Saturday, October 12, 2013

Dancing my way through New York City


My trip to NYC was so inspiring, filled with excitement, new pathways of living out loud and moving.
Did I ever move!!  If I wasn’t running from one studio to another I was dancing my way through the hotel lounge.
What were the days like?
As soon as I got settled into my hotel, which was by far one of the coolest places I’ve stayed, The Gramercy Park Hotel on the park.  Yep and they have a key to the park.  I put my yoga clothes on and got at it!  Went to OM Factory in Union Square for Breakti yoga class.  That is break dance and yoga mixed together.  Super cool ways to move and transition around the mat in circular mandala movements.  Arm balances are on 3 points instead of two, which means on your head at times.  This sequencing got me out of my head and into my funky body.  I was able to access springing up onto hands effortlessly just by changing the weight of my legs.  Who knew!  I was already inspired to get out of my routine.
This is the reason why I went to NYC.  Be a part of the creative, pulsating, vibrant city that’s started most everything.  As the saying goes, “if you make it there, you’ll make it anywhere”. 
The design of my schedule was very thorough and calculated.  I have been researching studios for years to watch what the latest trends are from LA to NYC.  I had my list of 10 and only 3 full days to cover. You can say I was very ambitious.  Especially when I love to dance and be a part of the vibrant nightlife.  Calendar set with 3 classes a day!  Well let’s say I got to 2.
The 1st full day I honestly slept in.  I arrived in NYC tired and sore from my long days in Tampa trying to push all my clients together, workouts with clients, classes, etc.  So the rest was needed.  However, so excited to get to one, I headed to Crunch Fitness for K Motion Koncepts, a dance cardio class.  Disappointed when I signed in that the schedule was different.  Hey, go with the flow since I teach “flow”.  I found myself in an aerial stretch class bored and certainly not sweating to the music.  If I remember right, Belinda Carlisle was playing.  Wtf?! 
I gently tiptoed to my bag after 20 min and looked at my calendar.  There was another class about to start a mile away.  Yep, I ran to the next class.  Not sure how many city blocks but it was a great warm up.  Signed in to Body by Simone http://www.bodybysimone.com/ for the best dance cardio class I’ve ever taken.  When I walked into the room of about 25 people, I saw 3 women from Tampa!  One of them happened to be my very first neighborhood girlfriend at 13 years old!  They were doing the same thing I was, getting inspired and bringing it back to Tampa.  There is no such thing as coincidence.  Synchronicity!!!  We were all so excited.  Then the dancing began.  BOOM!
Endorphins kicked in, drenched in sweat, now its time to go out on the town.  Luckily the best spot was at my hotel lounge/bar.  The best DJ house music mixed with a little disco set my body moving right back to the beat.  A few more hours of movement won’t hurt?  4inch heels, no problem.  Until the next day…the feet were a little tender.  But you got to take advantage of the energy from the city and the dynamics of the place.
The following day I had set time aside for a private dance cardio session with the competitor of BBS, AKT Inmotion http://www.wellandgoodnyc.com/2013/01/21/dancing-queen-anna-kaiser-prepares-to-open-a-dance-cardio-studio/# Anna Kaiser, the trainer to Kelly Rippa and many other known celebs.  I was excited, anxious, and curious.  The instructor was absolutely adorable young woman with a serious background in dance and theater.  She actually is in the musical Mamma Mia in the eves and teaches during the day. 
Strangely the private session was in a studio set within a day care center.  I am thinking, this is NYC and space is priceless so here we go.  We started with a fast warm up to super loud music and we were sweating within 5 min.  Then the routine began, and continued for a good 30 minutes of new movements, sequences, and all memorization.  I began to feel frustrated and totally out of my element.  As much as I love to dance, remembering the steps has always been challenging for me.  And at this moment I was overwhelmed.  I wanted to stop, slow it down, and honestly, simplify the whole thing.  Thought to myself, “how can most people follow this type of routine, especially in a large class?  Am I that uncoordinated?”
Then the funny part happens.  A woman from the day care center walks in and says there is a schedule conflict and we have 30 children waiting outside for a music lesson to happen in the same room.  We had to leave.  The daycare center scrambled and after 15 minutes of wandering around we ended up in a small office/children’s playroom to finish the 2nd half of the routine.  The music had gone from a booming surround sound system, to a one-speaker tiny iPod dock with no base.  Hilarious.  Now this is going with the flow.  And I felt terrible for my instructor because she had never had this happen and was so embarrassed.  I assured her stuff like this has happened to me and we will do our best to keep moving.  But I really wanted to stop.  Similar to being in a pose that’s uncomfortable so you just give up. 
We practiced the entire sequence from the top and I had totally forgotten the “top”, in fact didn’t even remember the bottom.  My legs and feet were cooked and all I could do was ask for core or child’s pose.  The lesson was over.  Ha-ha.
It takes time for me to integrate the new movements and imprint it into my body.  This experience gave me such insight to how many people feel in a new yoga class, instructor, or new sequences in class.  It was awesome to feel confused and irritated.  All it is is a feeling, just an experience that is not permanent or life threatening.   This is how yoga affects the mind off the mat.
Ready to blow off some of frustration, a little retail therapy always excites me.  The very first Sweaty Betty retail shop in the US was next door!  OMG some of the best yoga clothing I’ve ever seen.  And down stairs was an adorable studio offering classes with Body by Simone!  Synchronicity again.  Especially when the sales woman was from Tampa!  Ha-ha
To put my real dancing skills to the test, I had a “mad” concert to go to that night with some new friends.  “Zed is Dead” Fest with Paper Diamond.  The concert was held in a terminal building with multiple stories.  Basically it was like the rave’s I used to attend when I was in college.  Almost 20 years later and I still have the energy and love for the scene, music, and dancing.  My new young and fabulous girlfriend got us all access VIP tickets to roam the fest including backstage and hang with the DJ’s.  I was in heaven you could say.  Especially since I just saw Paper Diamond at Bonoroo!
Play hard, work hard, I was up for the next day of exploring the NY fitness scene.  It was my last day to play so I sat down and studied my schedule and the list of sites online.  My heart wanted to go back to Body by Simone simply because the experience there was so great.  And I really wanted to try the bands hanging from the wall!  Took another jog over from Gramercy to upper Chelsea for a strength and sculpt class.  Perfect selection since my legs and feet were absolutely exhausted from all the dancing the last 3 days.  Loved the bands on wall, very similar to Tracy Anderson Method.  Just another creative way to move and sculpt the body getting out of the box of weights and machines. 
After this class I finally felt satisfied with my efforts of learning on this trip.  Of course I didn’t get enough yoga in, but one just can’t do it all.  And Lord knows I try. 
The lessons and overall experience:
To be a student again and again challenges me in mentally, emotionally, and physically.  There is never a time when I stop learning and experiencing.  I love to dive into change for it fosters growth and expansion.  This is what I teach and live.  Where there is contraction like the movements between poses.  When you draw your core in to protect the whole body in movement.  When you contract to protect your self from pain emotionally or physically.  Then the expansion of the full expression of a pose when all the pathways of movement/prana are flowing.  The expansion of yourself when you are involved in creativity, learning, and growth.  The expansion of vulnerability.  Expansion of falling in love. These are all part of living fully and authentically.  Can you be with both the contraction and expansion without judging, analyzing, or putting it into a box?  Yes I can.  And I can support others on their own journey and process of the same thing.  For know one else’s journey or experience is my business.  We are all here as vibrant beings having a human experience.  So get out of your comfort zone, routine, box, whatever you call it and LIVE out LOUD.  MOVE your body, mind, and lead from your spirit, where the truth of you desires to MOVE.

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