GALFROMDOWNUNDER UPOVER

At the risk of being pacifistically (is that a word?) incorrect, I discovered a really good stretch I hadn't come across in my training or any classes to date, which I've called the "Charlie's Angel Stretch". The term "Charlie's Angels Hands" refers to the hands clasped with forefingers pointed like a ... gun. I got that  nugget from my teacher trainer and anatomy nurse,  Joschi Schwarz . It's a tremendous stretch involving several muscle groups. But which? Over to Joschi ... Congrats! I hope you're having a lot of fun teaching! Answer to your question is: obliques quadratus lumborum (smaller muscle in the lower back),  latissimus dorsi (because arms are over your head) rhomboid (shoulderblades are pulled away from each other), and pretty good for the  erector spinae infraspinatus teres major and minor.  Gluteus medius I guess plays more of an activator here. Great pose to create space for the hips (lumbosacral fasci...

A snippet from my Legend in Own Lunchtime files ... THERE I stood, having just exited Eastern Mountain Sports, SOHO after my weekly shift, when a couple on two Brompton folding bikes beckoned me in the darkness. "You're the girl who wrote the book about Cuba," said the gent who identified himself as Pete DeJong of Greenwich, Sydney. "I really enjoyed it." Now that's no small praise from an actuarial professor! "He's really picky about what he reads, so consider it a compliment," chimed in Pete's partner, artist  Dana Dion (check out her cool abstract expressionist art). "It was recommended by a friend of ours, the editor of the Weekend Australian." Holy helmet, I better get cracking and write another one ... It's a fleeting but flattering experience to be recognized by total strangers, especially when they're visiting from other side of the planet. Apparently it was my "Asian face and Bike Friday" t...

Camping geeks rejoice - boonies-quality Dark Chocolate Cheesecake.  There are generally 3 ways to live the New York Dream if you still have to work for a living: 1. Earn an astronomical salary on Wall Street or similar, and live in a loft and eat out several times a week 2. Get a steady and coveted city/government job with benefits that make you basically unfireable 3. Piece it all together - act, sing, sell, wait tables, volunteer, teach, sell your own product online, knit condoms for Etsy - and still manage to eat out once a week and pay your rent on time. Mostly. Having surrendered my 9 year Oregon-based career as a Customer Evangelist , I've entered the realm of option 3:  I volunteer teach yoga , make and sell my original schtick , do freelance copywriting and social media, and today, I entered the world of retail - working a casual shift at Eastern Mountain Sports , the northeast's version of REI. Now, if you're an outdoor gear freak, EMS is the place to ...

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...