Yoga

Yoga in Times Square — Finding Calm Within The Storm

Hot Off The Mat Class Experiences, Meditation, Yoga and Life , , , , ,

There is nothing like practicing yoga at Solstice in Times Square. Bodies are packed together, each person with his or her own brightly colored mat right on the street. Every race, religion, body type, and walk of life is represented. Spectators line the designated yoga area taking pictures with astonished looks on their faces. Tourists wave and cheer from passing tour buses. Horns are honking. Taxi drivers are yelling. Neon signs flash with light and movement. It is mayhem, yet the practice is calm — an island of stillness in an ocean of clamor and noise.

It is what yoga is all about.

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Can You Do Yoga With A Hearing Loss?

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I recently wrote a post about yoga on my Living With Hearing Loss blog that I wanted to share with my Hot Off The Mat readers. I find yoga inspiring in part because it is accessible to people of all abilities, body types and mental states. Yoga has changed my life for the better. I hope it has for you as well.

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Here is the post:

I love yoga! Not only is it fun, but I find the health benefits to be extraordinary. My yoga practice saved me from real injury during a fall last year, and I think that it, combined with meditatio…

Source: Can You Do Yoga With A Hearing Loss?

Meditation Is Hard!

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I meditate every weekday morning before Bikram Yoga class. Twenty minutes of quiet and stillness, preparing me for another 90 minutes of the same. It’s peaceful and keeps me calm. It even helps with my tinnitus. I love my weekday morning ritual.

But weekend mornings are different. I sleep later. The kids are home. There’s breakfast to savor and coffee to enjoy. The newspaper is waiting to be read. Lovely morning rituals, but different. My schedule is thrown off. Sometimes I forget to meditate.

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Do I Smell Like Bikram Yoga?

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It was a typical weekday morning and my 9-year-old son and I were killing time before he needed to catch the school bus. He was on the floor playing with a toy, and I was checking my email. But then he came in for a hug – a nice juicy squeeze. He is still a big hugger, for which I am very grateful. As we snuggled, he said, “Mom, you always have the same smell.”

“Must be morning breath,” I thought to myself, “or body odor,” since I was still in my pajamas, had not showered or even thought about brushing my teeth yet. Or, worse yet, maybe it was the lingering stink of my Bikram Yoga classes? I know my yoga clothes always carry a hint of the smell even after several washings. Maybe I do too! With trepidation, I asked him what the smell was.

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My Mini Bikram Yoga Challenge

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I have never done a 30-day challenge. My schedule is too crazy, with two young kids, meetings and writing for my advocacy work, weekend commitments and lots of travel. Or that is what I tell myself. I typically practice 4 or 5 times a week, which works well for me. Why rock the boat?

But last week I had a unique opportunity – no travel, no big weekend plans, and not an excuse left in the book. So I did a mini-challenge. I hadn’t started off with that in mind. I just went to class as I normally did each morning during the workweek and when the weekend rolled around, I just kept going. “Let’s see what happens,” I thought.

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