Personal progress should never be considered.
Feeling discomfort is a form of self-abuse.
Trying too hard does more harm than good.
A non-competitive and relaxing workout.
Welcome to Yoga.

by Pavla

You've got to be kidding me.  As a self-confessed Adrenalin Junkie, these statements are the epitome of failure, boredom, and sloth.  What happened to "NO PAIN, NO GAIN" and "NO GUTS, NO GLORY?"  What happened to the impending nausea after a good workout or hard race?  You want me to try a relaxing workout?  "Relaxing" and "Workout" are two contradictory words that should never be placed beside one another, let alone in the same sentence.  Or should they?  With the influx of Yoga fanatics in Toronto, I was even more resistant  to try it.  I viewed Yoga as a waste of a workout.  In my already packed schedule, my running and weight training routines were carefully slotted in my weekly planner with no room to maneuver. At that time in my life, relaxing = boring. If I wasn't working or exercising, I was partying it up with friends at the newest downtown club. 

Having two recent marathons under my belt and in current training for a triathlon, I came down with Iliotibial Band Syndrome (Inflammation of the Iliotibial band, a thick band of fibrous tissue that runs down the outside of the leg providing stability for the hip and knee joints).  I could barely walk.  A friend of mine, who was and still is a Yoga addict, was convinced that my Yin and Yang were unbalanced and insisted I attend a Yoga class with her to relieve my mind and body. 

Although I felt quite comfortable with all my Yins and Yang's, whatever on earth she meant, I didn't want to let her down.  As I predicted, my first yoga experience was awful.  I was bored, restless, and unable to focus. I kept watching the clock and praying for the 70 minutes to be over.  Despite this, I assured my friend I had a great time.

She knew I was totally lying.  I had to admit though, that I was in less pain.  Actually, my pain subsided for the next few days.  Maybe there was something to this.  I will try anything twice.  I have always stood by this motto. You never get the full benefit or full harm with only one attempt. 

  So, I decided to look for a Yoga class that had, at the very least, some sort of edge; something a little more energetic. I looked through the schedule and found Hot Energy Yoga. Perfect! I decided to give it a second go.  As I rolled out my yoga mat, the instructor turned the music up, lit some incense, and the temperature rose to an almost unbearable level. Joints popped. Faces contorted, then grimaced, then relaxed.  This was more my speed.  In the era of extreme sports, I have found another.  Hot Yoga is Extreme Yoga. Hot Yoga allows those with an attention span of a gnat, to stay interested and relaxed at the same time.  This was my kind of Yoga.

After leaving Toronto and moving to Japan, I wondered if I would be able to find a Yoga studio. I was ecstatic when I moved to Susono and found one,  only steps away from the train station. I've been going weekly for about a month and not only do I feel more flexible, optimistic, and energetic; my running is also improving.  Yoga hasn't changed my inherent need for a grueling workout; it has just made my recovery faster and a lot more enjoyable.  It doesn't hurt that the staff at the Susono Studio are extremely friendly and helpful.  They keep every class interesting with original movements, poses, and commentary (which I'm slowly learning how to translate). 

Whether you are a honed athlete, weekend warrior, consistent Exerciser or occasional recreate, they have a class for you.  But I'll stick to my Hot Yoga Energy class.  It's as close to a relaxing exercise as an Adrenalin Junkie can get.

The Sopranos Fade to Black after6 Seasons

Life is not a well-made play and neither was the hit HBO series The Sopranos. The 19th Century French theatre convention of the pièce bien faite or well-made play had the nicely structured beginning, middle and end all designed in a formula that was meant to imitate real life. The Sopranos has never been conventional and if anything, has demonstrated that life (or at least the show) doesn’t subscribe to any recipe.

Here was a show that followed the exploits of a sociopath mobster, Tony Soprano, his family and his goons (also sociopath mobsters) and tried to paint them in a light that the viewer would find sympathetic. Some think the show has left the viewer hanging, wondering and conjecturing about what happened in the end. The closing scene of the season/series finale was a last visit with the family that allowed the audience a final glimpse of Tony, Carmella, Meadow and A.J. Soprano as they gathered together in a diner to have a family meal. Some have speculated that it was the last supper, but others would suggest that life with the Sopranos goes on; it’s just that we’re not going to be there to see it anymore.

Fans of this show are divided about the ending. Feelings range from complete satisfaction that the show’s creators resisted wrapping everything up with a nice neat bow, to utter disappointment that fans were robbed of a resolution and left hanging by an anticlimactic blank screen. It opened in medias res with Tony feeding a family of ducks that landed in his pool one day, and ended in like manner with his family together for a meal in the series swan song. There was no beginning because the ducks were already there; Tony was already on his way to the pool with bread crumbs for his adopted mallards. There was no end to the show either. They hadn’t ordered their meals yet, but you know they were going eat and then go home. The manufactured tension notwithstanding, that’s what was going to happen.

Those who were looking for a tidy wrap up didn’t get one. There was no final blood bath either, although the gruesome scene with Phil Leotardo getting shot in the head and then having the car roll over and crush his skull more than made up for a shoot out à la Scarface. But the show was never about resolutions. We never really knew what happened to the Russian fellow Valery who Paulie and Christopher abducted in the Pine Barrens episode. There was always the hint that Valery might be coming back. And although Furio Giunta returned to Italy, many thought at the end that he might come back to New Jersey to whack Tony. After all, Furio had been in love with Carmella.

But that’s life, isn’t it? Sometimes you love, sometimes you lose, sometimes you win and sometimes you get whacked. At least in Soprano life you do. The Sopranos was said by a few people in the entertainment business to be the best television show ever produced. For some it was gratuitously violent and for others it was nothing less than realistic; it was the epitome of art imitating life. Many people didn’t like all the swearing and the killing and even those of us who were fans of the show thought Paulie Walnuts was the crudest blanking character ever to be seen on the small screen. The Sopranos was well written, well directed, well cast and well acted, but it certainly wasn’t a well-made play.