Winter or summer there is no shoveling snow for perennially tanned Angelinos. The Los Angeles landscape is as eclectic as its culture and the confluence of the two have created various pockets of communities whose lifestyle is being a yogi or a cyclist or whatever it might be.
Health seekers are adding spice to their life by opting out on your everyday run of the mill gym and engaging in a fitness activity that will take them to more animated places.
Yoga was introduced to Los Angeles in 1968 and has now flourished with over 2,000 yoga studios.
El Camino College has fourteen yoga classes available to students.
“[Its] Mind, body and spirit,” said Kundalini yoga teacher of ten years, Jonathan Shleyer, of the holistic approach to health.
“With Kundalini you bring heat and energy up,” said Schleyer of Kundalini which literally means “coiled up”.
The technology of Kundalini yoga uses breathing, sound, meditation, movement, and rhythm to realize what Berkeley professor Kurt Keutzer’s published “Kundalini FAQ” says are the three manifestations of Kundalini; universal energy, energizing function of the body-mind complex, and consciousness.
“Mentally, concentration and willpower really exploded because you learn how to control the mind,” said Schleyer.
What drew Schleyer to Kundalini yoga was learning how to stay healthy because each set is aimed at a specific benefit such as relieving stomach aches, back injuries, prosperity, or developing intuition among other things.
Schleyer says that although you won’t bulk up practicing Kundalini, you will gain strength and endurance while learning.
“People get hurt at the gym but I haven’t seen anybody get hurt in Kundalini Yoga, although you can be very sore after a hard class,” said Schleyer.
“All the places rock climbing takes you, its beautiful,” said manager Danielle Roman of Beach City Rocks.
Instead of letting the machine do the work while zoning out with headphones on at the gym, some rock climbing Angelinos are being one hundred percent proactive in their fitness activity while rock climbing.
Not all Angelinos are locked into the microcosm of the city, with over 45 rock gyms in LA, climbers train for when they are able to take their skills outdoors to one of the local spots like Malibu or Stony Creek.
“Its good cardio and you work out your entire body,” said manager at Beach City Rocks, Jeremy Swhwitkiz, “You’ll find out about muscles you never knew you had.”
Climbing is a challenge because you’re holding onto you weights, then you have to figure out the route while being aware of your footwork technique and body positioning said Roman.
“While climbing, people learn how to trust themselves and others,” said Roman. When climbing depending on whether they are bouldering, sport climbing, or speed climbing, they will need a partner to depend on for spotting and rope support.
“When you’re at the gym your stationary, your not interacting with the outside world and the sun and the wind,” said cyclist and Performance Bicycle employee, Richard Slohlo.
Slohlo is one of the many Angelinos who decides to take their fitness in doses of cycling.
“When riding, you build up more physical and mental strength,” said Slohlo about the benefits of cycling. Cycling targets your lower body and abdomen as well.
“After group rides I feel a sense of accomplishment by being able to do it noticing that I’m getting stronger and faster,” said cyclist and former E.C.C. student, Steve Gonzalez.
“A helicopter and police followed us for a while, I got a rush on that ride” said Gonzalez of his last group ride that although was legal, was still being followed because of the amount of people that showed up.
Gonzalez was on Critical Mass ride with what he said looked like hundreds of people. Critical Mass is a bike ride which takes place the last Friday of every month in over one hundred cities around the world.
It is evident that the cyclist culture is being embraced by Angelinos of various different social backgrounds.
“Riding in L.A. you’ll be surprised by what you find,” said Gonzalez about the street art, posters and banners he sees on his rides.
Gonzalez said on a bike ride around his house in Echo Park, he found the largest concentration of Victorian houses.
A long bike ride leaving downtown in any direction guarantees an intimate look at Los Angeles’ diverse and multicultural urban topography.