My favorite yoga studio is Carmel Valley's Sculpt Fusion. I can say this today after practicing there for over a year. I could not say it after taking my first Vinyasa class taught by my now favorite yogini, Anna. Allow me to describe the experience.
Brian was hard at work--as usual--and I was left to my own SoCal devices (as usual). Earlier that week, Brian and I noticed Sculpt Fusion in the same plaza as the incredible and delectable Taste of Italy restaurant where we spend every San Diego Friday night together and which (this is fascinating) serves the BEST grilled fish tacos I've/we've ever eaten. No lie. I digress.
Anyway, Sculpt Fusion looks pretty much like every other yoga studio I've experienced. How many would that be, you wonder? Here is the short list: At One (Scottsdale, Arizona), Harmony Yoga (Redondo Beach, California), Bikram Tempe (Arizona), Summits Chandler (Arizona). And, like all other studios, it offers a free unlimited week to locals. I signed up and chose Anna's class as my first.
Anna teaches her Level I (which would really be a level III anyplace else) Vinyasa Flow class on Friday afternoons. And because there isn't a class scheduled after hers, she usually runs longer than the advertised 60 minutes. This I learned from a fellow yogi. No problem, I thought. If I could once handle "Chappy's" scream of "Asses to PCH (Pacific Coast Highway)!" during downward facing dog at Harmony, I could handle this Anna's disregard for the Sculpt Fusion schedule. In a word: wrong.
The SF yoga studio is heated to a balmy 98 degrees. Sometime in the middle of each class, about 40% humidity is added to the air. I was completely unprepared for the climate in there, much less the rigor.
Anna, welcomed all of us and directed us to begin our Ujjayi breathing. Shortly after, she strolled about the sultry studio giving gentle commands in Sanskrit for poses that, when strung together in a seemingly endless sequence, are anything but gentle: Tadasana (Mountain Pose), Uttanasana (Forward Bend), Chaturanga Dandasana (Push Up), Parivrtta Ardha Chandrasana (Revolved Half Moon), and more, more, more. Click here for a complete list of poses and descriptions: http://yoga.about.com/od/yogaposenamesinsanskrit/Yoga_Poses_Alphabetically_by_Sanskrit_Names.htm
I left class exhausted and drenched to my core with sweat. I actually felt physically sick for many hours afterward.
Brian eventually arrived home that evening and asked me what I thought of class. I emphatically announced that I would never return. I couldn't endure another moment of Anna's torture.
Eighteen months later, I cannot get enough of Sculpt Fusion. I'm addicted. In fact, I was there three days in a row this past weekend and loved every excruciating pose and every sweaty moment. My body craves these poses, the sweat, the heat in ways I never thought possible. I am a yogini traversing a yoga journey.
It should now come as no surprise as to why, despite the fact that it is most definitely NOT a Debbie Downer book, I chose to read Poser. I loved, loved, LOVED the title! And I loved that the author uses yoga and the poses as a metaphor for her own life. I applaud the cleverness of this idea (as well as the darling stick figures in each chapter that illustrate the poses) and wish I'd thought of it myself. Cha-ching! Unfortunately, the book drags--just as my ass did after my first class with Anna--and that is rather disappointing.
Similar to yoga, books provide an escape from reality and an introspective personal journey. Like the poses, books offer a myriad of possibilities from which to choose. When one doesn't work, we can try others. And that is exactly what I plan to do.
Namaste.
