Hosh Yoga of Greenpoint and Williamsburg » Uncategorized

Fire Poi Dance

hamid — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 01:26:41 +0000

Susan, one of our regular yogis at Hosh, is going to be performing Fire Poi Dance at our 1st Year Anniversary Party. Come to check her our as well other great performances by friends of Hosh! Below is an excerpt from her DVD.

Our fundraiser and party event is happening on April 30th at Brooklyn Kingdom in Williamsburg. Please check out the following Facebook link to the event HERE.

Enjoying my practice with a little more awareness

yuuki — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 21:17:22 +0000

I attended a yoga workshop the other day and was reminded how much I enjoy yoga. Although we are reminded to step onto the mat as if it is our first time and explore the differences in our always-changing practice, it’s easy to get into a routine and lose that child like interest.

Yet, it is amazing how exploring one’s practice and really becoming even more mindful of the asana changes the practice altogether. Whenever during my yoga practice I am trying to be as mindful as possible, but the beauty of knowledgeable teachers is, they can open up new things to be mindful of.

Something as simple as tadasana; I root my feet, engage my legs muscles and abs, lift my chest and try to stand tall. Yet, I was shown that I could further root my feet by developing awareness of the key, four points of our feet (outer/inner balls of the feet and heels) and rotating my thighs outward, which naturally engages my gluts, thighs and calves. This allows for a lighter more upright upper body.

So my focus during my yoga practice now is to try to bring more awareness to my body and movements and further explore each pose. Like with most things, I want to continue to advance my knowledge and ability. In other words, I want to be able to be upside down doing hand stands all day, everyday. But, in order to do that I need to go back to basics, stand up straight and ground myself and allow myself to fully enjoy the process that is my practice.

Music in the tubes

hamid — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 23:20:44 +0000

As usual I was on mta autopilot, navigating the passageways with attuned precision, predicting a like bike messenger, dodging like a boxer, breathing like a yogi, and even aligning my car exits and entrances for the maximum possible efficiency. Coming quickly around the corner, judging by the large amount of people waiting, a quick breeze and a faint sound I knew that my next train connection is here. What a perfect timing, I thought, I feel so proud of myself, I got skills, skillllzzzz!

Sweet and delicious interchangeable play of accordion and base slowly started making its way into my busy mind. My body started leaning towards the music but my legs kept moving in the direction of the train doors like an unstoppable metronome. I made it, I caught it, I’m in the train, I have control over my precious minutes and the victory over time is mine.

me(m): this is so wrong
the other me(tom): what do you mean wrong?
m: I want to listen
tom: well, you are standing in front of the door facing them
m: for another five seconds
tom: instead of arguing just listen, three seconds by the way, better enjoy it
m: screw this
tom: wow, hold up, we are going to waste a lot of time!

Train doors close behind me; nobody is on the platform, except the music and me. I sit on the bench right by the band, close my eyes and soak in the tunes. I missed this feeling so much. It comes and goes setting me off on a rollercoaster. Actually missing that train gave me a chance to get the best seat, listen more and talk to these guys. I should do this more often.

I was behaving myself like that theology student on his way to make a speech about being a good Samaritan while passing by in a hurry a slouched over person on the steps of the auditorium. Where am I running? Do I really have something pressing to get to right at this moment? Honestly…no. I just got out of a yoga class, shopped around a bit and set out on my way home. Where did all of that yoga ways have evaporated? If the only place I can practice my “yoga” is on the mat, then I have even more to work on than I thought…Not this time, not today, I can still surprise myself.

m: thanx guys, where can I see you play?
accordion player continuing to play with one hand and reaching for a contact card with another: email me, I’ll tell you

Train doors close behind me, it moves. I find a comfortable seat, close my eyes and fuse the gentle rocking of the train with fading away dancing sounds of music. Smile…I should do this more often.

music in the tubes

morning practice

hamid — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:16:30 +0000

As a yoga teacher one might think I do yoga every day, probably having a well established home practice. At least I want to see myself that way when I think of my self image. However it is not so. As a current western world dweller and a New Yorker, I am at constant give and take with the speed and intensity of my life. Maintaining calm state of being while having a restless mind with multitude of goals and deadlines is a tough one to balance. But then, that is what yoga is, at least one of the many things.

The union of ying and yang, mind and body, crazy moments in subway and peaceful rest in the park. No wonder people are drawn to New York City, and whether they leave or not, nothing is imprinted in their mind and soul as this city. To enjoy this city and what it has to offer better, I feel it is important to be grounded, focused. Of course one has to have energy to spare, sometimes getting 25 out 24 hours a day. However multitasking, which I might add is highly overrated, shortens our attention span to mere seconds.

Here comes the morning practice, something I personally want to cultivate and mold into my everyday life as a permanent healthy habit. Waking up and grounding myself with few poses and deep breath is a great way to start your day anywhere, especially in the city of constant stimulation. Many reasons can be in our way to stop us, mind you the ones we made for ourselves. We might tell ourselves that unless we do a certain number of poses in a certain environment we can not consider it worthy of calling yoga. Many other reasons can be quoted as to why we can’t or shouldn’t do something, like with everything in life.

Being the decisive element in your life you can look at this situation from a different perspective. Even if you do one Down Dog, couple of Sun Salutations and a Sahavasana, that’s yoga. Seating in a chair and stretching for two mintues, that’s yoga. Walking on the street and breathing deeply while taking in the world, that’s yoga. You decide what yoga is for you and when you are ready you will have your morning/evening or any other time of day or style practice on and off the mat.

Coming back to the topic at hand this morning I did a sequence of five Sun Salutaionts, Low Lunges, Warrior I and II on both sides, Chair Pose, Dolphin Plank and finished it off with multiple twists and a headstand. That was my personal choice of today. Tomorrow I will do my best to practice again early morning, and it might be completely different. Whatever it is, as soon as it puts a smile on my face and makes me sing and dance, helping me to cherish the present moment, appreciate my past the way it is and take a peek at what’s coming ahead. Namaste.