What: Yoga Unplugged
When: Saturday, June 23 @ 4:00pm
Where: 889 at the Thompson (550 Wellington St. West)
Who: Michael DeCorte

 

I found a new love one Saturday afternoon on top of the Thompson roof top. It was going to be another Team In Training run in the morning, yoga in the afternoon kind of Saturday, but this Saturday will forever be different than any other. For I discovered Jock Yoga and Michael DeCorte.  My new found love comes in three forms: Jock Yoga, Michael DeCorte and Madonna! When blended together (with just the right amount of each) makes for one ultimate yoga experience.

And that is exactly what happened this faithful Saturday on June 23rd.

Ever since Cecilley and my first yoga roof top experience I was counting down the days to the next class. Madonna infused Jock Yoga — how could I miss that!? As luck would have it, Cecilley and I were actually not running late this time. This was a good thing because I would NOT miss this class, even if it killed me. I was prepared to die either getting there or in the actual class. With the name Jock Yoga this was not going to be easy and I was mentally preparing all day long.

For all the yogis out there ready to amp up the endurance level on your practice, Michael is just the man to see. I was blown away, not only the amount of planks, flows and side bends we did to the point my shoulders felt like jelly, but the fact Michael has an incredible physical sence to each pose he instructed. The crazy thing is you don’t notice it until your in it. When that that “eureka” moment hits and you just know and think “Ya, this is how it’s suppose to feel.” My eyes usually pop when this happens, and in my head I’m like “Whoa.” You don’t notice it until that point because Michael does an excellent job distracting you with a million plank style flows in between each series.

I honestly felt each hip rotation, each shoulder movent and each bend, in that “new to yoga” way, something I wasn’t expecting nor have felt in a while. For me, when I hear the word Jock I think a really hard class and not necessarily attention to mechanics. Don’t be fooled this was a very active class! I was tired out afterwards and I do yoga a lot (in case you don’t know that). Michael, you are one Jock Yoga Man genius.

This class was special for a number of reasons – my friend Michelle from Moksha Downtown came for her first Yoga Unplugged experience and so did Madonna (not in person, obviously, although doing yoga with Madonna would be amazing!). We vogued, we flowed through the Ray of Light, and stretched to the sky during Like a Prayer.  And that’s only a touch of what we did. If you don’t appreciate Madonna now, you will after doing a jock warrior sequence to Vogue (this may have been the highlight of the class for me). Or just watch one of Madonna’s world tour concerts when she comes out on stage in a headstand. She is truly a yogi and a jock. I will be the exact same. One day.

This was another jam packed class, and Michael owned it. He taught to each of us individually and his instructions were bang-on. And being the super challenging class that it was, I was not once afraid or felt any desire to hold back. I wanted to push myself and had the confidence to go there. This is where Michael’s teachings really shined. Being the Jock Yoga Guy, there was zero ego, only support. I loved the feeling of wanting to power though and rock this class. And knowing afterwards Michael even spotted Michelle in amongst the giant class, made me very happy.

I had to feel bad for the 40 people turned away, they (along with everyone else on the planet!) missed one awesome yoga experience. Like I said last week you have to arrive early!

Michael began the class by introducing his two favourite things – yoga and Madonna. These are now two of my three!