This week I took a Pranayama class on Monday which consisted of only breathing exercises. I realized that the hardest part for me was trying to inhale for 10 seconds, but the exhalation for 10 seconds was easy. I really enjoyed the different exercises and I felt like it was the best precursor to the Yoga Technique class after words. I felt in tuned with my breathing as I started that class, and witnessed the heat build up inside me fairly easily considering I had been still for the first half hour.

On Thursday in class we practiced Iyengar Yoga with Annie, which focused on the details of each posture and movement. At night during the evening class at Yoga Nine, we used the yoga belts and ropes as an aid to get deep into certain poses. On the inversions, it was challenging to manage my breathing and that is when I felt the most heat building up inside me, even though I was enjoying it!

I think there were similarities in both classes on Thursday because we held each pose for a few breaths and got really deep into them. With Laurie we focused on the precision of the warrior postures by making sure the hips were perfectly squared and using ropes for resistance. It felt great to do the back bends with the belt supporting us; I could feel my vertabrae stretching and elongating. My favorite part of the class was the butterfly inversion into the handstand because I love to be upside-down. Overall, I think that was my favorite yoga class that I have ever taken.