Laughing Sun Hot Yoga - South Austin's ONLY Exclusively Hot Yoga Studio IS OPEN!

Nothing is sweeter than the manifestation of a dream come true - except for maybe the sweet anticipation and visualization of the dream before it becomes reality. I enjoyed visualizing this studio for almost a year, seeing it grow and shift and change in my mind, each picture as beautiful as the last, like the shifting panes of a kaleidescope. But nothing matches the satisfaction of sitting here in the studio, on this beautiful Wednesday morning in Austin, Texas. The door is open to let the soft spring breeze blow in, I've just finished workshopping a class with one of my wonderful teachers, and I'm here. Laughing Sun Yoga is here. Life is so magnificent.

We've been open for a week now. We had our first classes on March 3, 2010, and have classes every day except for Sundays (for now). Right now we're running on a limited schedule for March, and will have an expanded schedule come April. The website went LIVE on Monday of this week: www.LaughingSunYoga.net, and you can go to the website for the schedule and for our class descriptions, as well as for our rates. We've got the best rates in town of any hot yoga studio, including some really incredible specials.

But what really excites me the most is the yoga. It's such a dream come true to teach in my own studio. I am a Bikram certified teacher, and I taught, and loved, Bikram yoga for seven years. I still love the series, still love teaching it, but I found that for me, I needed a change. I needed the heat: if it's not hot, I'm not happy! I needed the lineage: I love the alignment and the structure and the body positions in Bikram yoga, I love how Bikram yoga opens the shoulders and the hips; I love identifying a Bikram yogi by the grace in their shoulders, especially in postures like Standing Bow and Triangle.

What I needed, in short, was Jimmy Barkan. You can check out Jimmy's site: www.BarkanMethod.com. Jimmy was Bikram's senior teacher for almost 20 years before he found that he, too, needed a change and yet he wanted to honor the lineage and the teachings of Bikram's guru, Bishnu Ghosh, as well as the teachings of Bishnu Ghosh's brother, Paramahansa Yogananda, who was the founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship (in Austin http://www.yogananda-srf.org/) and author of "Autobiography of a Yogi." Jimmy takes the foundation of Bikram Yoga and keeps that foundation pure, and he expands on the practice by drawing more postures from the lineage (Bishnu Ghosh did not just teach 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises), as well as incorporating some postures and teachings from the other, main lineage of what is known in the West as "Yoga," the Krishnamacharyan lineage, from which comes Iyengar, Ashtanga, and most other "hatha" yoga. Jimmy has studied far and wide, and created a method of yoga that is spiritual, physical, challenging, potent, and deep. I am incredibly honored to be the first and only studio in Austin to be affiliated with Jimmy - and not just in Austin, but the first studio in Texas.

One of the joys of being a Barkan-method studio is the freedom it gives. No longer limited to a series of postures, or to a series of words, I have the freedom to customize the classes to the individuals who are attending. So even though the class description may say "Intermediate," for example, if there are people in class who aren't quite ready for the Intermediate class, I can dial back. The class may be "Basic," but if there are people in the class who are ready to go further, I can introduce new postures or refinements. Yesterday, we had the most delicious 9.30am class - after a challenging and powerful standing series, I could feel that everyone in the room was ready for something different in the floor, so instead of continuing on my usual path, the floor series changed into a Yin Yoga practice, where we held the postures for a very long time and worked deep into the hips and spine. Everyone walked out like they were floating on a cloud, drunk with yogic bliss. I love this freedom to be completely responsive to the students in the room, to pay more attention to the individual bodies and spirits who have joined me to practice than to any specific words and postures. What joy to put hot sweaty bodies into Pigeon Pose and watch the hips' tension just melt! What joy to introduce variations - to bind Bikram's Triangle, to flow the balancing sequence, to enjoy the opportunities of each class, each student, each posture!

I am enjoying this experience and this studio more than I have ever enjoyed teaching anywhere, in all of my career. Everything I imagined has come to pass. And my vision for its future is limitless. Just as we are all eternal, beautiful and blissful beings, so my vision for what is possible as a result of this sacred little space is eternal, beautiful and blissful. I look forward to all of our futures blending together.

namaste

rebecca