The Yoga Project in New York City - Sonic Yoga, Hell's Kitchen

Since I arrived, I've been trying to find out which yoga studio is right for me. New York is a real mecca for the practice, with its big free classes in Bryant Park, The Yoga to People movement and the fancy gyms. But, to me, the best practices are hard to find. Like sex, you have to be involved, sweat enough -just enough- and finish it feeling better than when it started. As I search for my yoga studio, I invite you to come with me. I'm very far from being an expert and only have been practicing in the last 14 months. Still can't do a headstand by myself or anything that requires that I lift my legs in the air on the side of my body, like that:

The first studio I visited in this experience was found during a search on Yelp for the best option in Hell's Kitchen, where I live and work. Sonic Yoga occupies 2 floors on a dirty walk up building on 9th avenue, followed by grocery stores and people drinking margheritas at the multiple mexican restaurants nearby. Came in the last minute, paid the USD18 drop-in + USD1 for renting a mat. The teacher was Lori, a blonde, tall e fit lady. I have to confess that in my first time, I never trust a teacher. She/he has to win me over in two very important points:

The class has a flow: how many practices have you attended where the movements don't seem to make any sense or you start to estimulate one part of your body followed by another and things don't link. As a dinner or a date, a class has to flow :)

The class has the right amount of difficulty: nothing bores me more than an easy class.

Lori wasn't energetic or positive, but she knew what she was doing. I finished the class feeling stretched and sleepy, which is always a good sensation after a tough day at work.

Sonic Yoga Entrance

People hanging out after class

The studio at night


Where to go:
Sonic Yoga
754 9th Avenue # 2
New York, NY 10019-8419
(212) 397-6344
Rating: Good

Update on my life - for the few of you interested on it!

I have been pretty bad on maintaining this blog. Life has been hard in the big Apple. I was trying to catch up on work, which is extremely fun and difficult, while training for a half Ironman. I did the race but the result was a disaster. You need your mind more than your body and it was painful to realize it while I ran between the wineries of Napa Valley without being able to see its beauty. Lesson learned. I am fucking back to business!

10 Things I love about my new job at R/GA in New York

1. Nobody arrives before 9AM, as it should be to normal human beings.
2. Engaging in social media activity is encouraged at R/GA. It's great to see a company that is not afraid of its employees creativity!
3. Coffee is not free, but the USD 1 charged for your latte is 100% donated to charities.
4. Everyone is s-m-a-r-t!
5. The HR guy was fun and unpolitically correct, a very gooooood sign.
6. I will have to buy a new wardrobe to look cool as the designers or fancy as the planners.
7. There's a huge purple Yahoo! chair on the HR floor, reminding me I'm back to the real internet world.
8. People send emails with the subject line: You like x-box? We want you.
9. Everyday there's an interesting class or speech at the R/GA University. Not your thing? Try yoga in the office on tuesdays.
10. We're in the middle of Hell's Kitchen and its tons of restaurants. Also, Corporate Communications lets you know when there's a good food truck around the corner. That's definitely my type of people!

The postings on this site are my own thoughts and opinions and do not necessarily represent the positions, strategies or opinions of
R/GA or its clients.

Moving to New York is such a bad idea

How many articles were already written about moving to New York, what to do, what not to do and most importantly, how to adapt to your new nasty minuscule apartment. I am depressed. First, I have to find a place with no broker fees. Than, I have to decide if I either have a sofa or a dining table. What kind of life is that? And this all paying 30% more of my current apartment, which is gorgeous and I can fit a dinner table and a sofa -as it should be.


$3155 / 2br - HUGE 2 BR IN A NICE CLEAN BLDG, NEW KITCH& 1 BATH/ROOF&TERRACE - (Murray Hill) pic apts by owner

My personal Juice fast - Day 2

Wanna know what is it like NOT to have your cup of coffee on day 2? Headache, bad mood, kind of nausatead. The plan today was to run 30 minutes easy, followed by mango with protein and have the same potato/carrot/beet soup from the other day for lunch. Survived the morning. Between running errands and having my eyebrows done, got a Naked Green juice (they all taste the same) and headed to White Rock Lake where I did a 20 mile bike ride. Once home, spinach and eggs was my solid option. My legs needed it!

Cheating: had one coconut macaroon and 2 prunes!

My personal Juice fast - Day 1

Diets comes and goes. The one in vogue nowadays is the juice fast, because is supposedly the best thing to cleans your body and mind from all the shit we eat. After 3 weeks in Europe eating salami, cheese and wine -and mainly not fitting on any european decent size clothes- I decided that it was time for a reconnection between the beautiful me and the size 4 I have to be.

My main problems with a juice fast:

- I'm training for a 70.3 Ironman and trying to exercise 2/3 hours a day with only juice wasn't gonna happen.
- I hate the idea of only having something sweet over and over again
- I don't own a juicer!

Solutions

- I would still throw in some gels, shakes for recovery and an occasional solid food if I felt weak.
- Instead of 4 meals being a juice, one of them would be a creamy soup. Without any cream, of course.
- I could only do anything that used a blender, one of my favorite tools in the kitchen.

As I imagined, day 1 was FUCKING hard, even being considered a moderately healthy person. When you go from a diet of eggs-rice-chicken-wine-salad-cheese-occasional-chocolates to ONLY vegetables and fruits, your body will complain. Had a banana-strawberry for breakfast, just after my track run and ran to YMCA pool. For lunch: carrot/potato soup for lunch and snacked on a mango/cucumber juice followed by a 7PM yoga. Is this day over yet?!

Juice diet to begin: because I ate EVERYTHING in Europe

Anytime I eat too much, which is very frequent, I try to do something drastic. I know. Not ideal. In order to start a juice diet you should be detoxifying your body from all the other shit you have been eating, so that the contrast is not that much. But, what's the fun with that? So today I had pasta with bresaola and 1 liter of olive oil for lunch. But dinner, baby.. will most likely contain kale with cucumber juice. Stay tuned!

Is this the new title?

I know. It has been a long time since I last wrote here. I moved to Dallas, enjoyed some heat and meat, was amazed by twitter and its 140 characters. But I believe there is more to say. Now in english! Welcome back.