Yoga..."Don't Let Them Know You Don't Belong"
According to Abbie, this year is going to have a "try anything once" approach (*) for new workouts. And what better way to kick that off than going to a free yoga class on the first day of the year? There is a yoga studio around the corner from her house, so with about 20 minutes to go before the class was to begin, we picked up water bottles and yoga mats and set off down the road for yoga. There we were, walking along the sidewalk with yoga mats...it felt like nothing either of us should be doing...which I think means we were doing things right in 2017.
I have had a few brief brushes with yoga videos in my past. Overall, I have not been pleased. Too much hokey nonsense about "space" and not enough good stretching for my taste. But I was willing to test out the in-person experience of a class. . . . I'll go ahead now and say that I feel satisfied with scratching yoga off the list for 2017, knowing it will not make a reappearance on my radar.
Thoughts from today:
1. I don't know how to "breath from the crown of my head." What does that mean?? How does that work?? The froo-froo instructions didn't do much to help me figure out what to do, which left me completely at a loss on many occasions.
2. I wanted more stretching and less centering. I realize that there are a lot of different flavors of yoga. I think what I'm looking for isn't going to be called "yoga," at all. I've got church and prayer and music and riding my bike for when I need to be clam and feel centered. What I needed today was a stretch good enough that I will regain my ability to sleep at night.
3. The trouble with yoga-for-beginners is that instructors often think that after one round of explaining each pose, they can proceed to referring to them solely by their official name. I still don't know what the heck monkey/gorilla and cobra/serpent are...along with most everything else. Fancy names aside, I also would have preferred more specificity about what to do in each of those poses. Do I lock-out my knee? Do I put all my weight on my right leg? Give me some instructions that are less susceptible to interpretation.
4. The best part, by far, was the end of the 7 minute relaxation period at the end, when the instructor used her calm, book-narrating, whisper voice to tell us we can, when we're ready, slowly sit up. At that moment, Abbie and I bolted to an upright position while the rest of the room barely blinked. We looked at each other and managed to stifle what should have been a hilarious outburst. She and I both proceeded to put on socks and shoes while others slowly reanimated and joined the land of the living. We were completely ready to leave before everyone else remembered where they were.
As we walked back to Abbie's house, we commiserated over feeling like we didn't belong. While we thought we might have managed to fit in and not draw too much attention (thanks very much to the prime real estate we claimed at the back of the room), we were also very aware we could have easily shown our true colors if we stayed any longer.
It looks like the next adventure on the list will be kickboxing. I'm feeling more confident that will be a place where I will "belong."
__________
*This does not apply to pole dancing classes. There is a hard line drawn at anything that involves seducing a pole.
I have had a few brief brushes with yoga videos in my past. Overall, I have not been pleased. Too much hokey nonsense about "space" and not enough good stretching for my taste. But I was willing to test out the in-person experience of a class. . . . I'll go ahead now and say that I feel satisfied with scratching yoga off the list for 2017, knowing it will not make a reappearance on my radar.
Thoughts from today:
1. I don't know how to "breath from the crown of my head." What does that mean?? How does that work?? The froo-froo instructions didn't do much to help me figure out what to do, which left me completely at a loss on many occasions.
2. I wanted more stretching and less centering. I realize that there are a lot of different flavors of yoga. I think what I'm looking for isn't going to be called "yoga," at all. I've got church and prayer and music and riding my bike for when I need to be clam and feel centered. What I needed today was a stretch good enough that I will regain my ability to sleep at night.
3. The trouble with yoga-for-beginners is that instructors often think that after one round of explaining each pose, they can proceed to referring to them solely by their official name. I still don't know what the heck monkey/gorilla and cobra/serpent are...along with most everything else. Fancy names aside, I also would have preferred more specificity about what to do in each of those poses. Do I lock-out my knee? Do I put all my weight on my right leg? Give me some instructions that are less susceptible to interpretation.
4. The best part, by far, was the end of the 7 minute relaxation period at the end, when the instructor used her calm, book-narrating, whisper voice to tell us we can, when we're ready, slowly sit up. At that moment, Abbie and I bolted to an upright position while the rest of the room barely blinked. We looked at each other and managed to stifle what should have been a hilarious outburst. She and I both proceeded to put on socks and shoes while others slowly reanimated and joined the land of the living. We were completely ready to leave before everyone else remembered where they were.
As we walked back to Abbie's house, we commiserated over feeling like we didn't belong. While we thought we might have managed to fit in and not draw too much attention (thanks very much to the prime real estate we claimed at the back of the room), we were also very aware we could have easily shown our true colors if we stayed any longer.
It looks like the next adventure on the list will be kickboxing. I'm feeling more confident that will be a place where I will "belong."
__________
*This does not apply to pole dancing classes. There is a hard line drawn at anything that involves seducing a pole.
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