Greener Postures Yoga

For our Maine weekend getaway, Dave and I knew we wanted to relax.  This means sleeping in, canoe rides, runs along a tree-lined road, reading, good eats, and for me, yoga.  I brought my mat with the intention of practicing near the lake, but quickly realized if I was going to get what I really wanted out of it, I needed to find a studio.

Enter Greener Postures Yoga. 

Greener Postures is located in South Portland, just over the bridge from Local Sprouts Café where we ate yesterday.  I found GP on yelp where it got raving reviews as the best yoga studio in Portland. 

It was also one of the few studios around that offered a Vinyasa flow on Sunday morning.  Sold. 

I really like flow yoga because it allows me to get my heart rate up and break a sweat while still enjoying the breathing and stretching aspects of yoga. 

According to About.com Vinyasa yoga is

a term that covers a broad range of yoga classes. The word Vinyasa means “breath-synchronized movement.” In other words, the teacher will instruct you to move from one pose to the next on an inhale or an exhale. This technique is sometimes also called Vinyasa Flow, or just Flow because of the smooth way that the poses run together and become like a dance.

Before heading to Greener Postures, Dave and I went on a run around Sebago Lake.  It was a cool, crisp fall morning – one where my ears got cold and my breath was visible.  My legs haven’t seen hills like these is quite a while.  It was a beautiful morning indeed.

After our run, I went in search of Greener Postures.

A bright and airy entrance was where I paid my $15 drop-in fee and stashed my shoes.  This bench in front reminded me of Thailand. 

I took a quick peak around the studio, before dropping my mat and getting ready to flow.  At 11 on the dot, our instructor began leading us through our series. 

Have I mentioned yet that the room was heated?  It was a balmy 95 degrees with 45% humidity.  Quite the contrast from the 70degree temperature outdoors but just the perfect temp to really loosen up my muscles. 

I haven’t been to hot yoga since I lived in Sarasota where I regularly practiced Bikram.  I gave up yoga though when I caught the running bug and just recently picked it up again due to an injury.  Now I see yoga as an integral part of my health.  I don’t plan to put it down every again.  After numerous doctor visits, MRIs, and physical therapy for a mysterious injury, I believe yoga is what really helped me.  I just needed to stretch.  No doctor wanted to prescribe me that.

Back to Greener Postures though – the 60 minute classes started slowly with cat/cow pose and then quickened with a series of sun salutations flow sequences.  Just when my arms were really started to shake holding side plank, we winded down going into some deeper stretches like pigeon.

I really enjoyed my time at Greener Postures, and I’m looking forward to taking another class there tomorrow.

Live well,
Carolyn

Welcome to Maine

Remind me never to take a 6am flight again.  This is the second one this week. Waking up at 3:45 am is torture, even if I was eager to jump out of bed and head to the airport.  Time for a mini vacation! 

View from the grounds of our lodge – Source

Dave and I flew to Portland, Maine this morning for a long weekend in the Sebago Lakes Region.  I took Monday off and am meeting with a client here on Tuesday.  Fun Fact:  This is the very first client I ever trained with my company – Town of Windham – which is 30 minutes outside of Portland.  It’ts nice to come back to this beautiful spot.  I was blown away when I first came here over 3 years ago. 

Tired and hungry, Dave and I headed downtown for some grub.  A quick search for “Portland Maine Vegan” brought me to the Happy Cow website. 

Happy Cow is a great resource for vegan/vegetarian restaurants and grocery stores.  I consult it often when I travel.  After reading reviews, Dave and I decided to check out Silly’s. 

The menu had numerous vegan and meat options to satisfy Dave and I.  Plus it appeared to be quite the funky place. 

We arrived, and things weren’t looking so good. 

Closed for vacation? 

Dave almost convinced me to just go next store to the Mexican Restaurant.  He was very hungry, but it looked a little dodgey. 

Plus, I had a Plan B – – Local Sprout’s Café. 

Sometimes things just work out, and boy is my belly glad they did. 

Local Sprout’s is located in downtown Portland on Congress Avenue.  There are a few tables outside which were perfect on a 75degree day like today.  Nope, I don’t miss Florida’s 90 degree and humid weather one bit.

The outside dining was tempting, but inside is where the magic happens. 

My senses were overwhelmed.  The chalkboard-menu was overflowing with options – many which are vegan and vegetarian friendly. 

The dessert case is bursting at the seams with vegan “love” cookies and vegan “whoopie” pies.  Me oh my!  I’m kinda happy Silly’s was closed!

I decided to eat what I eat everyday of my life for lunch – a wrap.  I can’t stray too far from home apparently, but mine never have yummus and local tempeh in them. 

DamnDamn!  Busted stealing one of Dave’s potato wedges!

And for my meat-eating amigos, Dave represented with a BBQ chicken sandwich.  

I think 3 birds were killed in the making of this sandwich.

It was pretty cool to look up at the wall and check out where my food came from – tempeh from Portland, veggies from a wee bit inland. 

After eating our share of tempeh and chicken, we packed up our leftovers and headed for our lodge. 

The weather is perfect – crisp air and sunshine.  We’re off on the canoe… once I can wake Dave up from this nap.

Be well,
Carolyn