Level II-III May 1, 2008

This live audio consists of an intermediate-to-advanced class led by Iyengar trained yoga instructor John Schumacher. At 90 minutes this is shorter than Schumacher\'s Level III classes, yet it still features the practice of advanced postures including handstand, forearm balance, and headstand. Furthermore, Schumacher uses only Sanskrit terminology to cue the poses, so a solid familiarity with Sanskrit is needed in order to follow along with this class.Schumacher takes his time to set up the class, allowing his students to get comfortable in basic postures such as downward-facing dog pose. The inversions are practiced early on, including a long hold of headstand and variations. However, the heart of this class lies in the long series of core-focused poses which compose the entire middle segment of the practice. Schumacher leads his students through many different repetitions of and variations on boat, locust, and bow postures, thoroughly activating and strengthening the core of the body. Finishing postures for this class include shoulderstand and plow, and then the practice concludes with a luxuriously lengthy (16 minutes) savasana; Schumacher spends some time setting up this relaxation before allowing the class to rest in silence.Throughout the class session, Schumacher continuously provides his students with information on alignment, in the form of both general reminders as well as specific adjustments made to individual class participants. He clearly has established a strong rapport with his students: he calls them each by name, sometimes gently chiding them but always being available to help with a good deal of humor in his voice. Overall, this is a nice class for intermediate and above students who are interested in a core-focused practice.