yoga classes at Amrita in Fishtown near Center City. We are SO excited about this! We have held our classes in many different locations in the Philly metro area, mostly in Manayunk and in other areas as well such as King of Prussia, Havertown, West Chester and Ardmore. Without a doubt Amrita is the most stunning yoga studio I have ever been in ( and I have been in hundreds of yoga studios at this point…. maybe even over 1,000…. you don’t keep track anymore after a certain point.)
If the Four Seasons was designing a yoga studio it would look like this. If you have ever been in the Mandarin Oriental or the Setai in New York or Miami that is a bit of the feeling they are going for. Zen luxury.
Amrita Yoga and Wellness has been around almost four years in the hip and happening Fishtown. Right next to some outstanding eateries such as the Fette Sau and Frankford Hall . I also discovered they are right near Federal Donuts which has some of my favorite guilty pleasure food – fried chicken and donuts. On my way to Amrita today, I stumbled upon Federal Donuts and got the finger-licking spicy chili and garlic chicken and then the chocolate and sea salt donut. Not very yogic at all but a most yum-yum treat!
I’ve been to an aerial yoga class at Amrita earlier this year and was beyond impressed with the facilities, ( showers, changing rooms, cubbies to put your belonging in and shoes in) as well as the actual classroom set up which has water falls and fireplaces and stunning light fixtures that feel very romantic and ethereal. The room we will practice in has a key feature that is almost always missing – a fireplace! Actually there are two fireplaces!
Lighting is a very key thing in a couples yoga class. For daytime classes there are bright and airy skylights which give a heavenly feel to the room. At night the sconces on the side dim. Since you are sometimes lying on your back in a yoga class, you don’t want bright lights to blind you as you are attempting to find your inner bliss.
Since our couples yoga classes are the most popular in the Winter months, we will start up our couples yoga season in January with classes almost every Friday night until March. On Valentine’s Weekend we will have an extra Saturday night class as well.
