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Read about our upcoming Yoga for Men class in the Lakewood Patch!
http://lakewood-oh.patch.com/blog_posts/props-to-you-yoga-for-men

Or...here is the copy:



From male athletes to military vets, from dads to weekend warriors, from professional male sports teams to men who want a way to improved health, yoga classes for men are becoming an increasingly popular part of helping more men find their way to the mat.

It is no surprise:  Yoga in America, for various reasons, has turned into a league of largely women.  Yoga Journal’s 2012 Yoga in America Market Study reported that 82.2 percent of American adults practicing yoga are women; 17.8 percent are men.  

But this is changing, and many people--from yoga afficiandos to medical doctors--are applauding that.  All-male classes, all-male studios cropping up in larger cities, and the recent, sweeping movement of yoga presented as cross-training for male sports teams are becoming more and more common, making the news, and proving yet again, that yoga is a worthy workout form for everybody.  

On Saturday, April 20th, from 1-2:30 p.m., Pink Lotus Yoga will offer Yoga for Men, a 90-minute class led by Sarah Lyon, an educator an PLY yoga instructor. Whether you are new to yoga or are familiar with it, this class welcomes you and will be both informative and engaging.

With a special emphasis on areas of the body where men tend to be tight--backs, hamstrings, and shoulders--as well as an emphasis on strengthening the core, Yoga for Men class will teach you how a yoga practice can simultaneously strengthen and loosen the body.  With the use of common yoga props, you will engage in yoga that when practiced regularly will help you in all facets of your life: stress reduction, increased flexibility, athletic performance, strength, and relaxation.

This class is part of Pink Lotus Yoga’s PROPS (Practice Reaching Our Perfect Selves) initiative, which is yoga designed for people who benefit from the use of props when they practice.*  Pink Lotus Yoga, an eclectic Lakewood studio, offers many styles of yoga both popular and new to the area and was was founded in December 2011 by Marcia Camino, E-R.Y.T., of Lakewood.  You can learn more about PLY and register for the workshop at www.pinklotusyoga.com.  Call 216-632-0816 or email pinklotusyogastudio@gmail.com for more information.


*Pink Lotus Yoga maintains that yoga is created for all bodies and genders despite what the media or a cursory look at the yoga ‘scene’ reveals. We also maintain that commonly used yoga props help all practitioners--regardless of construction, constitution, and level of yoga expertise--create healthy, maintainable yoga postures and thus a deeper, more meaningful practice. And when our bodies are aligned, we benefit greatly.  Among its many proven benefits, yoga lowers blood pressure, cleanses the body of toxins, improves breathing, and makes the body both strong and flexible.  Class size is limited to 10.




 
 
When you are inside a cozy, welcoming studio such as Pink Lotus Yoga on Detroit Avenue,  it is really hard to remember that there are many people in the world who do not practice yoga.  At least, that is my experience as a Lakewood resident and yoga studio owner.  Truth be known, I walk around with yoga blinders on. (One time I described to my husband a scene in a film I’d seen--the protagonist was going through intensive physical and mental acuity training.  I called the training ‘yogic.’  My husband stopped me and laughed.  “Marcia,” he said.  “Not EVERYTHING is yoga.”  His statement did not compute.)

My yoga blinders are built of the stuff from which optimism springs, for it is a deep-felt dream of mine to introduce yoga’s many, many physical, mental, and emotional benefits to many, many more people. I meet people all the time who are curious who have not taken a class yet.  

If you are one of those people, or if you have a few classes, consider that February is Beginners’ Month at Pink Lotus Yoga.  And to that end, we are offering four incredibly affordable two-hour introductory yoga sessions.  Each session is only $12.00.  

Attend one, two, three, or all four.

You will receive much personalized instruction in these two-hour classes for beginners that introduce the fundamentals of yoga: healthy body alignment, breathwork, deep relaxation, information about yoga history and philosophy, and whole-self wellness, all in the comfort of a classroom with beginners like yourself.

Wear comfortable clothing, avoid eating one hour before class, and bring a yoga mat and blanket. Arrive fifteen minutes before class to park, check in, and settle in.

Fee: $12.00 per two-hour class   SPECIAL NEW YEAR'S RATE!!
Members’ Fee: 20% off                                   

Go to our website’s scheduler, and check under Workshops/Series/Events for more info and to register:  https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/ASP/adm/home.asp?studioid=21931

Or visit us http://www.pinklotusyoga.com to learn more.  Or reach out to us at 216-632-0816 or pinklotusyogastudio@gmail.com

 
 
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While The Lotus Pond (see post below) is a new program that I hope will enrich the lives of those practicing and interested in yoga, here’s something else new at PLY sure to enrich lives in other ways.

Pink Lotus Yoga Is Installing Bike Racks!

Yep.  Meet Big Pink Yoga Dude, one of two original-art, yoga-inspired bike racks, to be installed on Detroit Avenue in Lakewood, right outside the PLY studio.

Why bike racks? I opened a studio in one of the coolest cities (Lakewood) near a cool, larger city (Cleveland), and both these cities are rock-solid excited about and have taken nationally recognized steps toward creating bike-friendly cities.

As an avid commuter cyclist, health-minded Lakewood business owner, pro-Clevelander, and person extremely interested in the Bike Lakewood and Bike Cleveland initiatives, providing bike racks in front of my studio feels like several things going together well.  All summer long, I rode my bicycle to the studio to teach, take class, clean, do my paperwork, etc., and all summer long I wished for a place near my studio to park my bike.  My bicycle-riding students felt the same way.  And now, the wish has come true.

Why yoga-shaped bike racks? I am extremely lucky to be one of the yoga teachers for—and friends with—local sculptor David Smith, who created the PLY bike racks getting ready to be installed at Pink Lotus Yoga.  Dave’s love for yoga, for art, for working with metal, and for an strong belief in community shine through strongly in these works he’s created. These bike racks by Dave are a testament to the power of imagination, of yoga, and of community.

The bike racks will be installed in front of the studio in the coming week and on Saturday, September 29, 2012 at noon will officially be dedicated for use by the public.  Learn more here>> 


 
 
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Though it is still summer, fall has already arrived for many of us in the form of back-to-school activities, new work schedules, cooler temperatures, and more.

This is the first fall we’ll be celebrating at Pink Lotus Yoga since opening our doors just nine months ago.  Every season is a time for new beginnings, and at PLY, this is no exception.  Here’s something brand new at Pink Lotus Yoga!

Welcome to the Lotus Pond

The Lotus Pond is Pink Lotus Yoga’s new education-focused extension, whose mission is to offer yoga education to the public, the studio’s students and members, and those interested in further yoga training, including teacher training.  

The Lotus Pond is the official administrator of the studio’s educational efforts: namely, the PLY 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training program (anticipated to begin mid-year 2013). We're just swimming with excitement over this! :)

The Lotus Pond offers more than yoga classes and workshops:  courses and immersions take place on weekends and evenings and offer lecture and discussion on the history, theory, methods, and philosophies behind various styles and systems of yoga as well as the essential practice.  The Lotus Pond is rooted in the belief that a well-rounded education of yoga requires both practice and study.

Its first mini-course, a survey into four distinct styles and practices in yoga, takes place on Saturday, September 22nd and again (course repeated) on Saturday, October 13th from 2-6 p.m.  The title of the course is Yoga Studies:  New and Ancient Styles.  See the link below,

Check out The Lotus Pond’s inaugural mini-course, Yoga Studies:  New and Ancient Styles, and register today>>

 

Imagine

02/13/2012

2 Comments

 
As I write this, I'm in the studio, sitting in the lobby working on my laptop doing this and that and in the background listening to and watching Sarah Husher teach her Monday evening Vinyasa class. 

There is so much calm in this class, I note as I listen and periodically peek into the studio, and so much hard work going on, too, that I realize after a minute I have myself become calm, sitting and amazed and touched by these students'--and this teacher's--tenacity in their practice and guidance.

Sarah speaks:  How lucky we all are to have the bodies we do, to be able to engage in the practice as we do.  But really, she says, our bodies are merely on loan.  We have to take care of our bodies.  "So take care of your house," she says, expanding on the analogy of grand impermanence: The idea of how we can't take any of it with us, but that does not mean we are not responsible for it while we are here.  

I think about my yoga house (this new studio!), and how I love to be here, and how I love to take care of it and the people here, for it feels like a place of good people and good yoga.

But then I focus on a downside, my current physical limitations that are prohibiting me from any posture practice of my own, and which are making teaching--and even cleaning my studio--very challenging. 

I sit pouting for awhile.

Sarah is preparing to end her class.  She speaks:  We end where we begin, soft, but more conditioned....Her students have returned to Child Posture, the opening posture.

This phrase--that we end where we began, but more conditioned--strikes me.  I imagine myself healthy and taking class again, back where I began years ago, before this studio, before my pain began, back to Child Pose.  Of simply practicing again.  And of more than that.  Of something taller than that.  Of sweeping my studio with joy rather than pain-fed groans.  And of more than that.  Of finally learning to stand on my own two hands in the middle of the floor, without a wall or a teacher. 

Our bodies are on loan, it is true, but our hearts and spirits are not, and this class in this space in this moment, from my very participating as an outside member, gave me hope again, a surge, a conviction to stand up, and to keep standing up.

I imagine spirit, and yoga, and love. And that even challenges are okay.

And then Sarah plays for her students John Lennon's "Imagine."

Imagine, indeed.