YO-GAta be kidding me

After months of friends trying to convince me to try yoga, this week I finally did. I spent the day thinking of excuses to get out of it, headache, oops I was napping, I have to go grocery shopping, my dog ate my homework, but in the end I decided to give in and give it a go. It was a lot like I expected, 95% of the class was females clad in black leggings, in a dimly lit room with candles and meditation mixes playing. I did not, however, expect for it to be as difficult as it was. First of all, this was not a beginners class. I went with my friend who is quite advanced (maybe that was my mistake). And the instructor was this 4’10” athletic pod of a woman, who was spitting a succession of poses in both English and Sanskrit in rapid fire. Downward Facing Dog, Chaturanga, Warrior 2, Reverse Warrior, Baby Cobra, Savasana! Say what?? One of the instructor’s helpers came over to try to correct my Chaturanga. I think after a couple of minutes she realized I just wasn’t going to get it anytime soon, and sweetly patted my back and said “nice job,” as she moved on to the woman doing a one-armed handstand.  

As this was my first time, and I had no idea what any of the poses were, I had to look around the room to follow what my classmates were doing. Unfortunately, by the time I caught on they were already onto the next pose. At one point I distinctly felt like I was playing a game of twister. “Place your right leg over your left arm and your right arm behind your head and under your armpit.” I can run no problem, put me on a machine in the gym and I can handle it, but when it comes to exercise that requires strength, flexibility and balance, not so much. Those are not necessarily my strong suits. People were turning themselves into pretzels, putting one leg up on their inner thigh, and bending to the side 90 degrees, and still balancing. I could barely lift one leg a foot off the ground standing still without toppling over. I realize this was my first time and it takes practice to become skillful at anything, let alone something that combines exercise and a foreign language, but I did feel like a fish fresh out of water.

There are moments of activation and moments of relaxation in yoga. The relaxation bits were my favorite. I can easily curl up in a ball and listen to my breathing for a while. The soothing music makes lovely background noise for my brief catnap. Napping, NAPPING I am good at. Anytime, anywhere, I can challenge you to a nap-off. But to snap out of the blissful relaxation into a Reverse Triangle Vashistasana, no thanks. I think next time I’ll sign up for a meditation class, it’s more aligned with my likes and abilities.