San Francisco: Summer Yoga At Sunrise
I'm not a morning person. I can get up on my own by 8 or so, but when the alarm goes off earlier than that, I always gaze at it with the same look of surprise. (Again? Really?) I've never met a snooze button I didn't like.
At the same time, I know that most yogic texts and teachers agree that it's good to practice in the morning. And now that we're in the full swing of summer (meaning: more light and warmth), it's a little easier to get up earlier. If you like the idea of rising with the sun, check out Jamie Lindsay's sunrise classes at James Howell Studio, Mondays-Thursdays from 6-8am. (You can leave before the end of class if you need to.)
Jamie's Kundalini Vinyasa Flow Yoga classes focus on concentration and energy balancing.They begin with the Dance of Shiva (an intricate mind-body practice created by Andrey Lappa), and include a comprehensive asana practice, purification practices, pranayama, and meditation.
Jamie is a huge proponent of practicing in the morning. Here's what he says about it:
* practicing in the morning is akin to preventative medicine, while practicing at the end of the day is like treating ourselves after we are already ill (i.e. tired, stressed, or sore from a full day's work)
* the world is quieter at sunrise, so getting in touch with the energetic body is easier
* the mind is at its quietest, which makes meditation easier and more spontaneous
If you want to practice in the morning, but have a codependent relationship with your snooze button (like I do), Jamie offers the following tips.
• Go to bed earlier. Plain and simple.
• Change your schedule in one fell swoop. Don't practice some mornings and some evenings; it's better for your body to have consistency in your practice, and it's easier to get up early if you do it every day.
• Don't eat after dark. This gives you enough time to digest before your new earlier bedtime.
Jamie's classes build on each other, but if you can't go to all of them, check out his blog, on which he posts that day's sequences so that you can practice them at home.
Do you practice in the morning or evening? Do you notice a difference between the two? Comment below and let us know!
Comments
Thanks for writing up this class, Karen. As someone who has practiced both morning and evening, I think it's absolutely right that the early morning practice sets the tone for the day rather than fixing it at the end. Also I find I have almost no soreness from a morning practice, whereas evening classes, especially in a warmer studio make it too easy to push things to a level where next day soreness will happen. I've been in class every day this week and I find my breath is deep and steady going out into my day after class. This gives me the kind of balanced mindset I want to have in my life, and the compromise of having to go to bed a little earlier is more than worth it.
It's worth mentioning too that these classes are donation based as well.
Posted by: Grey | July 18, 2008 02:21 AM
Hi Grey,
Thanks for your thoughts. I find that I go in cycles with mornings - I think that discipline is the key. Your comments were helpful.
And thanks for mentioning that the class is donation-based - I plan on doing a roundup of donation-based classes in the next month, so let me know if you know of any others!
Karen
Posted by: karen | July 20, 2008 07:43 PM
Morning air is very different from evening air. Waking at least 4 days a week early morning and just consciously breathing the fresh early morning air makes us very healthy. This is my personal experience.
Posted by: Rajesh | July 28, 2008 08:35 PM
I like the evening practices with a warmed up body but for the most part I practice in the morning. I do wake up fairly stiff but interesting to watch that role away as time in the practice allows the body to adjust.
The mind stays fairly focused. I am still working on going to bed early and not eating after sundown. I don't need a lot of hours sleep but i like to wake and ease into practice. a little hot water helps the digestive system with elimination and gets warmth flowing through out. I am not as daring or coordinated in the morning but I feel the work by just sticking with the practice.
Pranayama is a big plus and helps my inner being maintain that calm approach and demeanor no matter how crazy my day can be. I am just glad to have the space and time to practice. I am a firefighter that is discovering the boon of yoga all the time.
Posted by: tony perez | July 30, 2008 06:12 AM