by ninaeliseh | Jun 7, 2016 | Adventures, Blog, fitness, Health & Fitness, US Travels
This past weekend, I flew out to NYC to take a barrage of yoga/fitness classes within a 3 day period. I do this in order to see what other teachers/studios are like, what I can learn, etc.- basically continuous education as a Yoga teacher.
The result? love. lots of love, appreciation, learning… for myself, for others, for my body… Totally unreal. Yoga in NYC is so different than Ohio… actually, just the overall energy is different. I went into each class expecting nothing but a regular yoga/fitness workout… and it always ended up surprising me, in such a wonderful way.
Below is a recap of my time spent in NYC… just to give you an idea of how CRAZY my weekend was! I’ll be writing separate reviews for each studio soon – there are so many great things I learned & LOVED about every single class I took, and there is no way I can fit it all into 1 blog post đ
Friday:
Fly in @ check into hostel. Meditate, then for a 4 mile run along battery park with a friend.
Grab a bite to eat at a local bodega, then head over to Laughing Lotus at 2 pm for a 1 hour “Fly”  Class with Victor Colleti –> Check out the Full Review of Laughing Lotus Studio NYC here
Run to Y7 Studio to catch a class with Courtney at 4:15 pm for a 1 hour heated flow in a dark, candlelit room –> Check out the Full Review of Y7 Studio NYC here
Shower & head out for dinner & drinks with friends
Saturday:
I woke up a little early & couldn’t fall back asleep – so, I found the closest studio near my hostel & took an impromptu 1.5 hour yoga class with THE Dharma Mittra at the dharma yoga center (There is something very exciting about watching a 77 year old man doing a hands-free headstand at 10 in the morning!)…. The best unplanned class I’ve ever taken!
Cabbed it to the East Village to eat at Raclette – See images below. No explanation needed.
I mean… just look at that CHEESE!!!!
Headed to Ishta yoga at 2 pm for a 1.5 hour yoga class with Marco Rojas (which actually turned into almost 2 hours). The hardest, best class I’ve EVER taken in my life!
Sprinted to Equinox in Greenwhich to catch 1 final 1 hour yoga class with a friend at 4:15 pm.
After 4.5+ hours of yoga classes, a belly full of cheese, and several protein bars later, I was ready to go out! (Seriously – Yoga is moving meditation, and although my body was a bit sore, I was ready to go out!) So, shower & head to Brooklyn to hang out with a friend. We went to an outside dance party, then walked around Brooklyn looking at the Graffiti Art. By the time we got back, I only ended up getting one hour of sleep… totally normal for a birthday weekend, right??
Sign seen at outside dance party: If not us, Who? If not now, When?
Sunday:
Walk (in the rain) to Cyc Fitness in Astor with Jordan – get lost – and finally make it to the class as its starting.With 1 hour of sleep, this class woke me up!
Change clothes, head back to Laughing Lotus to take 1 final 1 hour flow with Felipe Gonzalez. Amazing, amazing class to end my time in NYC!
–> Check out the Full Review of Laughing Lotus Studio NYC here
Because this is what adults do – eat Gelato topped with macaroons for lunch
Headed back to meet up with a friend for “lunch” (see above :)), then finally catch the shuttle to head to the airport. By this time, I was ready to Pass Out!
I finally landed back in Columbus around 10:30 on Sunday night… and have been walking around in a haze the past few days, trying to catch up on sleep. And my body? Finally recovering. The good news is, after all those workouts, I have a much greater appreciation for my body. It is resilient, strong, and capable of pushing past any physical limit I may think I have (I’ll just say that my body was bent & adjusted in ways that I didn’t think possible! Basically, I came back as Gumby).
So what’s next? NYC AGAIN in a few weeks -either end of June/2nd weekend of July… more yoga/fitness classes, and more time to hang out with friends. Also, looking for jobs out there, so if you are hiring…. I’m looking đ
Stay tuned for a more in-depth recap of NYC Studio reviews!
What was your last adventure you went on? And have you ever pushed yourself past what you thought were YOUR physical limits?
by ninaeliseh | Jan 11, 2016 | Blog, life, Lifestyle, Recipes, Sides & Misc, Snacks
Happy Monday!
This past week has been an absolute whirlwind – between running 17+ miles for my half marathon training, I picked up another yoga class to teach on Sunday, booked my flights for March (Florida & NYC!!!), had a long-overdue christmas party at my apt with my family, tried flotation therapy, and became a wine & cheese expert. Don’t worry, I got some sleep in there!
First off – Family came over to celebrate a late Christmas since my Sister and her husband were in town. Insert: pizza, lots of wine, more wine, presents, drunk baking and opening presents! It’s always fun when my mom and all of my siblings get together – we are all goofballs.
Saturday I ran 5 miles with my MITÂ group – and met a few new friends in the 9:15 pace group. I am seriously loving training so far! Slowing down my pace while training has made running so.much.more.enjoyable. I don’t mind running the miles, and the speedwork on Wednesday’s is so much fun! Big shout out to Nikki for inspiring me to join đ
Early Afternoon run in the rain!
(Side note â if you would like to support my run by donating to St Jude, you can find my fund page here. Every cent helps, and your support is so much appreciated!!)
After my run, I went home and showered before heading to Whole Foods with my cousin. She had some amazing blueberry wine, and we decided to build a cheese board and make an afternoon out of it!
After chatting with the Whole Foods cheese dept, we bought a bunch of different cheeses and curated an amazing cheese board to go with the wine – I was in a food coma for basically the rest of the night!
Yes, that is all amazing cheese-that slice in the middle that looks like cake? Yep -baked lemon ricotta cheese that is literally life changing.
After going to bed at 9:30 Saturday (I am such a grandma on the weekends these days!), I taught my first back-to-back yoga class Sunday morning – and can you believe it, my 8 am class was still BOOKED (over 40 people!), while the added 9:30 class only had about 20 people. (Personally, I would have slept in for an extra 1.5 hours ;))
I loved teaching both classes – the energy is so different based on the size – bigger is more fun, more laughs, and much, much less space. A smaller class is a little less loud, but I can give more one-on-one attention, which I love! Teaching yoga has been such a (wonderful) surprise for me – I never in a million years thought I would teach again (I taught gymnastics in college, but that’s very, very different!). It’s taught me to face a lot of fears, and while I still get nervous teaching my classes, it has helped me grow, be more creative, and get out of my comfort zone đ
After my second class, I rushed over to try Flotation Therapy – which is basically floating in a salt-water filled tank in complete darkness & silence for an hour. I know what you are thinking… WHY?! For a few reasons – It’s a form of meditation, for one. It’s great for relaxation & reducing stress, and increases healing time for any type of injury (seriously wish I knew about this post-ACL surgery!)… I also bought a groupon, which means it was half the cost of a normal session. You can read more about the benefits here.
Hallway to the Float rooms
Post-Float area with hair dryers, lotion, etc.
You need to arrive 30 minutes before the appointment to sign a waiver, watch a short video, then are given a tour of the treatment area.
After showering, you put in ear plugs and enter the tank. It’s a really weird feeling, because you are literally floating on water without being held up by anything (in 10 inches of water). BTW – that pod is actually HUGE in person – There was room for 2-3 of me!
After my 1-hour session, I felt a little off-kilter once I stepped out of the pod to shower – kind of like stepping off of an elevator, but it lasted for 5-10 minutes. After that, I felt fine and relaxed. Followed up with 15 minutes of oxygen therapy & tea, I felt like I could nap for hours!
It’s actually pretty pricey – $80/session – or $300 for 3-6 months, or something like that. I kind of wish groupon offered a package deal of 3-6 sessions, as you are supposed to notice the difference after 3+ floats. I am going to see how I feel in the next few days, and MAYBE go again (If I win the lottery and have a ton of extra money to spend on floating in salt water ;)).
So that’s been my past week – this week, I need to begin packing for my weekend in San  Francisco! Packing for 2 days of nothing but yoga workshops at the Yoga Journal Event, plus 3+ days to explore the city.
So what’s everyone else been up to? What’s your favorite cheese/wine pairing? And have you ever tried flotation therapy?
