Be Fit With Biray

I enjoy evolving my personal yoga practice by gaining additional insights from other yoga instructors, thoughtful readings, and other intimate experiences. Usually on Sundays, I challenge my practice with a heated or yin/relax yoga class at local InnerVision Yoga studio. This morning was different. My energy was distracted and I couldn’t make it out of the house in time for class. So, being the techno-driven fitness geek that I am, I defaulted to my resources on the web - podcasts.

This morning I downloaded a free yoga podcast from aliveyoga.com - a site delivering recordings from actual yoga classes by world-renowned instructors. The yoga-cast was guided by Beryl Bender Birch, the founder and director of The Hard & the Soft Yoga Institute in East Hampton and Vermont and best-selling author Power Yoga. It was an hour and thirty-four minute intermediate class, primarily focused on flow.

Being that I’m a visual learner, it is difficult for me to grasp cues solely by listening. This was both challenging and frustrating during my practice. (Ironically, working through this challenge became the focus of my experience this morning.) Around 53 minutes, I strayed a bit from the format. I reconnected again at the end, during savasana or final relaxation/meditation.

Initially, I found the experience to be disorienting - I’m so reliant on having a visual guide. It is also a bit distracting to hear Birch talking to other participants - although it does give the feeling of a real-time class. I was hoping she’d bring more attention to her ‘podcast’ audience. But Birch definitely delivers a well-designed class. Now that I’m familiar with her cues and poses, I wouldn’t mind listening to this podcast a second or third time. However, I would not recommend this yoga-cast for those who are unfamiliar with yoga terminology - especially in Sanskrit form.

I will continue to explore various health-related podcasts and post my thoughts on the blog. I want to gain a better understanding of the value and limitations that come with delivering fitness and wellness classes through audio formats.

Namaste