In The Event That...

You're Way More Stressed Out Than Your Wicker Basket Suggests

by Campbell States

Bicycle Yoga Workshop | Sat., Nov. 15, 1-3 p.m., $20, Brio Vim, 1543 S. Mole St., 215-467-1231, briovim.com

It's a chilly Tuesday night and you're pedaling down Lombard when the rain starts. All right, I can deal with this, you tell yourself. You hit 24th and prepare for the Walnut Street Bridge when a cab shoots from behind, takes your lane and nearly knocks you into the gutter. You survive, narrowly, only to meet the slippery trolley tracks a few blocks later.

Bicycling in the city is fun, healthy and eco-friendly, but it can get a little hairy. Ruchama Bilenky is here to help. This Saturday, she's hosting a Bicycle Yoga Workshop at Brio Vim, a new studio in South Philly. "In cycling you use the same muscles over and over, and cyclists usually don't stretch," says Bilenky, whose father, Stephen, owns Bilenky Cycle Works. "Bicycling can be very stressful. Yoga can make you more mindful."

The workshop will stretch those over-exerted muscles with heart-opening postures, such as camel pose, to counteract the handlebar hunch and with forward folds to work the hamstrings. There will be mats available to rent, and Bilenky stresses that the afternoon is open to yoga practitioners of all levels. "A lot of bike messengers can't touch their toes," she says.