cleveland yoga

proud to call ohio home.

July 12, 2010 by Rachel 8 Comments

In the wake of all of the LeBron drama, I figured I’d let you all know about the awesome things that Northeast Ohio {Cleveland AND Akron} have going for them:

1. Cleveland Browns, Cavs, and the Indians. Yes, professional sports teams. They may not be winning sports teams, but they are professional sports teams. Some places {clears throat — Syracuse} aren’t lucky enough to have a single professional team.

2. The Flats. Lots of people keep themselves entertained day in and day out in the flats!

3. Museum of Contemporary Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Not to mention the Akron Art Museum, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. I’ve visited zoos in other cities, and I don’t think Cleveland realizes what an awesome zoo we have. It is huge!

4. Fantastic restaurants. Not only is it home to Michael Symon’s Lola, but also to Jonathan Sawyer’s The Greenhouse, Melt Bar and Grilled {which was recently featured on Man Vs. Food}, Chrissie Hynde’s Vegiterranian, and my personal Akron fave, Crave {which is where BF took me on our first date}.

5. We are within short driving distance to Cedar Point and Kalahari. I’ve not yet been to Kalahari but have been begging BF to take me. We are also a short car ride from Put-In-Bay, a great weekend destination.

6. In addition to fun attractions, we have an awesome hospital system right at our fingertips. The Cleveland Clinic is incredible.

7. Cleveland Yoga. By far the most amazing yoga studio I have been to. The community and the practice are so strong!

8. BF and I and {most of} our families and friends live here. What else could a girl ask for?

But really Northeast Ohio is just a great community with great people and plenty of things to do and see. I’ve been here and there and everywhere, but I’m still proud to say I’m from Northeast Ohio.

dear thursday.

November 12, 2009 by Rachel 16 Comments

Dear Thursday,

I know that last week on Twitter when I totally said that I liked your brother, Friday, a lot more, but I am a changed woman.

I want to apologize. Cause Thursday, today, you ARE my Friday. And I don’t just mean that in the literal “I don’t have to work tomorrow so today is my Friday,” kind of way. I really mean it this time. Will you ever forgive me?

Tomorrow I am going to hang out with your ~~way cooler~~ brother, Friday. I plan on hitting up a yoga class at Cleveland Yoga and ~~of course~~ perhaps picking up a fancy shmancy cupcake at Main Street Cupcakes.

After that, Mister Thursday, I will be spending a relaxing night with your brother Friday, BF and a little thing I like to call Mexican food.

Not to make you jealous, Mister Thursday, but after that I will be spending some quality time with your sister, Saturday. Saturday, BF and I will all be hanging out at the Fabulous Food Show (thanks to NIM who got us free tickets!), chowing down on some free samples and hopefully seeing Michael Symon.

Oh Thursday, there is so much more planned (including Fakesgiving with the Hero clan). Can’t wait to fill you in later. But for now, just rock on Thursday!

Sincerely,

the Hero that needs Thursday to be her hero for a day

impacts

July 25, 2009 by Rachel 13 Comments

So a recent post at City Girl Lifestyle really got me thinking. She wrote about how she grew into her yoga practice 8 years ago and about how she found a space to practice that made her feel completely at home. I feel the same way. I have only recently become serious about my yoga practice. I found a space that felt like home. That place was Cleveland Yoga. More specifically, I found a teacher that really made sense to me.

I realize that for those that do not practice yoga, this may sound odd and, frankly, foreign. But finding a yoga space and teachers that connect you with the spiritual side of yoga is very important. Unfortunately, shortly after I began practicing at Cleveland Yoga, the teacher who drew me to my practice moved to California.

Talk about a bummer. I still practiced at the same regular class times. With substitute teachers. Eventually I started exploring other classes. So glad I did! I came across a teacher that I connected with more than the first teacher! Terri’s dialogue during class was just what I needed. I came to class with the stress of that day and it was as if she knew me and knew exactly what to say.

But of course she didn’t know me. And she still doesn’t. I still attend her classes. I say nothing. I just listen and grow in my practice. But she has had a profound impact on my life and doesn’t even realize it.

Which makes me think… isn’t it odd that someone can have such a huge impact on your life and they have no idea who you are? It’s lovely actually. I’m still uncertain what I will do with my yoga practice when I move from Cleveland to Syracuse, but I’m hoping I will find another awe inspiring teacher…

{Image Courtesy of About.com}

Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga

May 16, 2009 by Rachel 1 Comment

I’m currently writing to you while I am working at my part-time job. For those of you who don’t know, I work part-time at the front desk of a yoga studio. I basically sign people into classes, answer questions and sell merchandise. It’s a nice little retail gig, plus I get free yoga classes.

I’ve spent a lot of time talking about yoga and a few people have requested some additional info. So I’m dedicating today’s post to talking about yoga.

I study a teaching of yoga called Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga. It was founded by teacher Baron Baptiste. It’s a form of yoga that focues on the flow of yoga poses, instead of a static pose practice. The flow of yoga poses is done with an intense focus on Ujjayi breathing. Basically, you inhale (through the nose) on a movement to a pose, and exhale (through the nose) to get to the next pose. The breathing is the most important part of the yoga practice. It helps you through your hard poses and helps you to be in the present moment.

Power Vinyasa Yoga is practiced in an 85-degree room. The heat from the room allows your body to move easier, and it provides for a great, sweaty workout! Classes are anywhere between 60-minutes and 90-minutes. Most studios also offer beginners classes (and special beginners deals!) so that you can check it out to see if you like it.

When I first started practicing yoga, I hurt. I’m not gonna lie. I ached. I pained. I still do, on ocassion. I love it though. It helps my mind and has increased my physical strength tremendously. I try to practice 3-5 times a week. I’ve also started reading up on the mental benefits of yoga. I would recommend checking out the book Mediations from the Mat. It will help you to tap into the mental aspects of your yoga practice.

I’m sure this will be the first of many yoga info posts. I’ll update you from time to time with yoga news! If anyone in the Cleveland area is interested in taking a yoga class I’d be more than willing to recommend a studio.

Photo credit: victoriasyoga.com

gratefully, Friday.

May 8, 2009 by Rachel 1 Comment

“There are three ingredients to the good life: learning, earning, and yearning.”
-Christopher Morley

So I have been ultra-scatterbrained recently. No matter how much time I give myself to do things, I never seem to have NEARLY enough time as is required. My existing position at work has been severely stressing me out. On top of that, I have still not heard about the potential J-O-B. Sigh. I am super stressing about everything. Last night I just randomly started to cry. I don’t know what’s worse: the actual change or the anxiety over not knowing about the potential change.

BF is doing a fairly decent job at trying to calm my anxieties, but I will continue to stress, I’m sure. It’s the way I operate.

Speaking of BF, we did go to a yoga class Wednesday night. It was his first “in class” practice, even though we have been doing yoga at home. I could tell he was a little nervous. So I took him to a basics class at Cleveland Yoga. So it turns out he thought it was a flow class (which are classes heated to 72 degrees). It was actually a hot class, which is heated to a steaming 85 degrees (+ a sweaty room full of people..). So he went through the whole class thinking “This is a hot 72 degrees.” I’m actually grateful that he thought it was the flow class cause I think he would have psyched himself out if he knew it was the hot class. But it was wonderful! He did awesome and we both felt great afterwards. And by great, I mean we were starving! So we hit up the PF Changs Takeout afterward!

So besides all this excitement, nothing has really been going on…

I do want to share some of my favorite things as of recent:

– Real Simple. For real, I have an obsession with this magazine/website. I mean, what slightly domestic (and OCD) chick wouldn’t be?!?

-My new Scrabble Apple! Scrabble on the go is awesome!! I have an obsession with word games. I love that the BF seems to be almost as obsessed (or at least humors me by playing Scrabble with me).