yoga hunt

Remember when I was doing all of those new things, including Hot Yoga? Well, since then I have invested in been gifted a sweet yoga mat and towel and have become quite the avid yogi. Unfortunately, my temporary layover at home between graduation and my move to the land of beer and brats left me in yoga limbo.

I loved my first studio Solace Yoga, partly because I enjoyed the variety of classes, but also because by the time I graduated I really felt like a part of the community (not to mention that the studio itself is gorgeous and has the most pristine, beautiful locker rooms I've seen in a studio yet). I really liked that I could go to a Vinyasa class one day and a Hot Power Yoga class the next. I assumed that once I was back in the D.C. area I would be able to find something similar, but I've determined that the studios here are significantly more specialized.

In my search for a class that I liked I enlisted the help of the resource that knows all - Yelp. Plug in what you're looking for and where are in brings up a list with reviews and star ratings. I love technology.

The first class I decided to try was a Bikram yoga class. I gave it a try because it was a) close to my house b) a hot yoga class and c) free. While I knew this 90 minute class in a 105° room was going to be tough, I wasn't expecting it to be like this. I thought I knew what 105° felt like since I thought the other hot yoga classes I had done were just about that hot, but in fact I was wrong. The hot yoga classes I had done in the past were between 95° and 97° degrees, and those ten degrees make a hell of a difference.

Seriously. A 105° yoga studio was a manifestation of what I imagined hell to be.

I chalked it up to a success because I only almost passed out once. My knees were dripping with sweat before we had even begun the practice, and about twenty minutes in, I was feeling pretty lightheaded. But being the competitive person I am, I tried to push through, and I went into balancing chair pose (on my toes). The next thing I know, the instructor is holding my arm while I am stil in the pose and he says to me, "You can sit down whenever you choose throughout the practice. Yoga is supposed to be healing". I realize that I had passed out and still held the pose. I sat down, took a quick break and a sip of water, and then met the rest of the class in crescent lunge.

I made it through the entire 90 minutes, but upon leaving class I was pretty sure that I wouldn't be going back to a Bikram class. The whole 90 minutes is composed of the same rotation of standing poses, so there are no sun salutations or chaturangas which are my favorite part. I felt like I was in the room sweating for the sake of sweating and not because I had done any work to get my heart rate up. And I could really go without seeing another overweight guy in lime green spandex shorts. Once was definitely enough.

In hopes of finding a class that I like a bit better, I Yelped again and came across Dancing Mind Yoga - a Baptiste Power Yoga affiliate studio in Falls Church, VA. While my first class wasn't free, it was much more fulfilling than the Bikram class. The room was still heated, but it was only 95°, more like what I'm used to from Solace. It was also a 90 minute class, but the last 30 minutes are only stretching and savasana and the other 60 minutes are a serious power vinyasa class.

The Awesome Parts:
1) Teachers - I've had four teachers for four classes and I've liked them all. I also really dig the fact that each class has an assistant who doesn't give pose or breathing cues, but walks around and helps with alignment and stretching. I'm sure some people hate being touched when they are in down dog, but sometimes it's really helpful to have someone guide your shoulder blades down your back or help you open up in extended side angle.

2) The studio - while the lobby is small, the studio itself is great because there are great big windows and no mirrors. There are times when I think mirrors can be ver helpful, but I think they can also be distracting, especially when I'm trying to stick my warrior 3. The assistants make sure that you are not going to hurt yourself with bad form, and then you are just able to do the practice.

3) $50 unlimited first month - pay $50, and you can take as many classes as you want for a month. That beats a membership or $18 drop-ins any day.

The Not-So-Awesome Parts:
1) Door to door, it takes me about two and a half hours to take a class. Depending on what time I take class, I have to give myself half an hour to get to my 90 minute class because the traffic can be so bad. I mean, I like yoga, but it's not the most efficient use of my time.

2) While there is some variation in each class depending on the teacher, All the classes are almost identical. I love half pidgeon, but I'd like to do some different stretches at the end at least.

3) Did I say that it takes forever? This is when I miss my 30 minute "I need a workout" runs.

So now that I've found a studio that I like, I'm on the hunt to find another studio that I'll like in Madison. Maybe Kenz will do some research for me before I get there! Then we can go to yoga together like Laverne and Shirley 2.0.

Dear Mr. Pollan...

Dear Mr. Pollan,
I have spent my last two vacations reading your books in an attempt to figure out the "healthiest" way of eating. I read your second book In Defense of Food during my spring break, more out of convenience than anything else since it was already on the Kindle and I was avoiding my inevitable fate of diving into Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children. But I was fascinated. All of the research you did about the American culture of nutritionism and why traditional cultural cuisines (Italian, French, Greek) are healthy because of how the foods are eaten together and not because of their individual elements of fat, fiber, or polyphenols was earth-shattering to me.

Once I got back from school after graduation, I made a quick turn around and headed straight for the beach with your first book The Omnivore's Dilemma in hand. I didn't really know what to expect, but I assumed that it would be the foundational research that prompted you to write In Defense of Food. Frankly, I'm glad that I read In Defense of Food first, because I felt a bit...helpless at the end of The Omnivore's Dilemma.

Not to say I didn't love reading it. I felt like I was there with you in Iowa on George Naylor's corn fields, and your stint working with Joel Salatin at Polyface Farms prompted me to plan a field trip to the farm with my dad to see the whole operation for myself. The Omnivore's Dilemma has made me an even more conscientious shopper and eater than In Defense of Food did, and even though I'm not eating meat for health reasons, your book made my hyper-aware of the consequences of how we raise and feed our own food - you took "you are what you eat" to an entirely new level.

While researching Polyface Farms and grappling between the ideal of eliminating all "edible food-like substances" and the reality of not living on a beyond organic farm, I stumbled upon your third book Food Rules, and I'm so glad I did. It synthesized all of the advice and guidelines that you addressed  in your previous books into 64 easy-to-reference "rules" that can help anyone navigate everything from the vending machine to a Whole Foods Market.

But my question is this - How do I eat like this without being "that girl"? My family is already planning for when I'm out of town (Monday!) so that they can make ribs, steak, and cheeseburgers to their heart's content, and I don't know where the line is between being a conscientious eater and a pretentious hippie who preaches about healthy eating. I have no desire to evangelize about eating the kinds of whole foods you define in your book, but I would really like to do my best to eat that way myself.

So maybe my solution is to write an indirect letter to you on my blog and drop the names of all of your books so whoever reads my blog might be intrigued to read your books and then everyone will eat the way I would ideally like to eat, but please, I'm a realist. There's going to be a day when I'm on a road trip and the best thing to eat is a Clif bar from the gas station, and there's going to be a day when I really want to eat some delicious ribs hot off the grill at a tailgate. How do you deal with this? You're a food guy and you've obviously seen more of the underbelly of the food world than I have, so I want to know how you do it. As you say after you make "The Perfect Meal" at the end of The Omnivore's Dilemma, it's too time consuming and unreasonable to eat like that for every meal of every day. So if you would be so kind, I would love to know how you eat on a day-to-day basis. When do you make compromises, and when do you stick to your guns? When is your hunger hungry enough to eat corn-fed beef, and when do you eat an apple in July just because you want an apple, even though it is not in season?

So yes, you have confused me about every piece of food I go to put into my mouth, but I guess it's okay if it's the kind of confusion that accompanies a broader worldview. I would be very grateful for a reply, so maybe I should send this in the mail.

Sincerely,
Katie