Learning to Breathe Upside Down (Mr. Yoga Workshop @ TruHarmony Yoga Chicago)

Photo via the Mr. Yoga website.

This post is far overdue, but I wanted to share it nonetheless. Sponsored yogi Rich and I attended some fierce workshops in the spring with Mr. Yoga at TruHarmony in Chicago. He kicked our butts, and pushed us to new levels in our yoga practice, and for that we are grateful.

For me, this was a dive headfirst into the world of arm balances, headstands and handstands. For Rich, it was some great practice. Here are our reflections.

Photo via Dudes Doing Yoga on Tumblr.

From Rich:

Friday evening's Mr. Yoga workout was the most grueling yoga practice I have ever had. Granted, it may not have been the best idea to take a class at noon and then come back to the studio for the workshop, but I did it anyway.

Dan (Mr. Yoga) and his manager, Mike, got to the studio a little bit before 5:00 pm and were immediately ready to start practicing. Yogis started putting their mats down in the studio by 5:15. Dan was in there playing with them as they did. It was great. I walked in there and heard excited giggles and shouts. I saw people getting into fun, awesome poses that they didn't even know they were capable of. Like I said, it was awesome.

Finally, 6:00 rolled around. The practice started like most other vinyasa practices I have attended. There was some talk about breath, a few words about philosophy, then right into sun salutations. We were holding a crescent lunge when Dan walked up and said, "Oh wow, that's perfect!" He then stuck his fingers in my armpits and tickled me. It was totally disarming and hilarious. 

At this point, I actually thought that this might be not be that tough. I should learn how to avoid thoughts like that. At this point we started working upper body. 

There was a pushup for everything! We isolated the triceps, front of the shoulder, back of the shoulder, middle of the shoulder, pectorals, and the upper back (also, it is quite possible that there were more sets of pushups that I have blacked out because it hurt so good). We worked the upper body for probably an hour of the 90-minute workshop. 

The lower body set was subdued in comparison. We did a couple sets of wide-legged chair pose squats with calf raises. I am by no means trying to downplay the intensity of the lower body workout. It was just that the upper body workout beat me into a puddle. 

The workout was super intense and I had a yoga buzz on afterward. 

Photo via Flickr.

Saturday morning rolled around and I woke up a touch sore. I had some breakfast and went to the studio for arm balances and inversions.

This class started similarly to Friday evening's class. This time, though, sun salutes gave way to hand stand prep. We partnered up and got into hand stands with our partners spotting us. It was interesting feeling a hand stand for the first time. I was so tempted to say, "Just let me go." But I thought that maybe that was a touch past where I was practicing safely, so I didn't.

We did some headstands. That is an understatement. We spent the next hour on our heads. It was amazing. We went through seven different variations of headstands and armstands. This totally blew me away. 

Headstands make me happy. Dan would demo, then we would play. He would demo, we would play. All the way through all seven of the variations. It was great. You could hear people falling out and getting right back into the headstands the whole time. We learned an awesome trick to practice headstands with the help of a wall. You just get into hands and knees, position yourself for the headstand, and then walk up the wall like it ain't no thang! And then you fall and do it all over again!

I walked out of that practice completely spent, completely yoga drunk, and with a tingling on the top of my head. It was brilliant and I can't wait for them to come back and do another workshop.

Namaste,

Rich

Photo via Flickr.

We worked on 7 kinds of headstands. We practiced jumping into crane pose. 

We walked the wall.

We learned what it means to develop tricep strength, core strength and fearlessness.

I felt fazed by everyone else, and his confidence. I'm pretty sure I spent most of class here:

Photo via Flickr.

I would try to summon the courage, but my thoughts would return to fear of hurting my neck. I'd look around the room and compare myself to others. I'd glance right and left, trying to see what the girls next to me were up to. I'm only a beginner, right? I told myself this several times.

Mr. Yoga called on me as an example, and held me up in a handstand. I felt anxiety grip me and I felt very trapped, unable to access my muscles. It was true, what he had told us at the beginning of class: "English sounds different upside down."

In the end, I was glad he used me as an example not only for the chance to feel that strong grip but the experience of getting through all eyes on me.

He pushed us to our limits, inviting a mental and physical struggle. He was a true teacher.

During savasana, he spoke about the eight limbs of yoga, and it became clear that for all the silliness, all of the jokes and tickling, and despite the feeling that we had spent several hours in boot camp, this wisdom was true. Mr. Yoga has built his understanding from the deep foundations of yoga. 

Photo via Flickr.