Who wants to grow a few centimeters taller? I sure do!
Well it’s time to start stretching and activating your spine with yoga exercises to get your vertebral disks flexible and less affected by gravity.

This is just one of the awesome things I learned in my Iyengar yoga class with Janine at Yoga City yesterday. I had been looking forward to this class for a while now, after having been denied entry once for same-day – and thus too late – registration (note for newbies!)

The studio is a lovely oasis just by Stauffacher, central but quiet and simple but beautiful. I was joined by 11 other yogis in the class led by Janine in Swiss German… and Sanskit: forget “down dog”, it’s adho mukha śvānāsana here. Still, it’s easy to follow the poses as the focus is on not on quantity, but quality – less poses, done correctly.

Janine gave a “stretch-focused” class, in which we elongated our spine while standing and lying down, using the wall and a few props. Sounds straightforward, right? Well try pushing your arms up and your heels down at the same time for a few minutes and you’ll think you just did a full-body workout session.

It’s that powerful… and hopefully that effective! Janine mentioned she had “miraculously” gained 2cm (unplanned, of course). That’s enough of a success story for me to start pulling my limbs up every day! 🙂

I’d encourage all yoga beginners and “office potatoes” like me to try out Iyengar yoga! And ladies: let’s make high heels obsolete 😛

Notes: You can find Iyengar classes in 5 studios in Zurich! For some additional reading, check out the amazing story of B. K. S. Iyengar.
Pics below were taken stealthily by yours truly. As all other posts and this whole website, this is not promo/sponsored material, but unbiased impressions from your average yogi.