Bikram Yoga Decatur

Elizabeth, 36

I have three beautiful children (Kevin (15), Allan (12), and Azriela (5)). I love witnessing my children’s firsts, yoga and its limitless offerings, reading, and learning how to use food as medicine. I grew up in NYC and enjoyed being a pedestrian amongst a sea of distractions. About Atlanta, I love the trees, the abundance of fresh foods in farmers’ markets and a more relaxed way of life.

How Often: This past year I have practiced 3-6 times per week and it has become a natural habit.

How Long: I stepped into my first class 5 years ago. After the first week I was convinced that yoga needed to be a part of my daily routine.

Benefits: Physically, I reached my goal of losing postpartum weight and when I practice regularly I feel healthy and fit. My awareness of what my body needs is mostly accompanied by healthy cravings that support my practice and well being. But the greatest benefits have been the reward of self-acceptance that seems to come from looking at oneself in the mirror (although there is more to it), clarity of purpose, and the continual, gradual, and ever-evolving development of personal strengths like courage, determination, love, patience, which enrich life beyond the mat. I can feel the manifestation of these strengths as I progress in the postures, my favorite being the back bends (or let love bends).

Challenges: My practice reveals truths (like if I’m being slothful) and new and sometimes even old feelings surface. It challenges me to stay in the moment and use my intuition, and this requires a balance of surrendering (observing and letting go), acceptance, and action or effort on my part. Through my yoga practice, I have learned to trust and cherish this inner guide. It keeps me honest and engaged, and always restores a sense of peacefulness. To think that this happens through asanas is amazing to me.

Anything Else: I am thankful for all the wonderful BYD instructors and practitioners who foster an environment so conducive to all levels of growth.

Help drive the local economy by supporting local businesses and save money at the same time. That's the idea behind the Go Local campaign. We've signed up with Go Local Decatur. It's pretty simple, just buy a Go Local card for $10 and get a discount at a variety of business. At BYD the discount is 10% off class cards (may not be combined with other discounts and does not apply to 10 Day Intro or Yearly Class Cards). Cards can be purchased at the front desk and also at any participating business.

For general information visit the Go Local Atlanta web site. There's no mention of Go Local Decatur on the web site but the Atlanta list of businesses is also the Decatur list so it seems there's not really a distinction between the Atlanta and Decatur versions of the card.

You call this snow?

I know, I know, I got in trouble last time with that attitude, but we are NOT canceling any classes today or tomorrow. It's business as usual at BYD!

We've taken yet another step towards living a more virtual life. BYD is now on foursquare.

The Monday 6:00 am class is canceled permanently. Wednesday 6:00 am is NOT canceled.

For some reason, you Wednesday morning early risers don't seem to be willing to set your alarm clocks on Mondays. But since you're pretty consistent about showing up on Wednesdays we will keep that class time active for now. If the 2 or 3 Monday people can join the existing 5 or 6 people on Wednesday then there is little risk of losing it.

With all our emphasis on non-thinking during class it's funny how often I have very interesting ideas come to me while practicing. I'll be staring at my reflection in the mirror, trying to be detached and simply observe and then I'll have a whole train of thoughts come full steam into my consciousness. One time it was about the very nature of self-observation (well, many times it's that but this post is addressing one such time).

I was thinking about not thinking and simply observing and wondering if they were the same thing or if there was a difference. The words, "I am observing myself," came and then, "I am observing myself observe myself."

In only a few seconds I was observing myself in the room, in the room in Decatur, in Decatur on the planet, on the planet flying through space, on the planet in the Milky Way until I started to feel like I was observing the entire universe from a place in the center of it, albeit a hot, sweaty place. Finally, it occurred to me, that I might simply be the means by which the universe was observing itself. That the evolution of all of humankind and all life on this good green earth is simply that -- the universe becoming self-aware through us.

And all in less than 60 seconds while I was standing on one leg, sweating like a waterfall.

The anti-spam CAPTCHA feature isn't working correctly making it all but impossible to add comments without an account. I'm working on a fix...

Anonymous comments should be working again. Have at it.

Video is available of this weekend's winners of the International Yoga Asana Championship, if you're into that sort of thing. What I like are seeing the postures we do performed pretty much about as beautifully as you can imagine. When they get into the contortionist stuff I feel like I'm watching circus performers (not that there's anything wrong with that).

update - I had to delete the picture that accompanied this post. It was just too weird seeing a human pretzel every time I looked at the site.

Use it or lose it.

tic toc...

I'm glad that's over. I learned a lesson from the snow last night. In the future, I will have to decide earlier about whether or not to cancel classes. The whole "keep checking the web site and your email for updates" thing didn't work too well and some of you showed up for a class that never happened. I also wasn't able to update the answering machine message after I left last night so it gave the wrong information to anyone who called. I'm sorry for the confusion.

I tried to get to the studio for the 11 am class in case anyone showed up but I wasn't able to make it. I got blocked by snow related accidents three times and kept getting re-routed. At 11:20 I finally gave up and went home.

The 4 PM class is definitely on and our regular schedule resumes immediately.

We have donated a 20 Class Card to each of the following organizations' silent auction fundraising events. By attending these events and bidding on the Card you can help support a worthy local advocacy organization and at the same time get a discounted class card for use at our studio.

You'll have to contact the organizations for more detailed information than what I have here.

Women's Resource Center to End Domestic Violence

Decatur Presbyterian Children's Comunity
March 12

Dekalb History Center
March 19

Deklab Medical Center Foundation
March 20

Have you ever seen a sign? Have you looked in the sky just in time to see a hawk circling directly overhead? And then it happens again a couple days later? Has it ever happened that you learned a new word one day and then for the next few days you’re hearing or seeing that word frequently whereas before you didn’t know, or barely new, it existed? Or a book? You hear a review on the radio and then a few hours later someone at work is talking about it and at lunch the next day you see someone reading it.

A couple weeks ago I started seeing dimes on the ground. Finding a coin on the ground isn’t uncommon but I’m talking about seeing only dimes. Not pennies, nickels or quarters -- just dimes. After finding a dime a day for four days in a row I noticed the oddity of only seeing dimes and I had the thought, “is this a sign?” which is an odd thought for me to have because I don’t really believe in signs, in that sense. I’m not saying I haven’t seen them because I have -- for as long as I can remember -- but I’ve never felt the need to attribute them to a higher power or think of them as messages or omens. Nonetheless, I decided if it happened one more time I would take it as a sign. . .

All Hatha Yoga is, in a sense, a form of meditation. Our approach is very basic with an initial emphasis on the body but our teaching recognizes the importance of the connection between mind and body. In fact, Bikram has described what we do as a kind of forced meditation -- what he means is that the mental efforts required to hold the physical postures requires a natural meditation, which is really just a strong and disciplined focus of the mind.

We don't stare at candles or chant and much of the class time is spent on physical challenges of flexibility, balance and strength but the benefits of our practice are as much in our mental capacity as in the physical. Increased concentration, a reduction of stress levels and an improved sense of well being are some of the many rewards you will discover through Bikram Yoga.

Someone recently used the contact page to send me an email that began like this:

My name is Maura, I am trying to get to the teacher training in April. I am contacting different Bikram studios to ask for words of wisdom, encouragement and advice.

I'd be happy to share some of my experiences with you and even give you some advice but my email response to you was returned as undeliverable after three tries.

Good luck to you.

More Choices for Donating to Haiti

Americares

Hope for Haiti

I sometimes think our class pricing is overly complicated. The easiest way to simplify would be to eliminate the least popular class cards but when I do a review of sales there aren't any cards that don't sell as well as any of the others. Clearly people like having a wide range of class cards to choose from but we often have to help people figure out what their best purchase option is due to there being so many choices.

I wonder if it would be feasible to do something as simple as this:

$XX for an introductory trial period
$XX per single class
$XX per class if you buy 10 at a time
$XX per month for unlimited attendance
XX% discount for students, seniors, members

Please use the comment feature to tell us what you think.

Effective immediately, we now offer an 8:15 pm class on Wednesdays in addition to Mondays. See the Schedule page for a complete listing of class times.

Still no cancellations. In fact, what better way to stay warm than with hot yoga?

Come on in and enjoy the heat.

Despite the fact I'm in Viet Nam as I type this, I'm originally from Massachusetts. I learned to drive in Massachusetts. I spent a lot of time driving in the snow in Massachusetts. It's gonna take a whole lot of snow for me to consider canceling classes.

The real problem is, I'm flying to LA tomorrow with a stop in Tapei. I probably won't have internet access from 8 pm Wednesday until 7 pm Thursday and I hadn't anticipated that we might actually experience real winter weather in my absence. I can have one of the other instructors update our studio answering machine but I haven't shown any of them how to update the web site and our email announcements list will only accept outgoing messages from my personal account.

So, let's just assume all classes are happening.

Effective January 13 we will be offering an 8:15 pm class on Mondays AND Wednesdays.

We support many charitable organizations on an ongoing basis. These are a few we've sent checks to this month. All of them could use your support.

American Indian College Fund

CHRIS Kids

Eyedrum

Atlanta Community Food Bank

One reason to register an account with this site is so that you can participate in our Discussion Forums which have just ben activated.

Yes, but...

It's fine for you to practice with a cold and you will probably feel better after class. The practice can help reduce symptoms and boost your immune system.

On the other hand, you have to think about your fellow practitioners. Colds and other viruses can spread easily so it may be a good idea to stay home during the first couple of days and/or when your symptoms are at their worst.

If you do come to the studio with a cold make sure to wash your hands frequently and cover your mouth when sneezing (it's best to sneeze into the crook of your elbow if you don't have a hanky). Cold viruses can be transmitted by air but they are more often transmitted through the hands.

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Bikram Choudhury has always said the ideal temperature for a Bikram Yoga class is 105 degrees and his web site confirms that with this statement: "The recommended temperature is minimum 105F degrees and about 40% humidity." Bikram's wife and partner, Rajashree, once told a group of teacher trainees that a range of 100 to 105 is sufficient. So why do so many studios consistently crank the heat up to 110 or higher?

Eating well should be part of your overall yogic lifestyle. Here is a link to a local food guide for Atlanta produced by Georgia Organics.

http://www.georgiaorganics.org/Files/LFG2007.pdf

(Thanks Greenie!)

Dandayamana Bibhaktapada Paschimothanasana is the sanskrit name for the posture we call Standing Separate Leg Stretching Pose, but there are other possible translations that come to mind: Slip Sliding Away Pose; Wishbone Pose; The Split. You know what I'm talking about... "take a BIG step to the right, four feet minimum."

One of the challenges for many beginners is that the four foot step quickly becomes four and a half feet, five feet, five and half, oh no, almost six feet apart and still sliding! Adding to the frustration is the insistence of the instructor that what you're experiencing is intentional and that it offers an opportunity to work on developing inner thigh strength (don't they realize that telling you they're called "adductor muscles" doesn't make it any easier?). Oh, right, making it easier isn't in their job description...

Obviously the main reason for the sliding feet is a lack of inner thigh strength but there's another reason and you're standing on it. Chances are you're standing on a freshly washed and dried towel (or mat, if you use the cloth variety). That's great but it's also a major cause of your struggle in this pose. The drier and fluffier your towel is the more slippery it's surface will be. You want it to be clean, of course, but if you take it out of the dryer before it's completely dry -- or better still, air dry it -- it's surface will be a little more coarse and much less slippery.

It won't stop us from driving you crazy with our "it's supposed to be hard" admonitions but you might find yourself being able to focus on other parts of this posture instead of simply struggling to keep from sliding into a full split.

Please note these schedule changes for Thanksgiving week.

• Wed, Nov 25, 6:30 pm canceled (6 am, 10 am, 4:30 pm are happening)
• Thu, Nov 26, 10 am only
• Fri, Nov 27, 10 am & 4:30 pm only
• Sat, Nov 28, 10 am & 4 pm only
• Sun, Nov 29, 10 am & 4 pm only

Sorry, we have sold out of these.

Between now and the end of the year we are offering a limited number of Yearly Unlimited Attendance Class Cards for $1,000 — a $200 savings. If you already have an active class card you can make the purchase now and put the Yearly Card on hold to be activated later. For someone who attends, on average, two classes per week the cost works out to about $9.60 per class. Three times a week comes to approximately $6.40 per class. The hard core addicts among you can save even more.