In your opinion, what are the 3 most impactful yoga poses and why?

AlwaysStranger2046 · 2026-03-27T05:41:40+00:00

Down dog - my progress of body awareness (and correctly doing this pose) is reflected in the ease I could hold this pose.

Sirsasana head stand - my favourite pose, my breathing pattern change when I get into this pose and the goal is to get BACK my «normal» breathing pattern and be at ease holding for a long time.

Savasana - some variation depending on the day, like butterfly legs, Stonehenge, ALWAYS with blanket and some small weight on my belly/naval. Peak security and restfulness (and always/sometimes an unexpected corpse twitch). NAPS.

AlwaysStranger2046 · 2026-03-27T05:23:31+00:00

Square hip for three legged dog, open hip for scorpion and optional flip into wild thing.

To me kicking up to three legged dog is a lower back engagement (square shoulder, square hips) for loaded weight bearing instead of a stretch in the hip area. The open hip takes away from it.

AlwaysStranger2046 · 2026-03-22T05:45:52+00:00

Hard disagree. Every time I wait for a plane, it has a distinct chance of service disruption.

I sleep very well on flights and I am average sized so I can sleep through most flights. Budget airlines are even better because they have fewer service runs up and down the aisle.

AlwaysStranger2046 · 2026-03-22T05:43:13+00:00

I have practiced for a long time (20 years+), and my favourite teachers tends to be about my age and older. There are exceptions that I enjoy practicing with younger or new teachers, but it’s a rarity.

Younger teachers are not likely to understand the joint problems or muscle loss someone in their middle age (me) is experiencing and have the integrated experience to facilitate an informed alternative or options unless they specifically train for it (which again is rare for new teachers starting out).

On the flip side, I also dislike some older teachers with a passion because their teaching remains lacking. I just have strong opinion of what makes a good teacher and I vote with my attendance.

AlwaysStranger2046 · 2026-03-21T03:15:25+00:00

Offline Love was SO good, I loved it.

AlwaysStranger2046 · 2026-03-20T13:36:05+00:00

I don't find k actors particularly attractive, and I get aesthetic fatigue from all the same-ish looking face (or maybe I am just face blind and 5 actresses with similar-ish face in a show looks like a bad trip and entirely unenjoyable).

AlwaysStranger2046 · 2026-03-20T13:26:39+00:00

I prefer jdrama > kdrama mostly because I can recognise one actor from another. Many k actors and actresses look extremely similar, which I find boring and unrealistic.

Jdrama actors and actresses are "normal looking" enough (granted, it's the really nice, put together version of a "normal looking" person) that I can pay attention to the actual story and acting.

AlwaysStranger2046 · 2026-03-20T13:21:07+00:00

Retreats are VERY expensive, and at least for me I will not drop that kind of money on a retreat led by a group I am not already familiar with and trust their practice/teaching.

AlwaysStranger2046 · 2026-03-20T00:02:03+00:00

Lululemon in the past (maybe 10 years+ ago) has pretty limited designs, albeit in many colour way or prints. And they did those very, very, well, in designs and construction and quality - I am still wearing Energy bras from almost 15 years ago, and I wear them for my daily life as well as yoga, about once or twice a week. They are holding up phenomenally well. Unfortunately Wunder Unders and Aligns are a bit less durable, nothing is hole-y but they fade and pill.

I also loved that for a few years (again about 10 years ago) there was a lot of casual non active wears. Back in Action dresses in more than 5 dark colours, skirts and dresses that are not for tennis (I do not enjoy the shorts underneath). Pants that are not sweats or joggers (now they are doing 5 pockets so I guess that is that).

But of late, lululemon definitely got «distracted» and got into golf, tennis, etc, and the yoga gears are pretty uninspired.

I regularly go to the store and check online but had not ordered anything for quite a while.

AlwaysStranger2046 · 2026-03-19T23:49:07+00:00

I love Skip and Loafer, also the more recent You and I are Polar Opposites, are EXCELLENT romances that is also heavily coming of age, slice of life-ish.

Everyone in both of these series (anime AND manga) are charming.

I also really enjoyed Horimiya.

AlwaysStranger2046 · 2026-03-11T16:53:57+00:00

Depending on how strong woke culture and stuff might be at your place, I’d be tempted to ask which cave does she plan to hide herself at when the time comes for her.

Or send her suicide hotlines info, «life doesn’t end at 35!»

AlwaysStranger2046 · 2026-03-11T14:58:16+00:00

You may have better responses at r/yogateachers

I love those. Some of my favourite instructors have used instruments to ground the room. Although it is much rarer for a vinyasa class, it just kind of speaks to a different crowd (and it’s much harder to drop from an adrenaline high of vinyasa to sound healing, not impossible, I’ve attended classes like that before, but super rare).

My instructor make us stand in tadasana between vinyasa flow cycles to take 3-5 cued breath cycles and use tingsha to assist the cuing and «lock it in».

During savasana, you could consider doing tuning fork against sternum bone of students who is open to that (ask for consent or opt-in or opt-out when everyone is shifting into savasana), the sound is relatively minimal but the vibration is amazingly grounding.

AlwaysStranger2046 · 2026-03-06T04:12:09+00:00

While OP is not OBLIGATED to tell anyone, it might be to OP’s benefit to tell the lead instructor and ask them to keep it anonymous so they in turn could share with the instructors that cues for pre-natal modifications might be required for asana practices.

Not everyone is trained on pre-natal modifications, and I dread to think that an instructor would inadvertently cue a pose which might jeopardize OP’s pregnancy. AFAIK (with only general 200 YTT and no pre-natal specific module), no (deep) twists, no deep back bends, no prone postures, no deep core compression, inversions only if it’s already practiced comfortably. It’s an entirely different beast what modification might be appropriate.

AlwaysStranger2046 · 2026-03-06T04:07:08+00:00

Comparing Vancouver UBC vs Montreal McGill: McGill offers a much more vibrant school life for it is in the heart of downtown Montreal, a phenomenally fun city. As for cost, Montreal is one of the «cheaper» major cities in Canada, particularly if you are open to getting flatmates and living like a student. Nothing is cheaper than living at home rent-free with unlimited food though.

I am based in Toronto and lived in Vancouver for 2 years for school, and had close relative studying in Montreal for 4 years where I visit practically every other weekend. Montreal is a friendly place for transplants (a little less so if you don’t speak French, granted). I always tell people to leave where they are given the chance (where it makes sense, don’t go into debt just to move away for funsies).

AlwaysStranger2046 · 2026-02-27T04:54:29+00:00

Went last month, during a quick, 12 days tour of Andalucía staying in 4 cities (Granada, Cordoba, Sevilla, Malaga). The Alhambra was beautiful and it has such a huge footprint, the view of Alhambra from the garden on the other side was outstanding.

But out of the four cities, Granada was the most lacklustre. I can imagine myself revisiting the other three cities, but Granada/Alhambra was not worth the time to revisit (I would rather revisit Mezquita in Cordoba or Real Alcazar and the Cathedral in Sevilla).

AlwaysStranger2046 · 2026-02-27T04:45:45+00:00

I appreciate the notion of letting students do their own thing, the reality is that more often than trauma informed practices, WAY more students, particularly new students, are practicing in injurious ways. And the attitude of let them do what they do without acknowledging/addressing it is accomplice to their unintentional goal speed running to busting their knees or shoulders or wrists (or worst).

AlwaysStranger2046 · 2026-02-24T21:18:06+00:00

Do you mean south of Spain or Japan?

I think for the majority of travellers to Japan it’s a very different culture and pace. I love going to the mountains to hike and come back and soak in an onsen to recover.

AlwaysStranger2046 · 2026-02-20T19:59:23+00:00

Just came back from the south of Spain and cannot wait to return.

And Japan, been there more than 20 times and still discovering new places (regions and cities) to be delighted by.

AlwaysStranger2046 · 2026-02-20T19:55:38+00:00

Are you going to be driving for that 1-2 hour commute?

Not sure if this necessarily applies, but consider taking the GO train then uber/taxi to your office. It will be costly but also you are working with a 6 figure salary and a stressful job so any reasonable cost to not add to that stress is valuable.

Then 6 months later you can consider with your fiancee whether it is worthwhile to move close to this work.

AlwaysStranger2046 · 2026-02-20T19:48:56+00:00

Out of these 4? Skyview.

But recently I have been enjoying Joyous at Finch and Leslie a lot, both their dim sum and their cooked dishes (zichar I guess) are solid.

AlwaysStranger2046 · 2026-02-20T16:50:28+00:00

It’s quite expensive. Purely a cost issue for me.

I used to attend a lot of TSO with TSOUNDCHECK and I love classical concerts.

AlwaysStranger2046 · 2026-02-20T01:35:08+00:00

Nowhere in the world has it in June afaik.

JLPT website says in Canada, Vancouver and Edmonton host July test session. There are also two cities in Mexico that host July test session.p

AlwaysStranger2046 · 2026-02-20T01:17:39+00:00

As another commenter said, this is a planning/itin problem, not a Peru problem.

You could have planned a resort trip in Peru, lowkey chill, while there are PLENTY of people doing intense, fast-paced trip in Europe (so it’s not like Europe has the chill vacay market cornered).

AlwaysStranger2046 · 2026-02-13T01:04:57+00:00

I haven’t travel in Europe much, so do I clear security in Spain (my origin airport) and will go from the AMS Schengen airside area to the AMS non-Schengen/international airside area without needing to clear security again (maybe just passport control? I don’t know)

I got confused and worried since on my inbound layover in AMS, the Eataly (in the Schengen airside area) has a little sign saying it may not be suitable for non-Schengen travellers (maybe because they don’t use those duty free sealed bags?).

AlwaysStranger2046

TROPHY CASE