Kofi Busia Iyengar Workshop

YogaWorks Downtown NYC

138 Fifth Avenue, 4th Floor

www.yogaworks.com

A weekend of Iyengar workshop with my teacher’s teacher sounded good to me until I was in Dandasana again. My legs were about to detach themselves from my torso and stomp out of the studio on their own. My entire body started to shake and tears welled up. Oh, for the love of Krishna, I’m sitting. SITTING!

YogaWorks invited Kofi Busia for 8 hours of workshops over 3 days at the end of May at its downtown NYC location. Kofi is…well, one could say a master teacher of Iyengar yoga and a teacher to many amazing teachers. Yes, that’s all true, but he’s so cool and super-awesome I feel like I need to express it in a different way, for instance, with a whole new dedication asana, an interpretive dance or a 15-minute levitation.

There were no new cool party tricks or any bad-ass Cirque du Soleil handstand sequences. No music, no nice-smelling incense, no new age stuff. He showed up in street clothing (button down shirt, sweater, coat…in late May!), told us his name is Kofi and went on to blow our tiny little minds.

A large majority of the class consisted of experienced Iyengar practitioners and teachers so everyone pretty much knew the asanas, prop usage and modifications. Kofi didn’t take us into 5 gazillion poses, nor did he adjust every little thing. He called out the asanas and told us stories while we held them for a really, really long time. Trust me. Even the easiest pose becomes an epic psycho-physical battle if you hold it long enough.

Oh the stories! First, they make no sense. He talked about tree bark, bass guitars, jazz, relationship dilemas, an old English actress, more tree bark, basketball, John Adams, Wealth of Nation, and on and on (oh, and shared his crazy amazing knowledge in isolation of muscles, bones and ligaments and some sick level of understanding in human kinesics). I mean, the man’s got some great stories! Hilarious! Then the realization set in – his stories are his teachings, his wisdom.

Vrksasana

You know what I learned while sweating in Dandasana and listening to these stories? I learned that I must look deep within myself to understand why I practice asana, how to become a better person through it and how a teacher must truly observe each student with clear eyes and mind in order to help in any meaningful way. No joke. I didn’t know I could get choked up and belly-laugh at the same time listening to someone talk about tree bark while standing in Tree Pose (Vrksasana).

I wish I could tell everyone to go check out his next workshop, but alas, he is rarely in town. He lives and teaches in Santa Cruz. But if he’s anywhere near where you’re going to be, cancel whatever silliness you’re supposed to show up to and go take his classes instead. I think I’ll start saving money to go to California.

Check out Kofi at www.kofibusia.com.

Deb and Keith

The light in me bows down to the light in you, and says……”BRING IT!”

Yoga Fight Club with Keith Wittenstein every Monday evening 7-8p.m and Friday evening 6-7p.m at Om Factory 265 W. 37th St. 17th Floor, NY, NY

The first rule of yoga fight club…is that you don’t talk about yoga fight club…

Have you ever said to yourself, ” Well, I would take yoga, but I don’t think I’d be worked enough”.  While those of us who practice know that yoga can definitely bring you an amazing physical work-out as well as a centering and spiritual practice, there are those who still view yoga as the always soft gentle relaxation that just can’t QUITE get their heart rate up enough.

WELL MY FRIENDS….Keith Wittenstein has brought the PAIN!  Yoga fight club will leave you a mushy pile of goo after 1 hour.  Class starts with 20 minutes of the recognizable asana vinyasa flow.  But after that, as quickly as the techno music sets in, we are doing boxing drills, and interval training, alternating between  uppercuts, jab-crosses, and side kicks.   Just when I thought my muscles couldn’t take anymore, Keith swings in with another interval, and we are BACK IN ACTION!

There isn’t any chanting, no scripture reading, the yoga and the fight don’t ever really come together.  I think that’s against the rules of yoga, or something.  Though, It does get me thinking……One could talk about the fight within.  Finding the ease in difficulty.  Things to think about.  It was a good time, and I encourage even the most skeptical of yogis to try it at least once!

After class, Keith and I (along with some other students) headed to the train, and I added my suggestions for incorporating the yoga.  “You could always do a handstand into a scorpion kick, that would merge the yoga”.  On and on went my brain thinking of all the asanas that could be modified and incorporated into kick-boxing!

So, Let’s hear it people: What yoga fight club moves do you want to see????  A little Crouching Warrior 15, Hidden Warrior 16.5 perhaps- find out, at the next Fight club.

Oh, and by the way,  Om factory is having a recession special to new students:  10 classes in 10 days for only …..$10 DOLLARS!!!  But it’s only for the month of May…So hurry up!

862 Broadway

(between 17th St & 18th St)

Thursday 7:45-9PM

http://www.pranapoweryoga.com/

The Mystery Yogi. Like John Wayne in The Searchers, he is always…um, searching.

This Asana Enigma is beginning a quest to find the perfect Yoga experience. He will share his experiences with our readers beginning…um, now.

I, the Mystery Yogi, like certain things in life to be hot. Tamales, Toddies, Pockets, Dogs. And yes, Yoga. Thus, I  arrived in Union Square to test the mettle of Prana Power Yoga. Located across the Park from what used to be Virgin Megastore  (moment of silence… my last purchase was You Me and Dupree for $2.99), Prana Power is a blink-and-you’ll-miss it small 2^nd floor studio. The lobby is air-conditioned, the antithesis of what’s to come, and there is little room for one’s belongings, just a circular shelf filled with cubbyholes.

I immediately spy what passes for changing rooms: two shower curtains hanging from circular rods. Luckily, my only wardrobe is my Yoga pants. Purple, like my hero the Hulk, another lonely wanderer with green skin (long story).

Speaking of showers, there is just one, There is also one bathroom, separate from the shower room. Upon my arrival the line for the restroom was 9 people long, which didn’t bode well for cleaning up quickly after class. Mystery Yogi flirted with the bladderful students until he was able to get up to the front of the line.

We begin in child’s pose, arise for 3 Oms and then it’s straight into a basic Sun A. You know the drill.  The teacher suggests that we clear our minds by saying, “I am breathing in, I am breathing out.” I am quickly scolded for doing this out loud to the tune of “The Impossible Dream” from Man from La Mancha.

We continue into Sun B, and then cover the greatest hits…Warriors 1 and 2, Pigeon, Yada-Yada-Asana. At the end of the 75 minute class, everyone is soaked and gross. Mystery Yogi was forced to clean his own rented mat, the ultimate indignity. Don’t they know who I am? (Oh that’s right. Nobody does.)

As all the Yogis were too tired and sweaty to succumb to my charms, Mystery Yogi was last in line for the bathroom and shower. I emerged, clean and “shoveled”, a week later.

Alas, while nice, this was not the ultimate class I am looking for. And so my search goes on. I will walk the earth until I find the greatest Yoga class ever. And when I do, I will probably sign up for the monthly pass.

–Mystery Yogi for BiteSize