Yoga on the Cheap (Read: For Free)

While I’m more than happy to pay for yoga (it’s hard to find a more lovely community of people to support), I haven’t found a studio in Ann Arbor that I’ve totally jived with yet, so I’ve been primarily practicing at home. Luckily, I’m a certified yoga teacher so I’m able to lead myself through a sequence, but for days when I’m feeling like I need a little guidance, I turn to Yoga International.

Yoga International is run by the Himalayan Institute, which is “a non-profit, international organization dedicated to serving humanity through educational, spiritual, and humanitarian programs” (as quoted from their website). They’re a leader in the field of yoga, meditation, and spirituality, and they offer tons of FREE classes online—not to mention countless articles, digital courses, products, and a whole host of other wonderful offerings. In short, take classes from expert teacher for free (although I do opt for the $5 monthly membership—because why not?).

You can check out their extensive listing of online classes here, and below are a few links to practices that I’ve personally enjoyed recently:

Stretch and Breathe with Rolf Sovik
Twist and Flow with Kathryn Heagberg
Peak Pose: Eka Pada Rajakapotasana with Jen Stout
Build Ojas with Gentle Movement with Ginny Mazzei

Enjoy yogis!

Playing Catch-Up

After a few weeks of so-so lent participation, I’m determined to pull it together and end the month on a high note. Let’s do this!

Last night I topped off a busy week with a Tibetan Singing Bowls session at a local yoga studio. For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, it was basically an hour-long “sound massage” where we laid in shavasana, covered in blankets, while being serenaded by a beautiful orchestra of singing bowls. I’m pretty sure that covers my “yogic relaxation technique” base for the week. Check!

Then this morning, before I could even distract myself with anything else, I rolled out my mat and did a 45-minute yoga and meditation practice on Yoga International lead by my teacher Karina. For anyone looking to practice yoga at home, I highly recommend checking out Yoga International, they have a whole host of classes to stream, all free to the public.

After that I managed to talk myself out of eating a spoonful of chocolate frosting from the fridge that was leftover from Dan’s birthday cake, and I decided to hold off on putting a cute pair of boots on my credit card that have been in my DSW shopping cart all weekend, so I’m off to a good start.

And it’s New Year’s Eve tomorrow! Time to find some plans and set some intentions for 2014. Anyone have any resolutions they’d like to share?

She loves Fanne-bombing my home practice