After five weeks of yoga, I have found the experience to be a journey to a peaceful state of mind, and the disintegration of life’s everyday stressors. It helps fill the lungs completely with fresh air and awakens the muscles. It’s about learning how to release the mind as it succumbs to the voice of the body. It’s the successful performance of a new pose. It wasn’t until this past Tuesday at Oasis Yoga Spa, in the Vinyasa Flow class with Instructor Frank Alesci that I really began to enjoy yoga. In my experience of yoga, enjoyment is discovering how far I can push myself with peace of mind …

My fourth class at Oasis Yoga Spa was Kundalini Yoga. Taught by Instructor Leslie Rafferty, she was the first instructor to shed light on the Indian origin of yoga. She based the teaching of the class off the Indian Yogi Master Bhajan, who specialized in the practice of Kundalini Yoga. It opened with a meditative chant, titled Adi Montra. She gave us a handout as we walked into the class with the words written down for us to follow along.  I glanced at it, but for me, reading the foreign language was harder than simply trying to mimic the words of her voice on pitch and tone. There were two …

I finally felt it: A moist droplet slowly rolling down the side of my face. I didn’t think perspiration would ever form while doing yoga. I was wrong. The Vinyasa flow class pleasantly surprised me; it was more intense and a little different from the Fundamentals and the Zen Flow classes. In the Vinyasa Flow class at Oasis Yoga Spa, instructor Holly Zager immediately got down to business, leading us in a progression of poses. She had us start by standing up and reaching down to touch our toes.  We then moved our torso halfway up, paused with a straight back, exhaled, and moved back down to …

“Zen Flow Yoga” – I’ll warn you the title is deceiving. If you think there’s a chance you can effortlessly stretch your way through the class, you are highly mistaken. I was quite surprised at the effort I had to exert to simply participate in a meaningful way. Upon my arrival to Oasis Yoga Spa, I picked up what I thought were all the necessary supplies (a blanket, two blocks, and the dark blue pillow) and sat down on my borrowed yoga mat. The natural low light of the room immediately created a calm environment. The instructor, Jenifer Bistritz, spoke softly and gently. Listening – I sat …

The best advice I can give to anyone trying something new is to go all in or don’t go at all. Don’t be afraid of looking like a fool while doing something new. It will only hold you back. Instead, go into it – whatever new endeavor you’re trying, in my case: yoga - like you’ve got it all together and you are the only person in the room. If you do this, you might actually achieve your goal and surprise yourself at how accomplished and well put together you actually look. This is what happened with me. But it almost started very badly because I walked into my first yoga class fifteen minutes …