The last time I took a yoga class, Bill Clinton was just starting his Presidency and I had no concept of what working out in a “hot room” was about.
Today, I returned to yoga and lived to tell about it.
Because I have managed to fill my active time with other activities for the past couple of years, I basically shunned yoga. In the past few months, many things in my life have changed and I reached a point where many signs were pointing to me initiating a yoga practice for a variety of my physical and mental needs.
So I did it. I jumped right on the internets and signed myself up for the wonderfully frugal “$10 for 10 days” special at Sunstone Yoga. After all, the hardest part is just committing to yourself that you are actually going to do it.
Fortunate enough, there are quite a smattering of Sunstone studios around Dallas and one right down the way from one of my favorite watering holes. My brain being determined, I looked up the schedule and set about planning to attend the first of the two-phased introductory classes offered.
I fretted a bit; I even got a bit anxious in the time leading up to actually walking out my door and heading to class. I was going to be putting my body into poses I knew I couldn’t hold in a room set to around 98.6°F for ninety minutes. That’s pretty intense. Pretty much the only thing I had going for me before the class started was that I’m really good at keeping myself hydrated (one of the most important things in life) and I knew that I wouldn’t be judged when I passed out.
It turns out, that’s all you can really ask for. My class consisted of me, one other student and the instructor: serious one-on-one attention. We started out by just doing savasana (I excel at this pose) which basically consists of lying flat on your back and focusing on your breathing. It’s not as easy as it seems in a room as warm as you are. After acclimating to the temperature for a while, the instructor took us through the basic poses of a “Fire” class at Sunstone. Sunstone has their classes broken into elemental designations. It makes it quite easy to see on the schedule and the outline of each element gives a good rundown of what will be covered for each class.
The class was intense, but went along pretty quickly. Before too long, I was attempting to work on my balance (my feet are constructed horribly and were probably first intended to be flippers) and then the lengthening of my spine (did I mention I have a freakishly long torso?). Adjustments to poses were made and, after no time at all, class was over.
The basic progression of the class went: standing poses, savasana, lay on your back poses, lay on your belly poses, savasana. Lots of twists and tweaks and shaky muscles happened somewhere in the middle along with at least a gallon of sweat.
Coming out of the class, I felt very rejuvenated. I felt a couple of inches taller and, remarkably enough, my horrible hearing was definitely better.
I know I’m going to be as sore as hell tomorrow morning, but that isn’t going to stop me from trying out another class. More benefit comes from new students keeping at it than not and I’m really liking the progress I made with my old broken body.
There might just be some new tricks in this old dog. Oh, and, Namaste.