Practicing yoga at Four Arts in Palm Beach

The babbling fountain in the Four Arts garden can be heard
 inside the Pannill Pavilion where the yoga classes are held.

Every time I drive over to Palm Beach, my mind automatically relaxes.

A friend introduced me to The Society of the Four Arts Friday night movies that cost only $5, a real steal to see artsy movies these days.

And when I found out that the Four Arts also offers yoga three mornings a week until May 31, I knew I would be going.




Each class costs $15. Reservations aren't needed and parking is free, truly civilized, as it should be in Palm Beach.

The instructor, Rassika Sabine Bourgi, comes from Dakar, the capital of Senegal in West Africa. She is Lebanese with a French flair, perfectly Palm Beach.

Her dulcet voice competed with the sounds of a leaf blower during the first five minutes of the class on a recent Monday. Soon the noise stopped, allowing the babbling fountains outside and inside to provide the soothing soundtrack for the yoga class -- another classic Palm Beach touch.

Yin yoga

Rassika demonstrates a  reclining spinal twist.

In yoga class that day, six of us practiced "yin yoga," the focus of Monday sessions. That style of yoga looks deceptively simple where you relax into the positions. It is in holding the positions for 3 minutes or longer, that is challenging yet refreshing as your breath eases your way deeper into the pose.

The yin asanas target the connective tissues, bones, ligaments and spine, while the muscle tissues are the focus in yang yoga, taught on Fridays by Rassika.

That Monday, she demonstrated each yin position and talked us through it by advising us to relax.

"Breathe into it, and let it go," she repeated throughout the class.

She passed out yoga bricks to help some of us get into the poses (asanas). Extra mats were available to cushion our joints and spine from the hardness of the stone floor -- another oh-so Palm Beach touch to shield us from the harshness of the world.

Scan your body

Woman does a caterpillar fold.

As the class progressed, Rassika asked us to do a body scan to see what hurts. Is the hurt emotional, physical or psychological, she asked. Then she advised us to see whether we could just, "Let it go."

At one point, she asked us to think of three qualities we would like to have for the rest of the day, then she began to name them: 

Kindness

Gentleness towards your body

Listening more

Talking less 

Compassion

Empathy

After class was over, we were on the honor system -- to go inside The King Library and pay the $15 yoga class fee. So absolutely Palm Beach!

And now, for my numbers

I had my best walking day last week on Friday, May 3, 2013, when I walked:

Steps: 20,509

Miles: 10.3