GALFROMDOWNUNDER UPOVER

Governor's Island - a little, flat Utopia off the bottom end of Manhattan I'm slowly discovering New York's intriguing chunks of itself scattered close to the "mother ship," Manhattan.  There's Fire Island (holiday favorite of the gay community off the coast of Long Island), Roosevelt Island (an odd little strip of suburbia in the East River between Manhattan and Queens),  Ryker's Island (the prison island), City Island (Bronx), Ellis Island (houses a museum), Liberty Island (on which stands the lady in the green dress) and just this weekend, I visited  Governor's Island .  It could not be easier to get to this "ice cream cone shaped island" (check out the map below!) especially on a bike. Cruise down the west side bike path to where the Staten Island Ferry takes off, go a bit to the left, and there's a FREE ferry from South St to this little car-few nirvana.  From Wikipedia:  Governors Island, a 172 acre island in the heart...

Last Tuesday there were around 15 -18 people in my 6pm Chelsea Rec Center class - mostly newbies to yoga. One game young guy, an 80 year young woman, and the rest in their 20-40's. Great! So much for my inital idea of a Yoga for Boomers class - with a timeslot of 6pm, this is now simply called, Easy Yoga by the Galfromdownunder. It's listed as part of the ShapeUpNYC initiative - so it's free to all participants, regardless of whether they are members of the Rec Center. One thing about being a volunteer teacher:  I get to teach whatever I want. As a warmup for this group, I've developed what I call a Groundhog Salutation. It's basically a Sun Salutation but you never get up on your feet to worship the sun, you say down at woodchuck (ferret or Aussies) level.  It's a good limber up for the back before you totter to your feet. The drill: Inhale - hands and knees post cat/cow. Exhale - Down dog. Inhale - drop knees on the way to ... Exhale ...

  The cool turquoise and sand colorway flyovers of Albuquerque I've just spend an intense week in Albuquerque jam-packed with stuff centered around the fine work of the LAB (League of American Bicyclists) - and in 100+ degree heat...    ... surrounded by Adobe, the concrete, not the software kind:   Learned how to ride a bike at the LAB Traffic Skills 101 course and LCI (League Certified Instructor) Seminar:   Yikes! Preston Tyree tries to teach me the life-saving Instant (Counter) Turn Watch a movie explaining this Proving to ourselves that a bike can lean right over in the Instant Turn and still have traction Because if I'd studied this course earlier and learned the mantra: BICYCLISTS FARE BEST WHEN THEY ACT AND ARE TREATED AS DRIVERS OF VEHICLES ... I would not have been doored the week before in NYC:   Thursday: Ride and cocktail reception, featuring a ceremonial guard (is that what you call it?), mariachi band and exhibiting the Gian...

  A die-hard New Yorker pal points to Jack Kerouac's house on the next block, Ethan Hawke brooding over a banana crepe, Scarlett Johanssen perusing a condo across his street ... and tells me "New York never fails to redeem itself." And sure enough, while strolling back from Union Square last night I came across a seething crowd, and in New York, that means it's either someone dead or  dazzling. In this case, whispers of "who is it?" were met by "Paris Hilton". When people asked me, I just repeated it and so it went around, like Chinese whispers, it could have been anyone in there ... Seeing the crowd three times taller than me due to step ladders, boxes and other height advantaging tactics, I turned away, then couldn't help myself. Out came the Gal li'll digi camera , and in I went. Turns out that you're not so disadvantaged if you're short. While everyone is trying to get upover, I went downunder. At around 2:43 on my vide...

My Booma! Yoga is now being re-monikered to Easy Yoga. Yep, rather than "say it straight, then say it great" I'm going for "say it straight, then say it straighter." I discovered last night that newbies and seniors are pretty close in their requirements ... Apparently Doris, the Chelsea Parks and Rec mover and shaker, had spent the week strong-arming everyone able to bend at the waist to come to my class. Bless her. I arrived to find the room already full, including the four kidz who stumbled in last week. Most had never done yoga;  a handful had done "this much" - picture a raised thumb and forefinger pressed together. Ages ranged from around 20, to an 83 year young gal who was game to try everything. After teaching them a short dog and a simplified Vinyasa involving a short dog and a rock back to child's pose, the room was visibly sweating - who needs hot yoga? "Never thought yoga was so hard!" cried a really athletic look...

My mother loves to send along intriguing things ... in this case, a clipping from the newspaper of yogis in India: Last time she greeted me at the airport with an for poledancing . While you can practice and practice and get more flexible, the kind of hyperflexibility in this photo is largely genetic. I've never been able to easily do back bends - Joschi told me that small people with small bones can experience a lack of room between vertebrae to enable the spine to bend - it's all a bit tight. But keeping these images in mind does give you something to aim for and who knows? See you Tuesday 6-7pm 5th Floor at the Chelsea Rec Center!

Do these look like 50+ boomers to you? Nope. My Booma! Yoga class is getting off to a slow start at the Chelsea Parks and Rec Center - and today's monsoon-like rain didn't help. Meanwhile downstairs, the aerobics class was packed and in full swing. What gives? I suspect it is partly little flyer the center prepared. * The time slot is 6-7pm, which  suits me and younger folk, but not seniors. * The poster says 50+, which suits seniors, but not younger folk. So it's keeping both groups away. I'm going to ask them if they can tweak it to ... BOOMA! 50+ YOGA All ages welcome No wait, let's K.I.S.S. that goodbye and make it EASY YOGA. Because it's a class that will suit newbies AND seniors. I waited a while, not really minding that no-one was turning up - I am offering my time as a service, and the commitment to do so is as much a part of my contribution as teaching the class itself. Besides I can always catch up on some Barackberrying. Enter...

It's the end of the first week of my post-Bike Friday life, and I yet I still find myself subconsciously doing things one could call "work related". Since May is National Bike Month, I came up with the idea of giving the seniors at the Hudson Guild - where I volunteer teach yoga - a little thrill by riding it around their lunchroom. "Great idea!" said Yehudit Moch, the activities director, tasked with the tireless work of coming up with programs to keep seniors active and engaged. "Let's called it Folding Bike Fun, and do it at 12.45pm, towards the end of lunch, before they disperse." For disperse they do - the attention span is short, and hearing and vision loss doesn't help. The night before the demo I had this last minute idea to invite some local senior cycling friends to the show. Four names came immediately to mind: Tod Moore (72), a bicycle tour guide who rides every year in France; Jesse Brown (70), former president of t...