Year of Fitness: Yoga

Her name was Lindsey, and she fit the central casting definition of a yogi: Cute, young, short with a calming voice and a confident pose.  The title of the class was Power Yoga, which didn't mean much to me, given that it was my first yoga class.  Well,  I did stream a Youtube video to my TV and practice breathing and lying still for 20 minutes or so.

I knew I was in for some trouble when she mentioned this was an intermediate level class, but I figured this is all about stretching and breathing right?  Ah, no.  20 minutes in, I was audibly dripping sweat onto the mat like it was hot yoga, even though the temperature in the room was cool and climate controlled.  Lindsey's voice was a constant and steady exhortation to breathe and elongate my body.  I think that between her tone and the sitar in the background, I was in a state of mind control.  If she had said the following, I totally would have done it:

"Now breathe in, feel the energy filling your lungs and opening up your back, and as you exhale through your mouth loudly, strike your groin three times and feel the pain radiate to your fingertips and your ankles."

Now I am one of the least flexible people I know, due to a combination of my height and whatever else conspires to keep my fingers from touching my toes.  I thought yoga would be a chance to increase my flexibility while also checking the fitness box, but I did not envision myself in warrior pose and then losing my balance and slapping the mirror to stay upright.  You know when people are talking and you can hear them smiling.  Yeah, that's when that happened.

I like going in the middle of the day because it breaks up my routine non-routine of looking for jobs and running errands.  It also means fewer people in the class, which can be good because less people means less eyes on you.  But it also means more special attention, especially in a class with four students.  I'll keep at this one though.  Not because I think it will have the pounds flying off me, but because it gives me some core strength and hopefully balance which I also have none of.

Namaste yo.