Last night I went to my very first yoga class. I have a lot of friends who love yoga and they always say how great it makes them feel so it's been on my list of things to try for awhile. I am extremely inflexible so I knew it was going to be very difficult for me, and honestly that's why I put off trying it for so long. Who likes to do things that they aren't good at? Not many people.
I went into the yoga studio with a mixture of excitement and apprehension. We started out by sitting on wool blankets with our legs crossed. The lights were dim and the heater was on so it was pretty relaxing and I was thinking to myself "hey, this does feel good." Then our teacher started talking about really hippie things like how the Earth has a song and so do our bodies and in yoga we are trying to find our song so that we are more connected to the Earth. All I was thinking was thank goodness everyone's eyes are closed and Allyson isn't here because I literally had to bite the inside of my lip to keep from busting up in fits of laughter. I'm not saying it wasn't relaxing and peaceful, because it definitely was, and I can totally understand and appreciate the merit of everyone's personal spiritual journey. But, seriously, it was hilarious.
After the introduction we started doing the typical yoga poses and I was no longer laughing or thinking "hey, this does feel good." At this point I was feeling retarded because I couldn't do any of the poses and I was shaking just trying to keep them up (maybe I was feeling weak because I had already been at the gym for an hour and a half before yoga started trying to get my workout in thinking that yoga wouldn't be hard). At any rate it was very difficult and I didn't enjoy it very much. I'm going to keep doing it as a challenge to myself and I would like to get more flexible and balanced so I think it will help me in the long run. Hopefully over time it will become less miserable as well.
The class ended with laying on our mats in the dark with our hippie teacher saying "ooohms" and ringing a bell. And even after an hour of appreciating how hard yoga is I still had to stifle a laugh.
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9 comments:
I hate yoga. It is so boring and retarded looking. Plus it's hard not to bust out laughing when they are talking about downward dog and stuff like that. Not to mention that I can't even come close to touching my toes.
Yea during downward dog she was like "suck in your belly, inward spiral your thighs, push up your (enter some word here for lower back?), and open your heart." WTF are you talking about?? And this was an intro to yoga class meant for people who have never done it before.
We also did this exercise where we were pushing on the sides of our calves while doing something with our knees and she was like "see? feel that? That's what it should always feel like even when you aren't pushing." I felt nothing. Nada. Zip. Had no idea what she was talking about.
I actually felt disabled in the class, I couldn't do anything and was confused the whole time. But I want to try it for like a month and see if it gets better.
Did you have flashbacks from dance at ucsb?
LOL Yes! Writing this blog was like writing in my dance journal.
I loved my dance journal. I'll never forget how we were told to write about how the dancing affected our spirit. Oh, and that the journal would be our entire grade. I think I am going to start a university where there are no tests, and every course is graded like that. "This organic chemistry experiment affected my spirit because it made me feel powerful, yet small at the same time." Grade = A+
LOL...well i don't know that i've ever heard of an earth song. that does sound retarded. not all yoga teachers are that granola, so it might be worthwhile to find someone you like better.
don't feel badly, everyone starts off like that. the point is just to do what you can do, and don't push yourself too hard (because then you'll sit there hating it instead of being present in the practice--and most likely won't want to come back to it). if your teacher knows anything about what she's doing, she would never force you to do more than you can. and you can always take a break if you need to, even if pride is telling you to try to do more. downward facing dog is actually a rather hard pose and its taken me a few months to really start to get the hang of it. also, i probably wouldn't go workout a lot before yoga, that would probably make it a lot more difficult cuz you're already a little tired out.
i did have one funny little episode a couple of weeks ago. we were lying on our backs, with our legs straight up, and lifting our hips to exercise our core muscles. my teacher came around and tried to use her toes to push my hips up just a little higher. only, she did one side before the other and i went Whoop!! right over, completely falling over to the side. i burst out laughing, totally disturbing everyone else who were all trying so hard to concentrate. :)
p.s. there's a book by Erich Schiffmann called "Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillness". i thought it was really helpful. if you can find it a Borders it might be helpful to just look through a couple of the chapters (i think 1, 6 & 8 are most helpful) while sipping a latte or something. :)
Yea Borders! The best bookstore.
I hate yoga also -especially the upside down dog or whatever pose it is. I loved your comments on it. I would have LOL with you!!
I finally read your blog on becoming an adult regarding your music choices. Hey, that's why we're going to see Michael Buble this weekend with you!
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