Shine On Yoga – Orlando
Posted: April 5, 2011 Filed under: Dinners, Snackage, Yoga 11 Comments »
Does Groupon know how to hook a girl up or what?
Yoga for not even $1 a day? Just the deal I needed to bring me to my first Orlando yoga studio after going over a month without attending a single class.
Monday evening after work I headed over to Shine On for a Level 2 yoga class.
The studio was tucked into a cluster of buildings in a small neighborhood only a few minutes from downtown (and my apartment!)
After presenting my Groupon, I settled into a spot near the center of the cozy studio and relaxed in child’s pose until the session began.
The Yoga 2 class at Shine On was a perfect segue back into my regular practice – none of the poses required an advanced level of flexibility or balance, but I was able to get deep enough into the postures to feel the benefit of the stretches. I walked away feeling lighter and more open than I had in weeks! I’m definitely looking forward to attending the Vinyasa Flow and Yoga 3 classes for a bigger challenge. They even offer a Healing Belly Dancing class – I’m still on the fence about that one!
Prior to the class, I squeezed in a quick dinner: dandelion greens, tomato and walnut salad topped with a liberal squeeze of 365 Organic Honey Mustard.
Dandelion greens are one of the less common dark leafy greens on the market, yet I snagged them for just $1 at Clemon’s.
While dandelion greens are less “rough” than kale, they are similar in flavor – slightly bitter, with a bit more “punch” than run-of-the-mill lettuce. The Whole Foods honey mustard (one of my all-time favorite honey mustards!) gave just the right touch of sweetness to balance out their semi-strong taste!
The salad filled me up until after class, when I made a green monster as a small snack. The class wasn’t what I would call “strenuous,” but I still enjoyed a little after-exercise fuel.
I kept it simple with a banana, frozen blackberries, spinach, almond milk and a single scoop of Vanilla Bourbon Tera’s Whey.
Even though I wasn’t tired after the class, I slept like a baby. The session was very restorative(although I could definitely have done without the drawn-out crystal bowl therapy during savasana!) and it made me extra sleepy!
This morning, however, I could really feel the rejuvenating after-effects. I’m ready to tackle my Tuesday!
What is your ideal yoga class like? Hot and sweaty? Calm and meditative? Challenging or relaxing?
Statements and Questions
Posted: January 11, 2011 Filed under: Blog Updates, Lunches, Yoga 6 Comments »Statement: Jimmy Johns is crap.
(Good evening to you, by the way. Surely there was a more tactful way to begin this post but I am still bitter about today’s waste of a lunch.)
The quality of the sandwich was about on par with the quality of my cell phone picture. Skimpy avocado spread, 80 cent upcharge for wheat bread, three lousy vegetable choices? Jimmy Johns, I’m going to need you to have a better vegetarian option.
Question: Orlando residents/visitors: What are your favorite vegetarian-friendly restaurants in the area? Bonus points if they’re downtown!
Statement: I adore the lat pull down machine.
Question: What are your favorite at-home ab exercises? I hardly ever do ab work, and I really need to change that!
Statement: Pizza makes a wonderful post-gym snack. Especially when you’re so hungry it feels like your legs are hollow because no matter how much food you get into your stomach, you just. aren’t. full.
Statement: Bikram yoga is perhaps the most boring workout I’ve ever done. Although it was challenging – especially for my quadriceps – I couldn’t stay focused on the series (especially the second time going through it!) I suppose I’m more of a power flow/ashtanga kind of yogini!
Question: Are you aware of any Orlando yoga studios offering introductory specials for new students? Orlando Power Yoga has a 40 days for 40 dollars special that I’m really interested in, but I’d love to hear about any other options out there!
Question: Those of you who have successfully switched a blog from wordpress to self-hosted on your own: is it really that hard? And what is this hosting business that wordpress wants $20/month for? Do I need to pay for hosting if I purchase my own domain? If I’m not incredibly technologically savvy, will I be in over my head?
Question: Those of you who live in an apartment: What sort of utility bills do you pay? I don’t need monetary amounts, I just want to compile a list so that in the event that I decide to move to Orlando in the near future, I’m able to budget ahead of time.
Statement: I gotta peace out. The new season of Tosh.0 premieres tonight and The Coach is headed over to watch it. I known well enough by now that I’m going to need to have food ready when he gets here, otherwise I’ll be dragged around the aisles of Publix in frantic search for couscous ingredients and/or ice cream.
G’night!
