Wandering Mind

Apartment hunting in New Paltz… Not quite what I was hoping for. This is a really beautiful but horribly over-priced area. What would go for 4 to 500 in just about any city I’ve lived in goes for 9 to 1200 here. I have to admit I was extremely discouraged at the end of our search today. I’m not sure how long it will really take to find a place to live. Hopefully by the 20th when I’m supposed to start working here, but I guess worst case is I push back my start date and collect a little more unemployment. I desperately needed a yoga class but the Ashtanga studio here was offering an “alignment” class where I think they break down the postures in more detail, which I’m sure would be very beneficial but not what I needed tonight. I stopped by Living Seed Yoga and they had a beginner class… so lastly I tried Jai Ma Yoga which seems to be a catch all type studio. Gina was the teacher and the class was “Moderate.” It was basically a level I/II vinyasa class. It was a nice class, I liked the sequence the teacher used. It started with a longer seated meditation at the beginning of class which I think would be great to add at the beginning of my Primary class since we have a little more time with the quicker pace. I felt like she did a nice job teaching the class to the I/II students yet added the more advanced options to those who were ready. I also felt that she did a nice job addressing the ego and the desire to push too far or not at all. During the class I was able to get both feet behind my head in sleeping yogi pose, it was not pretty, but I didn’t need an assist to do it. In locust pose she taught the Ashtanga style and then followed it with the Bikram style and for the first time I didn’t have to launch my legs off the ground to get them up over my head. It used to sort of work out to a reverse shoulder stand where it was just my chin and shoulders on the ground but today I was able to, with control, slowly lift my legs and really bend my back so a lot of my chest was on the floor and I was still able to get my feet over my head… I think all the back bending is paying off. I think when Gina said “Now lift both feet off the floor and then take them up over head” she said it jokingly like I do with Padottanasana C and touching the hands to the floor, so I think she was a little surprised when I actually did it. I felt really good after class and there was a natural food store next to the yoga studio so I stopped in to grab dinner after class. I felt like I walked into the co-op and they had just rearranged everything. I really feel more relaxed about finding an apartment after the class. I’m sure something will work out. Tomorrow morning I’m going to try to catch a class at the Ashtanga studio. Should be another vinyasa class…