Anne and Lori Take on Berkeley (and arm balances and inversions)

Posted byLori Posted onJanuary 24, 2011 Comments14

This weekend was beautiful wasn’t it?! The sun was out (at least in my neck of the woods), the air warm(ish), and vitamin D was ready to be absorbed… And fear was ready to be tackled!

By fear, I mean, a 3.5 hour yoga workshop entitled, “Fight or Flight: Overcoming Fear to Conquer Inversions.” So naturally, we practiced arm balances and inversions, and the things that keep us from being able to freely flow–> fear.

Anne invited me to take on this challenge of a class with her in Berkeley, CA, and I gladly accepted. I’ve take a workshop on arm balances and inversions with the same instructor (before he was just the apprentice to the instructors) and it was incredible, so I knew this would be a great learning experience.

But before we get into the workshop, we must properly fuel our bodies… and take a look at all the pictures leading up to the workshop. πŸ˜‰

Anne and I found a cute little cafe where the mugs were big and the food smelled good, so we decided this would be our breakfast destination.

Giant Soy Chai for one. Me!
I have no idea why I look like I have man hands- I swear I don't... But the chai was GOOD.

Where the magic happens?

Anne’s dish of housemade granola with soy milk.

My meal of oats and fresh fruit. Perfect for pre-yogaing.

Then we hit up a candy store (among other shops) to temp ourselves. And no, we sustained from buying anything, but it was fun to look through.

After walking around a little part of Berkeley, wandering in and out of shops, it was finally time to head over for the yoga class!

The beauties before.

The beasts after! (with our… um… HOT instructor and our sweaty selves.)

Meet Brian Aganad. Yoga instructor extraordinaire. He can do amazing things with a handstand. Seriously. See for yourself:

And yes, he was fun to look at.

The workshop was incredible, of course. We started the class in a circle, introducing ourselves, telling everyone our background in yoga and one things that scared us. The thing that scares me is failure, so I have been working on being ok with not being perfect, and allowing myself to not do everything 100% correct (since I’m usually way off anyway. lol).

But since we were working on the techniques to conquer our fears of arm balances and handstands, we went through the different versions of a few poses and Brian explained how each and every asana (pose) in yoga is there for a purpose (and most arm balances lead to handstand). Again, the class met far beyond my expectations and I learned a lot. And left sweaty, sore, and STARVING.

A quote that Brian said, that really stuck with me, was, “The best things in life come unexpected.” How true is that? Not to mention, unexpectedly we found the best food in all of Berkeley, just by walking by trying to find some place to eat.

Best. Food. Ever.

Pedro’s Brazil Cafe. I’m telling you, if you go to Berkeley, you have to try this food. It’s cheap, freshly made (they even bake their own breads!), friendly service (we were greeted with free samples!), and omgsooooooooogood.

After waiting what seemed like forever since we were seriously about to eat our yoga mats, our food came…

I’m not going to lie, I ate this entire plate (and may or may not have ordered another one to go for “my boyfriend”)… (and I may or may not have eaten half of it when I got home 1.5 hours later- I was hungry!)

The Combo Mediterranean Plate: Chicken, carne asada, grilled onions, salad, hummus, creamy cilantro sauce, and fresh baked pita bread. Absolutely amazing flavors, and TONS of garlic. πŸ˜‰

Anne went with the veggie sandwich: Freshly baked bread, creamy cilantro sauce, greek olives, tons of veggies, avocado, and other amazing goodies.

Super blurry, but this is Anne, me, and B, Anne’s stowaway husband. πŸ˜‰ (he came with us and spent the day walking around the town- no yoga for him)

Just so you know, the Brazil Cafe is on University. πŸ˜‰

This sign could not be any more fitting for my life right now… neither could the meaning of the workshop. Fear and love. We all need to accept both. πŸ™‚

HAPPY MONDAY!

What old way of being is no longer serving you?

What are you learning?

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14 People reacted on this

  1. berkeley is so awesome! i love the vibe, the stores, the food. it’s fantastic but i rarely go! not sure why, as i live so close! that yoga instructor and that class may just motivate me to go… ;)!

  2. Inversions, wow, so cool!! Are you thinking of getting a yoga certification too?

    Those definitely don’t look like man hands, you have wee little fingers πŸ™‚ It just looks like a close up of lady hands!

    I’m so jealous of your day. Good food, friends, and yoga … the ultimate in fun and relaxation!
    .-= Alisa Fleming´s last blog ..Other Places … =-.

  3. hello yoga man! rawr!

    i am learning so much from my intergrative nutrition classes. it just makes so much sense to me. for the first time in awhile, everything seems to be falling into place and lining up nicely. i am also learning how to challenge myself in the weightlifting arena thanks to some tips from you!
    .-= kate´s last blog ..Ice Cream Basics =-.

  4. Mmm that yoga instructor is some serious eye candy. I’m not really much of a yoga person…but he could convince me otherwise!

    That Brazilian food looks amazing! My college roommate used to live right around there…next time I come visit SF I’m convincing her that we need to go!
    .-= Joanne´s last blog ..Roasted Pumpkin- Wild Rice and White Bean Salad with a Ginger Sunflower Seed DressingEatLiveBe for a Better 2011! =-.

  5. Sounds like a divine yoga experience with an amazing instructor. πŸ˜›

  6. Sounds like a wonderful yoga class. I cannot wait to the day I can do a headstand. Slowly gaining my faith in myself with yoga. And sure wish I had a instructor like him…NICE!

  7. Dude I LOVE that super hungry that comes after a really great workout! It’s especially great when it’s food that someone else cooked!!! It feels so rewarding and so necessary!!!

    Totally agree with the unexpected… I was singing the Stones’ “You can’t always get what you want…” in my head as I walked to work today… thinking that the truth in that song is the punchline… “But if you try sometimes, you get what you need.” Whenever I come across an obstacle in my life, that’s what I think – there’s something in this that I NEED.

    Weird, but it keeps the sun shining inside my head. πŸ™‚
    .-= fartygirl´s last blog ..Flax Chips and Discount to Ecolissa! =-.

  8. that is one FABULOUS weekend. Yoga always leaves me hungry and relaxed at the same time. And 3.5 hours would have made me HANGRY. hehe.
    .-= Lindsay Cotter´s last blog ..Spice my Life =-.

  9. I don’t know why, but that soy chai sounds SO good to me right now. I’m not even a chai person, normally.

    What a crazy-tempting candy store! Resisting must’ve been TOUGH.

    Kudos to you for finishing that looong yoga class. Damn!
    .-= Amber Shea @Almost Vegan´s last blog ..P90X Week Three- hearty winter meals =-.

  10. 3.5 hours of yoga?!?! I would have died.

    I would have ordered a couple plates right up front too.

    And the candy store??!?!? I am so impressed that you resisted. You are a better woman than I.
    .-= Katie´s last blog ..Yesterday happened =-.

  11. You go to so many awesome restaurants! I am jealous! Your meals looked delicious. Especially that mexican-ish dish. Love the yoga-ing too. πŸ™‚
    .-= Katie´s last blog ..i rule at breakfast =-.

  12. Holy moly. That instructor coiuld have motivated me to clean up dog poop! Wowzers.
    .-= Kat´s last blog ..Football Sunday! =-.

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