Deep Hip Opening with Lori McAlister

Yoga Sleuth heard that Lori McAlister taught interesting and creative vinyasa classes, so on a cold night I headed over to check out her class myself. When I arrived a lovely woman checked me in and I found my way to the front studio to set up my mat. 

The room was cozy with dim lighting, a fireplace and exposed brick walls. I found a spot in the middle of the room and I watched as seven other students entered the room. Several exchanged friendly greetings, so I got the impression that they were regulars to Lori's class.

Lori entered the room, said hello and asked us to get started on our backs with thread the needle. This gentle hip stretch always feels good to me! Lori switched on some music setting a relaxed and energized tone for the class. We then positioned ourselves in Supta Baddha Konasana, one hand on our heart and one hand on our belly. Lori asked us to shut our eyes and connect with our breath.
  After about a minute, we moved into Supta Upavistha Konasana and then rolled up to Sukhasana for three powerful OMs. Next up, cat and cow on the breath, warming up the spine and then lifting into our first Downward Facing Dog.  Lori told us to move around in dog pose, bending one knee and then the other, swaying our hips and finding our pose.
  She walked around the room and adjusted various students, really spending time to help each person find more in the pose. I felt lucky to have received an incredibly lengthening adjustment; it felt like she used her entire body to grow my spine four inches longer!  
Lori continued giving us specific verbal instructions as well, pointing out internal rotation in three legged dog and external rotation when we opened the hip. As the sequence progressed we prepared for deeper hip openers.

The class began to speed up with the first vinyasa, then Ardha Vashistasana, Vashistasana, Warrior II, to Ardha Chandrasana, three legged plank to yet more vinyasas, wild thing to wheel, lizard to pigeon, and Bekasana (frog pose). The hips kept stretching, moving, opening! I reminded myself to not think about the tricky transitions or if I could do each pose, but rather just to have fun and keep exploring.
We settled into Tadasana at the top of our mats and moved through Surya Namaskar A as Lori called out each breath. Then she had us do four more rounds on our own, ensuring us that if anyone felt uncertain she was happy to guide them, though I don't think their were any beginners in this class!

Lori again circled the room with an eye on everyone's alignment, adjusting and helping people when necessary. We moved on to Surya Namaskar B, Warrior I, Warrior II, Triangle, Reverse Warrior and then a series including Ardha Hanumanasana, Parsvakonasana, and Parivrtta Parsvakonasana, finally making our way to sit.
Lori took us through a series of seated poses that opened our hips even more. I found myself struggling with my tight hips and hamstrings in Upavistha Konasana. Lori came to my rescue with a deep adjustment. She placed her stomach on my back and with each breath I was able to move myself closer to the floor and extend my spine. It felt liberating. Lori gave us the option of Visvamitrasana, which felt too complicated for my tired body at this point, but I went for the encore of peak poses, Zen straddle split!  
Winding down, we made our way back to Supta Baddha Konasana just like the start of class. My hips certainly felt open and it was nice to be surprised and challenged by Lori's creative sequence. Time had zipped by and the environment was very encouraging.  To close the practice we lifted ourselves to sit and chanted OM together one final time.
You can find Lori teaching creative and fun vinyasa classes at Sonic Yoga and the new Kula Yoga Project in Williamsburg. Expect to expand yourself both physically and mentally! 

– Margie Suvalle for Yoga Sleuth

Get Your Lunchtime Flow on with Lori McAlister

On a scorching Tuesday morning, I made my way to Sonic Yoga for a lunchtime yoga pick-me-up. I was a bit hesitant: I'd been fighting a migraine for several days and wasn't sure how downdog and I were going to get along for the day. 

But Lori quickly put my fears to rest. As soon as students began to trickle into the space, she put on some soothing yoga music to set the mood. Before she started class she asked if there were any injuries, a gesture that gave her immediate brownie points with Sleut

We began with some ab work. I was a little jarred that there wasn't an opening meditation or even a moment to focus on our breath, but it was obvious Lori was determined to give us as much of a workout as she could squeeze into the hour-long class.

After our ab work we transitioned to down dog where Lori gave me a great adjustment, helping me lift my hips and lengthen my spine to take weight off my wrists. Directly from down dog we flowed through a challenging and unique sequence that began with a folded Parsvottanasana variation to stretch our hamstrings. From there we worked several low lunge variations including one where we "sliced the air with our arms" to reach one arm forward and one arm back while twisting to the side.

Soon we were using our ab power to bring ourselves from low lunge into standing splits. Lori suggested we imagine a string attached around our big toe that gently pulled our leg up towards the ceiling. Once we lifted our legs as high as we could, Lori instructed us to plant our palms on the mat and practice hopping into handstand. It took Sleuth a moment to navigate the particulars of getting into handstand from standing split, but I soon got the hang of it and successfully attempted a few good hops.

After a tricky flow of Padangustasana to Garudasana and folding warrior I, we came to Tadasana and took a much-needed pause to return to our breath. A few sun salutations later we were flowing through the same sequence again - this time a little faster.  By then end of the sequence, my clothes were more than damp and I had long forgotten about my migraine.

A long shoulderstand served as our final cooling pose. After one last detoxifying twist I settled into Savasana where I didn't move until I absolutely had to.

Drop-ins at Sonic Yoga are $18.

– Allison Richard for Yoga Sleuth