Bala vinyasa yoga Naples

Thad and I got to go to Bala Vinyasa in Naples this morning for a 90 minute class with Kiersten Mooney. We received a friendly warm welcome from everyone there and chatted with Kiersten and Debi (who Thad knew from his Level 1 bootcamp). One of the women at the desk told me she grew up in Farmington Hills and the woman on the mat next to me was originally from Rochester, MI!

Then we proceeded to get our butts kicked in a really great and sweaty practice! The studio was a little warm but with about 50 people mat to mat, in no time at all my mat was slippery and sweat was pouring. Lesson to not walk in a studio again without my big yogitoes towel! I had a little one and a regular hand towel so did my best to make do, but still my feet slid out from under me in my first wheel :( I did end up getting a great assist from kiersten in my last wheel though - felt amazing since I was so warmed up. How I love backbends! I also got to see something new to try - camel to wheel. Going back with arms bent and shoulders back, up on the balls of your feet, then dropping back to wheel- so cool! If it weren't for my slippery mat I would have taken her up on the offer to try it with an assist.

Kiersten was an excellent teacher and many of the things she spoke to reinforced what I took away from Baron in Toronto -- closing shoulders in to then open up, reminders about feet being on, to name a couple. Her style is fun and with an athletic focus - lots of extra push ups and reverse chaturunga, low and high boat. We also had a 10 minute hold in frog that the room groaned about, but I loved! I was seriously only an inch or two away from the floor by the end of it. She also spoke to common Baptiste themes such as when your mind takes you out of a pose (during frog). Other than my distraction of worrying about slipping, it was a fantastic challenging class and friendly community - so glad we were able to go!