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Monthly Archives

April 2015

Sterling Yoga Retreats

By Events

Are you yearning for a relaxing vacation on the beach with excellent food, awesome adventures and great yoga?

Join us for a few days or a week at Sterling Hot Yoga Teacher Training in lovely Puerto Morelos, 20 minutes south of the Cancun airport. It’s a lovely and safe village right on the beach!

You’ll stay at the penthouse suites at Las Casitas, overlooking the Caribbean ocean! A few minutes walk to the north will have you at Casa Om, where the training is being held; a few minutes walk to the south is the lovely town of Puerto Morelos with events, shops and restaurants.

Best of all, a few steps from your home will have your toes in amazing turquoise Caribbean water. Just beyond the shore is the world’s second largest barrier reef, where you can snorkel and see extraordinary sea life!

At Casa Om, you can participate in as much of the training as you like; you can practice yoga twice a day, and sit in on lectures that include anatomy, history of yoga, customer service, communication, conflict resolution and more!

During the week, you will join us for amazing vegetarian meals twice a day, and on weekends, you will eat at Casa Om on Saturday morning and then enjoy the town’s restaurants on Saturday night and Sunday!

Excursions include swimming with whale sharks (they don’t bite!), the largest fish (they are not whales or sharks) in the ocean. Or how about swimming in a cenote? These are the freshwater caves and pools across the Yucatán Peninsula and the waters are said to be quite healing! (I can tell you that jumping in can be quite invigorating!) Or just relax on the beach and swim with turtles.

The Sterling Retreat includes:
– Pick up and drop off at Cancun Airport
– Penthouse accommodations at Las Casitas on the beach
– Gourmet vegetarian meals at Casa Om
– Mats and towels for yoga
– Laundry of all yoga clothing
– Two hot yoga classes each weekday; optional class on Saturday
– Participation in all lectures/training at Sterling Teacher Training (check dates for specific lectures) at Casa Om
– Bicycles and snorkel gear

Additional costs for:
– Snorkeling at reef
– Dinner on Saturday and all meals on Sunday
– Mexican cooking school
– Massage/spa treatments
– Raw chocolate class
– Shopping
– Your flight to Cancun

Costs are:
– $205 per person, per day, single occupancy
– $162.50 per person, per day, double occupancy

Start looking for flights now and let us know when you want to arrive and how long you want to stay! You are guaranteed to love it!

The Spring Challenge Begins Soon!

By Announcement

Sterling Hot Yoga Spring ChallengeThis challenge will be different than any other we’ve done before and you are going to love it!

Here are the steps:

STEP 1:  Choose the number of classes you will complete in the 30 day period:  15, 20 or 30.

STEP 2:  Choose your mix of class types — your challenge must include the Gold 90, Sterling 60 and Iron Hour. You get to pick how many of each class you will take.

STEP 3:  Choose a personal affirmation that you will commit to saying at least once during every class. Your challenge card will give you options — they include affirmations such as:

  • “I now achieve my goals with joy and laughter.”
  • “My gratitude is strong and constant.”
  • “I love who I am and whom I’m becoming.”

STEP 4:  You will be assigned a team. Work with your team members to encourage them to keep coming, to get encouragement, to work together, to make friends and to ensure success for all!

WHAT DO YOU WIN?

1.  If you complete your personal goal, you will receive a challenge T-shirt and you’ll be able to sign the Challenge Wall.

2.  If your team collectively completes more classes than any other team, your team gets two prizes:

  1. One person on the team will be randomly chosen to receive three months of free yoga!
  2. Your team gets to choose one person to receive three months of free yoga. That person can be in or out of your group. It can be whomever your team chooses. So now you are not just doing the challenge for yourself, or for your team. You’re doing it for someone you choose who needs the yoga!

THE FINE PRINT

1. Challenge begins on the first class on April 19 and ends after the last class on May 18, 2015.
2. Each person must complete a challenge card and keep it on file at the studio.
3. Participation will be confirmed by studio software — make sure to sign in for class!
4. All classes must be completed at SHY Mobile. Hot yoga classes completed at other locations will not apply to this challenge.
5. Teams will be randomly assigned by SHY staff.
6. Team members will be posted on the chalkboard.
7. Winners will be announced on May 23 after the 9:30 class. We will host a party at the studio for all challengers!

Tada-sana! Tree Pose Breakdown

By News

Lotus Pose Tree Pose How To Hot YogaTree pose and toe stand are the last two poses in the standing series of our Gold 90 and Sterling 60 classes. They seem fairly straightforward, but there are some aspects of the tree pose that bear clarification.

The tree pose that we do in our Gold 90 and Sterling 60 classes has the following purpose: To open up the hips, knees and ankles in preparation for toe stand, and eventually, the lotus position.

Compare the woman on the left doing lotus to the woman on the right doing tree pose in the photo below.

Notice how in both poses the feet are near the hip creases, knees are extended away from the center line of the body and feet are turned outward.

Putting your body into lotus can be challenging on the hips, knees and ankles, and like many poses, some people come to it relatively easily while others struggle for a long time to get there. Tree pose is a great way to help prepare the body for lotus.

Tree comes at a point in the series where your body is relatively warmed up. Your knees and hips and ankles have had the opportunity to open, and although your heart may be pounding, you are encouraged to slow down, focus and balance. Not such an easy thing to do!

Lotus Pose Tree Pose How To Hot YogaHere are the steps to execute the pose:

1.  Ground yourself in alignment.

2.  Pick up your right foot with your left hand and if you need to, hold your right knee with your right hand. Be careful of your knee and your ankle. At any step, if you feel discomfort, proceed with care. If you feel pain, back off.

The goal is to put your foot in your hip crease, but your body proportions may require you to place your foot in a different place!

Look at the images below: The first woman’s foot is on her leg and it may never be on her hip because her shin bone is relatively short and her hips aren’t yet open.

The second woman’s foot is super high on her costume, because her shinbone is really long! Both are doing the posture correctly for their body type and for the condition of their hips, knees and ankles. Tightness in any of these joints may keep you holding on to your foot, and that is perfectly okay!

Lotus Pose Tree Pose How To Hot Yoga

3.  Slowly, gently allow your knee to come down toward the floor. Now remember the lotus pose — the knee is positioned away from the center line of the body approximately 45 degrees — so in tree, it is absolutely appropriate to have your lifted leg positioned away from the body.

The ball and socket of your hip joint may never allow you to position your leg so that it’s parallel to the standing leg and by forcing it, you could injure your hip!

Look at this group shot of people doing tree pose — everyone is trying the right way; no one’s legs are parallel.  Not even close!

Lotus Pose Tree Pose How To Hot Yoga

4.  Eventually, when the hip joint and the hip flexors open up enough, you will have two legs in one line FROM THE SIDE like the photo on the left.

Lotus Pose Tree Pose How To Hot Yoga

5.  The last part of the pose is to find alignment on all planes. Stretch your spine up, and stretch your tailbone down to prevent your rear end from sticking out. Look in the mirror and work to get your shoulders level and hips level.

Avoid sinking into the standing hip. The yogi on the right is out of alignment — see how her shoulders are not level and her hips are not yet level? This is common especially when you have to hold your foot. But she’s working toward it and will be there soon!

If you are challenged by tree pose, that’s okay! Start slow, hold on to your knee if you need to, work slowly, take your time, focus on your breath and alignment as best you can. And know that you’ll be on the floor resting very, very soon!