Today, I took a yoga class! I never did before--always wanted to, even purchased a mat, somewhere along the way--but I will definitely be taking this class on a regular basis.
When I broke up with my old gym and joined Gold's, one of the benefits I gained in exchange for a higher membership fee is that I can take whatever classes the trainers offer, and there's a big bulletin board full of classes. Things like "BodyPump" and "BodyCombat" are on that board, and I have absolutely no desire to put my body through combat. Don't put me down for that class. Nope. But "BodyFlow" is also on that board, and I've walked by that session on my way to the cardio machines, seeing the lean, graceful movements of the students and hearing the plinky, plunky music, and it looked like a lovely way to work out. Less rolling sweat, more zen.
So today, I went! I was the first to walk in, carrying my own mat that I'd unearthed during the Great Purge/Spring Cleaning of the yellow house, and the teacher was in there, picking out music and looking intently at a little notebook.
"Welcome!" she said.
"Thanks!" I said, and then: "I've-never-done-yoga-before-so-I'm-a-little-nervous." She smiled and said that it would be fine, that I could adapt movements as I needed to. She promised to let me know how to adapt and to explain all the poses. Whew. She's nice, and seems suited to yoga teaching. Calm and earthy.
Three other women came in and set up mats--there were a pile of them in the corner and they helped themselves. Can I just say, "EWWW!" Those mats were organized into purple pile, and no one, like, sprayed them with Lysol or wiped them down before LYING FULL LENGTH with BARE FEET AND LEGS. No, thank you. And then we all took off our shoes--pretty happy my coral shellac is still in good shape--and settled in for the lesson.
We had to stretch and flex and lean this way and that, all the while breathing calmly and with awareness (wondering if somewhere in history someone suffocated during yoga; breathing correctly was a major focus). Also, balance is key. She was able to pirouette about and balance all her weight on her big toe whilst breathing properly and flexing her core and keeping her hips open. Holy cow. She told us she'd be "mirroring" our movements, too, so she would call out that we were to put our left legs forward as she moved her own right leg forward, so that was impressive. I'd have been all confused. She moved us through the whole body--arms, then legs, then abs, then back, etc.--as we moved and flexed, and by the end, I was sweaty and felt fully worked out. And maybe taller? I feel all stretched out. :-)
At the very end, though, she turned off the fans and lights and instructed us in the meditation part of the class. We laid on our backs, feet flat on the ground, arms stretched out to the sides, and focused on our breathing. "Breeeeaaaaathhhhe iiiiiinnnnn through your nooooooose . . . breeeeeaaaaaaathhhhe ooooouuuut through your moooouuuuthhh . . . ." And then she got all yogi on us. "Clear your mind and settle into your body. Feel the weight of your bones. Sink into your mats and just feel your body." Okay. Clearing my mind. Wonder if I should do some elliptical after this just to get a heart-rate raise. Wonder if my transcripts arrived in the mail. I really need to run to Wal-Mart to get some of those bags that you can suck the air out of to store the old duvet. Did I put the breakfast dishes in the sink before I left? NO. CLEAR the mind. Okay. Focused on my breathing now. Iiiiinnnn and oooouuuut . . . . I am definitely out of stamps. Need to finish book club book, even though it's annoying. This author has NO CONCEPT of good dialogue. And there's been a vocabulary mistake.
Oy. I think clearing my mind is going to take some practice. But the rest I really enjoyed! My muscles can feel the workout already, and it's always fun to change up the routine a little. I'll be going back next Tuesday! Ohhhmmmmmm . . . .
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