My ex-wife as I might have told you is a Yogi. But leave all notions of what you might think that is at the front door. Jane Engels McQueen is one helluva teacher in this her second vocation, Yoga. She has thousands; yes thousands of hours teaching Yoga and with a particular specialty for those with structural limitations of the back, neck and knees and makes what might seem impossible, possible. She has a private practice in her home in Malverne where she also teaches at a facility called the Yoga Polarity Center. You can find their website here: http://www.yogapolarity.com/
Of course I dressed inappropriately because I didn’t take the time to read Jane’s memo about the event. I just assumed that it would be a seminar that I would be a taking notes on. I must have had my head up my butt in a pose that has yet to be described. In any case it was one part lecture and four parts actively participating. Jane has a way of speaking what we are thinking but don’t’ often verbalize and standing on ceremony is not in any way in her methodology.
So what did I learn? One thing was for sure I recognized that I breathe so shallowly that it is a wonder that with all the cardio workouts I do I am not more out of breath than I am. I have experienced breathing exercises before but never took them seriously enough to actually put them into practice. After this class I have started and the rippling effects are starting to take hold right away. I have noticed that as an avid spinner wherein I am breathless most of the ride I am starting to actually catch my breath and that in turn has made my anaerobic portions of the ride that much more powerful. I hope that makes sense and it might stand to reason that if I am taking in more oxygen via nose breathing rather than mouth breathing that a more oxygenated blood supply allows me a more powerful cardio workout.
Yoga was always a mystery to me and now after Jane’s seminar it is starting to become de-mystified. Which is saying a lot because I felt like some of the poses were virtually impossible for me because twisting myself into a pretzel was I thought reserved for people in the circus not me. Now that Jane has given me a more relaxed version of what Yoga can mean to me I am starting to feel comfortable as to some of the huge benefits it can afford me.
I will be on the lookout for more from this Yogi and please give a look at her center’s website you might find something for you.
