More options on the Pittsburgh yoga scene start this weekend! Two more ways to get your flow on:
1. 9:00 am Matrika Flow on Saturdays with Marilyn (starts May 5th)
2. 6:00 pm Matrika Flow on Mondays with Heahter (starts first Mon. in June)
Tag: new classes
The New Yoga Happy Hour
Yoga Matrika now offers two classes each week at 4:30pm:
Mondays
4:30 to 5:30pm
Hatha Yoga with Angela Scardina
Tuesdays
4:30 to 5:30 pm
Yoga I with Sharon Rudyk
This is a real gem of a time to do yoga if you can make it. First, these classes are a sweet one-hour in length. Second, as they start before 6pm, our discount package for daytime classes (4-pack for $32) applies. Third, you can have your day, get in a quick yoga practice and then have a relaxed dinner and a walk on a fine spring or summer evening rather than rush through dinner and force yourself to run back out the door for a night class. We know that not everyone has the option to take a class at 4:30pm, but if you do, then give one or both of these classes a try. It’ll be a treat!
Angela
Oh, and, it is my great joy to introduce the Yoga Matrika community to one of our newest instructors, Angela Scardina. Angela is originally from the rural hills around Kittanning PA. Her college and graduate studies focused on psychology, language and religion. She spent several years in NYC working to help young people and their families build communication skills and cultural understanding. Excited by the many reasons to integrate the discipline of yoga with her work, she was drawn to further her own practice and learn to share her love of yoga. She completed a 9 month certification course at Integral Yoga Institute in NYC. In addition to private instruction, she taught with Life in Motion, NYC Parks and Bent on Learning (a non-profit group that delivers yoga class to urban school teachers and students). She recently moved to Pittsburgh and now joins Yoga Matrika to deliver Hatha Yoga.
So, you might ask, what IS Hatha Yoga? Angela is a trained Integral Hatha Yoga practitioner and teacher. Integral Yoga is a slow, gentle practice for anyone of any age or condition. A unique sequence of poses that tone and strengthen, followed by deep relaxation, breathing practices and meditation. The class works with awareness and breath, and allows students time to get comfortable in a pose; fostering an individual experience that takes each student to her own limits, yielding maximum benefit and preventing injury.
The practice calms your body, breath, and mind, and leads you to realize the self within. Loving guidance from the instructor, helps you to you walk away after class, feeling peace and serenity.
This post was written by Sharon Rudyk, team leader at Yoga Matrika and a seeker of serenity wherever it might be found. Angela’s Hatha Yoga class is sounding pretty good right about now! The next time you are looking for a healing and wonderful yoga class and are in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, please come and join us at The Mat.
Cardio Yoga
I am absolutely delighted to announce that Aleta Howard will be joining the Yoga Community and offering her unique YBB (Yoga Booty Ballet) classes starting February 2nd and through the spring. What is YBB? On the schedule, we are calling it Cardio Yoga. If you think that “yoga” means traditional asana, then you might feel that YBB is more of an exercise class and wonder what it is doing on a yoga studio schedule.
Well, first of all, YBB combines some elements of Hatha yoga that will be recognizable to yogis who do have experience with more traditional yoga classes that are based on asana. Second, YBB includes yoga kriya from the Kundalini tradition and the creation and support of a personal intention is an important part of each and every class. Third, what is yoga? While this is a deeper issue that would require both a lifetime of examination and certainly a much more respectful examination than I can offer here, I would like to suggest that expressing the body with joy, opening and strengthening the heart and learning to hold an intention through an activity are most certainly yoga. It may not be what you have come to expect, but it might be just what you need!
Here is the official description of Yoga Booty Ballet from the creators of this style:
Yoga Booty Ballet is a fun, sexy and spirited workout that will leave you feeling refreshed and inspired. Work your body, engage your mind and lighten your spirit as you practice this East-meets-West amalgam of meditation, cardiovascular dance, ballet, Kundalini and hatha yoga.The results are immediate and long term. Students consistently complete class feeling better about themselves than when they arrive.
The meditation element serves to focus busy minds as well as awaken dull ones. The dance portion improves cardiovascular endurance, promoting weight loss and improved body composition. The ballet section increases strength and agility, building muscle and bone density. The yoga sections promote flexibility, balance and inner wellness. Classes are fun and easy to follow, designed to draw out individual self-expression in a comfortable, non-competitive environment.Various dance styles explored include jazz, hip hop, burlesque, Latin, Bollywood, go-go, and more.
Really, try one of these classes, at least once. For those readers who know me, you know that I am both directionally challenged and learning patterns of body movements is difficult for me. The first time I tried Aleta’s class, I was really nervous because I was truly afraid that I would get lost and not be able to fully participate. About 10-minutes into class I was having the time of my life. I was smiling and moving and sweating and truly enjoying the music and the joyful movements. Was I going right sometimes while everyone else went left? Yes, but, the truth is that it just didn’t matter. Aleta does not even suggest that there is a right or wrong way to do anything and she provides enthusiastic support for participating in this class in whatever way you are able. Once I released the pressure I was putting on myself through my own ego, this is when I started having fun.
Yoga Matrika provides a non-competitive and intimate environment where you can feel safe trying something new. If I didn’t think that Aleta was wonderful or that these classes weren’t a fabulous addition to our current offerings, then I wouldn’t be putting them on the schedule. Especially if you are looking for a class that will help with weight loss or weight management or you need to combine your yoga with your cardio workouts, then you are going to love this class.
When can you try our new Cardio Yoga classes with Aleta?
Friday Night Yoga Dance Parties
Friday, January 27
7:00-8:15 pm
Friday, February 24
7:00-8:15 pm
Friday, March 23
7:00-8:15 pm
Thursday nights, Starting February 2, 2012
5:30 to 6:45 pm
Saturday afternoons, Starting March 3, 2012
12:00 to 1:15 pm
Classes are $15 to drop-in or you can use your current class package. Packages are 4-classes for $50 or 8-classes for $80. We also offer a discounted student package of 5-classes for $35. Please enroll online to save your space. These special classes are going to be very popular and you don’t want to miss out!
Posted by Sharon Rudyk, Director of Yoga Matrika, an intimate space for yoga and healing work in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, PA. Come join us!