YogaCreations

 "Sometimes Yoga Sleuth needs to squeeze in his practice between other commitments (like food and sleep). On a recent Monday with less than an hour to spare, I found the perfect fix in the Yoga Effects Lunchtime Express class led by the effervescent Sara Nicole Baxley.

I set up my mat, blue in a sea of red rentals, in the air-conditioned Asana room. With a smile that stayed on her lips throughout class, Sara Nicole promptly had the 20 of us on our hands and knees, reaching our right arms to the window while stretching our left legs to the door. We rotated our limbs left, right and back to center to limber up for the work to come.

Louisiana-born Sara Nicole is certified in the mega-core strength method of Sadie Nardini, and in our brief time on the mat we worked that core to its edges. After blasting through Sun A we moved into awkward chair. Sarah Nicole urged us to use our work in the pose as a time to ponder and conquer our life struggles. After three deep breaths we lowered our sit bones to sink into boat pose—our “go-to” pose for the class. Sarah Nicole deftly juggled performing the Asana and its variations herself while keeping an eye on the class and pointing out how each muscle should be working and feeling—even the Psoas muscle got a shout-out. We moved down to half-boat and repeated the sequence several times. “In half-boat you shouldn’t be a loaf-of bread,” Sarah Nicole said. “Think more flat, like a Matzo or a Saltine cracker!” After a while the whole class was grunting and groaning but we stuck with it just for the reward: a cheery “Good, you guys!” from our spirited teacher.

After pressing down on my wayward back foot to ground it in Warrior I, Sarah Nicole led us into an extended side angle with the added challenge of reaching both arms to the front. Then we returned to awkward chair, our “seat of contemplation,” before coming down into a squat and then a sustained version of crow pose. The ab work we had done paid off: my fellow yogis and I held the difficult balance much longer than before. We finished off the class with a sequence of triangle pose to half moon to bird of paradise before culminating in a choice of head or shoulder stand. A quick Savasana and we were out the door before we could say Namaste, amazed that we had gotten such a thorough and invigorating practice in just 50 minutes.!"

Yoga Sleuth