Most of my experience with yoga recently has been with powerful flow. I like the fast pace and the challenge flow provides. I like feeling like I’ve really gotten at workout in. The constant motion helps me be more present, it helps me turn my mind off for a little while and just be present.
I’ve always had a bit of a short attention span though and I love new challenges. I found after a few months of doing yoga almost everyday that flow wasn’t as fun for me as it had been at the beginning. I always knew what was coming next and that knowing exactly how the class would play out lead my mind to wander.
So when a friend suggested I come with her to a Forrest yoga class I though why not? Forrest is a unique style of yoga I’d never been exposed to before. The class involved a few familiar poses, but it also involved a whole lot of stuff I’d never done in all my years of yoga. I loved it. I had no idea what to expect, no idea what was coming next. There were inversions, flows, and poses that you held for longer periods of time. It was exciting and new for me. And even better the next morning my abs were feeling it.
Forrest teachers give you commands to lead you through the poses. Thats all they do. They don’t walk around the room and say profound things. They don’t have you repeat om together or as you to look inward and set your goals for you practice. They direct you.
Place your hands behind your neck. Exhale. Curl up. Inhale. Raise left leg. Bring Elbows to left knee. Release left leg. Pull low belly in.
This was very different for me. I found the direction actually brought my attention more to the moment than all the profound words of the other classes I’d been in. Each little move was intentional. Once you were in the poses the direction continued. Slowly following the teachers words you’d find yourself twisted a bit more, a little deeper in each pose.
Forrest yoga is different. Its different and so far I kind of like it.