I recently wrote a blog about yoga mat fêng shui and the fact that where you place your yoga mat can have a big impact on your yoga class experience. It got me thinking that maybe where you place your mat in class says something about your yoga personality. So, after extensive scientific research*, here’s what I came up with.
Front row: There are two types of people who willingly pick the front row in class. The first group comes from the experienced yogini camp. They are givers, ready to share their well-honed yoga technique with the class. They possess no fear, are totally comfortable in their own skin and their great-fitting black stretchy pants. The second group is made up of teacher’s pets and needy people jockeying for the yoga instructor’s attention and sucking up all the chithe instructor is sending off.
Midcenter: These yoginis are fully present, centered, and ready for the yoga instructor to bring it on. The center of the classroom really is the sweet spot as far as I’m concerned, and if you are lucky to get a spot in center stage, you are going to rock that class. These people are organized, disciplined, never late, and the kind who are willing to show up four hours early to get in line to nab the best seats for a show.
Against the wall: These folks just need a little extra support to help them through class. They are sensitive, conservative, and actually very wise to put themselves in a place where they’ll get the support they need.
Back row: Again, there are generally two types of people who pick the back row. The back row is a refuge for the beginner yoga students. There’s no pressure that anyone is looking at you, and they’ve got plenty of other people to look to for guidance during class. I think there should be a rule that the back row is always reserved for beginners. If you are an experienced yogini and pick the back row, you enjoy people watching, are a tad shy on the leadership skills, are too cool for school, and may be having a bad black-stretchy-pant day. If you’re an experienced yogini taking up prime real estate in the back row, please think twice before settling down your mat, and give us beginners our safe haven.
Near exit: These yoga students have either not fully committed to their yoga practice or just can’t let it all go and leave their troubles off the yoga mat. The door serves as a reminder that they can make a quick exit back to reality.
The desert island: Finally, we have the situation where a class is not full and one student decides that placing his or her mat in Siberia is a good thing. These people are afraid of cooties, sweat, and, in general, are germaphobics. A few heart-opening poses and a little love is all they need to bring them back into the fold.
So, where do I put my yoga mat? Well, I forgot to mention that there are a few other people up there in the front row. They are the ones who did not choose to be there, but have placed their mats there as a last resort because they got to class late. I am a charter member of this group. We have great intentions but just can’t our act together to make it to class on time.
I have to admit that I’m still fond of that back row, but I’m building up my mojo, and you’ll be seeing me in that rock-star center row position very soon.
*I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that absolutely no scientific research went into this—it’s just my own funky freudian observations. Let me know where you put your yoga mat and what you think it says about your yoga personality.
Trudie Styler is a lucky lady! Not only is she married to one of the hottest rock musicians, she looks fabulous in her mid-fifties, lives in this incredible villa in Tuscany, and gets to practice yoga with her husband, Sting! She also happens to be a pretty cool lady who is an organic farmer, does a lot of great work as a human rights activist, and promotes green practices.
I’ve always wanted to do celebrity yoga, so I couldn’t resist picking up her Warrior Yoga DVD. I plopped in this DVD about a week ago while my sister was visiting, and we both jumped on our yoga mats to enjoy a yoga workout and a little voyeuristic journey into Trudie Stylers’s yoga world. We both were also holding out hope that we would get to see a few shots of the tantra-tastic Sting as part of the package and we weren’t disappointed.
Yoga Workouts
The yoga workouts on the DVD consist of one 45-minute yoga workout with Trudie Styler and her fitness guru, James D’Silva, and a shortened 25-minute express version. The two go through an organic flow of yoga postures, with James’s calling the shots and providing wonderful verbal clues with his incredibly calming voice. The video was shot at Trudie and Sting’s beautiful, ecofriendly Tuscan villa, II Palagio, with the rich acoustic guitar sounds of Sting playing “Fields of Gold” and other music from his Songs from the Labyrinth CD in the background.
My first impression was that I really liked the flow that James put together. It was different than anything I’ve done before because he takes you through a long sequence of poses on one side before moving to the other side. I recommend you watch the video first before trying it, as there were a few poses I’d never experienced, and his version of mountain is different than what we practice here at my villa in Ohio. There are a few challenging areas in the flow, and I wish that James had provided some variations to the poses for people who are new to yoga (and for inflexible people like me).
This probably is not the best video for a beginner, so do what you can, don’t be hard on yourself, and gradually the flow will become easier.
One variation that James brought to the table was brining the hands down from above to your head, to your lips, and to your heart and then moving the hands out forward in an offering. The flow seemed more meaningful as my hands grazed past my head and lips and I felt my heart press out of my chest.
My sister and I were amazed that neither Trudie nor James broke out in a sweat during the workout. It must have been cold that day in Tuscany, because the two of us were sweating like crazy. This is a total-body-strengthening yoga practice, with plenty of time spent holding positions, so you will be challenged.
The express is a condensed version of the 45-minute workout—perfect for a quick yoga fix—and it will make you break a sweat. I’m going to use this in the morning when I only have a few minutes to get my back stretched and my body moving.
The only real issue I have with this DVD is that the workout did not include a savasana session, but I do have an insider’s tip for you. After you finish the workout, go ahead and lie down in savasana. The DVD will move to the menu page, and Sting is singing a mellow version of “Message in a Bottle” in the background. It made the perfect soothing accompaniment to my own self-guided savasana.
Guided Meditation with Trudie
When we did the DVD and saw that it featured a meditation session with Trudie Styler, my sister and I both got excited about the opportunity to om with Trudie. Imagine our disappointment when the meditation session was Trudie sitting in a field of lavender, with James’ voice leading us through the meditation. Well, actually—no offense to James—it was really nice.
A few days later I checked out James’ meditation sequence and was delighted to find that Trudie was offering up the guided journey as he sat in the field of lavender. In her lovely English accent, she had me breathing in rays of sunlight and breathing out into the depths of the ocean. It was an incredible meditative journey, and, Trudie, thank you. I did find my inner peace! I’ll be going to this DVD often for my daily meditation routine—shanti.
But Wait, There’s More!
The bonus tracks on this DVD are really cool. There is an interview with Trudie, James, and also one from Sting. The interviews give you a nice peek into the making of the videos and Trudie and Sting’s core beliefs about exercise, living a healthy lifestyle, and their involvement with the Rainforest Foundation and the UNICEF Ecuador Water Project (a portion of the sales of this DVD go to this organization).
I love what Trudie has to say about giving yourself the gift of exercise. “We’re given one body in this life. It’s our precious vehicle, it needs maintenance, and it needs to be empowered.”
You also get a glimpse into the making of Sting’s album If on a Winter’s Night. In a couple of the interview shots, Sting has a beard, which I didn’t care for (looks a little too Grizzly Adams for me), but don’t worry, there are also shots of the clean-shaven Sting we all love, and the CD sounds pretty amazing too.
The DVD does a good job of selling the other workout DVDs that Trudie and James did together. I’m especially curious about the Sculpt & Tone Ballet DVD, as I’d really like to visit the inner ballerina in me, and the Cardio Dance Flowand Pilates workouts look like a lot of fun. James is a classically trained dancer from the Royal Ballet, so I’m thinking the dance elements have got to be good.
I highly recommend Trudie Styler’s Warrior Yoga DVD. It left my sister and me feeling invigorated, centered, and fully present as we got the added bonus of hanging out with Trudie and Sting for the afternoon.
Here’s my overall score of the video based on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the best.
Yoga workout: 8.5
Music: 10
Bonus features: 9
Meditation: 10!
Repeat factor: 10 (meaning the likelihood of me doing this yoga workout repeatedly)
Wednesday, September 1 was the kickoff of National Yoga Month, and you’ve got 28 days left to get into the festivities. The purpose of National Yoga Month is to create awareness about the many benefits of yoga and hopefully encourage Americans to get out there and give yoga a try!
If you’ve always wanted to try it but don’t know where to start, here are two great programs going on this month to get you onto a yoga mat.
1) You absolutely must visit the Yoga Month Web site. They have links to hundreds of free classes and events and a list of over 1200 yoga studios nationwide offering one free week of yoga.
2) If you would rather try yoga out in the comfort of your home, My Yoga Online is offering free online training sessions. My Yoga Online is a premium on-demand subscription service for yoga and wellness videos. They offer one of the largest and most diverse mind-body video and article libraries in the world. The cool thing is that their classes fit your schedule—you can log on at anytime, from anywhere, and have access to the perfect class for you. If you have always wanted to try My Yoga Online, now’s your chance to check it out for free before you sign up.
I’m personally celebrating National Yoga Month by setting some new intentions for my yoga practice and have a personal goal to do a headstand by the end of the month. I’ll also keep you posted on additional Yoga Month activities and helpful tips to get you started on your very own yoga journey.
With all these festivities and FREE classes, there really is no excuse to give it a try!
Stop by every weekday for the Daily Downward Dog, my journal of cool yoga experiences. Thank you for checking out the ads and products when you visit to help fund this site!
I’ve been thinking a lot about my Daily Downward Dog posts. I seem to focus more on the physical aspects of yoga, but I don’t spend as much time on the spiritual aspects of my yoga practice. Over the past year I have become more flexible and my back feels great, but I’ve also grown spiritually from yoga as well and would like to share with you the ABCs of my blissful inward growth.
Acceptance—To me, yoga is all about accepting where you are today and feeling good about it, living in the moment not worrying about what has happened in the past or fretting about the future. Accepting what your body looks like, accepting how your body feels, accepting how far you can reach to your toes, and knowing where you are today is just fine. In time my practice of yoga will take me where I need to go both on and off the mat.
Balance—Practicing yoga has really brought balance into my life. Yeah, I do a much better job of keeping my balance in tree pose, but I’m talking about life balance. I now take the time almost daily to practice yoga or exercise and give my body what it needs instead of working and chasing my tail all the time. I still work really hard, but every day around 6:00 p.m., I turn off the computer, clear my head, and get my butt moving. I feel great and guess what? I now have this crazy thing called work-life balance. Pretty incredible!
Calm—Yoga and meditation have gotten me in the habit of taking time out during my day to breathe deep and de-stress. I try to remember that amazing feeling of lying in savasana, how calm and peaceful I feel, and conjure up that sensation whenever a stressful situation arises. I wish I would have recorded my blood pressure preyoga, and today I bet it has dropped substantially due to the calming effects of practicing yoga and meditation.
So, there you have it, my ABCs of yoga: acceptance, balance, and calm. You can have them too; just hop on a yoga mat and give it a try! Please leave a comment below and let me know what yoga has brought to your life.
