This week I attended a beginner yoga class! But to be completely honest I have been to
a yoga class or two prior to this one.
It was early in the summer before I headed out on my adventure to Italy. So I knew what to expect, well sort of. When I say beginner class…OMG (what’s the
level before yoga 101 again?) Yeah that
one! That’s the one that I attended this
week.
Breath lad, breath – remember it’s not competitive…perhaps
that’s my problem with yoga?
Early in the summer in my initial yoga experience the
instructor was an indecipherable middle-aged Indian fellow who was a flexible
as an elastic band, and with the heart and patience of a saint. As I recall he smiled non-stop for the entire
hour as he glided effortlessly around the hall talking, coaxing and encouraging
all of the participants into the right postures. I remember coming away from the class
extremely relaxed and even a little buzzed.
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| Ashtanga Yoga poses - we did a couple of these ones... |
This week had been a little hectic and so had wanted to find a
place a little closer to home, so I asked a friend about yoga classes in my neighbourhood that she could recommend. Convenience is huge when you’ve got a lot on
the go, so when I found out the studio was less than three blocks from my house
– it was perfect! As I strolled over with just minutes to spare before the class was scheduled to start I had high hopes that it was going to be as challenging
and relaxing as my last yoga encounter.
“Bring it on,” I thought to myself as I climbed the stairs toward the studio
reception.
All I can say was this weeks experience was vastly
different…now the unexpected upside to this whole adventure was the people
watching aspect – human behavior at its best.
Pure theatre!
Let me see – where to start…
Our instructor Adam (not his real name) was an affable chap
in his late 60’s, a bit of a talker, which was probably a good thing, because
even though we only tried about ten moves or poses over the course of the hour
he was meticulous in his demonstration and description for each move. Describing with some detail how and where
each muscle was supposed to be positioned, how you body should feel and react
to every move, every little movement he charted before we began...and overall
an excellent beginner instructor!
The striking thing about Adam was that he was not what I had
expected my instructor to look like, especially after my last one. In fact I’d go so far as to say he was almost
the antithesis of what I had expected an instructor to look like. I know it sounds rather judgmental and even
perhaps a little mean (definitely not my intent), but rather wanted to capture
the full affect from the moment I walked into the studio.
Adam’s physique was a little unorthodox for starters; my
mental model wouldn’t have equated a yoga instructor with a rather large protruding
potbelly but there you have it. I caught
myself staring…probably a little too long in terms of good manners. I looked him up and down and noticed that his
rather prominent stomach was attached to two very spindly legs, next a rather rakish
(some less charitable might even categorize it as unkempt) and longer than fashionable
grey beard. He reminded me of a slightly
underweight Santa, perhaps just a little less rotund if you know what I mean,
he didn’t quite have Santa’s full figure.
That being said, he could definitely moonlight over the holiday season,
no questions asked!
My classmates were an eclectic bunch as well, an odd
assortment of people, there were four women and two other men plus myself. One of the guys complained the whole time –
with “this really hurts” being his most common refrain, often loud enough to
hear outside in the reception area. I think almost
every breath he took was louder than the last…yeah; he was a heavy breather as
well.
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| Definitely didn't try the Peacock pose! |
The other guy (let’s call him Dave) was either introverted
or was completely embarrassed about being in the class. During
the entire class he refused to make eye contact with anyone and so looked down at the floor the whole time, except for the odd furtive
glance at Adam to see what he had to do next.
He couldn’t wait to get the hell out of there. There were also two women in their mid to late 40’s, one by herself and the other with
her niece, then an older woman perhaps closer in age to Adam.
Now it was a little hard to tell, but I think the older
woman was flirting with Adam…rather shamelessly as I recall, with a little too
much giggling and nervous chatter with those around her if you know what I
mean. In fact, now that I think back he
did tend to spend a lot of time “correcting her posture”. I wonder?
Easy for me to look around and make up stories about the
others in the class, another thing entirely to look at my own foibles and see what I was
doing, or in some cases wasn’t doing. During
the class there were moments when I felt I wasn’t making much progress in terms
of a stretch, my body just doesn’t move in those ways or so I told myself. Fortunately for me it didn’t go into cramp or
spasm during any of the poses – how embarrassing would that have been? I guess Adam thought there were others who
needed even more help than me, so spent almost zero time checking on my moves
to see if they were correct.
Am I supposed to sweat I thought to myself as I lay there in
one of the painful early moves? Perhaps
you “have to work into it” the little voice in my head chided, hhhmmm…yeah,
well all I know is that I waited and then waited some more as I stretched but to no avail…not
so much as a hint of perspiration.
Although the little voice my head was becoming very annoying! Enough already!
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| I guess I should have studied first! |
The true upside for me was how relaxed I felt by the end of
the class; in fact it was almost hard for me to keep my eyes open, as I lay
prostrate on the mat during my final stretch.
Clearly I had gone too far - beyond relaxed to almost a semi comatose
and sleep induced state. My eyes flicked
open when I noticed Andy standing over me peering into my face…holy shit did I
do something wrong I thought? How long
had he been standing there? God, was I
asleep? Is the class still going?
He knelt down and said in a soft voice that he wanted me to
come to a level one class next time rather than come back to beginner. “You’d be wasting your time in this class,
you’ve obviously played a lot of sports in your day and have excellent
body awareness”, just check with the receptionist on your way out for when
those classes are. Not sure what he meant by “in your day”, and
wasn’t sure if I should be happy or upset with his comment so I decided to take
it as a compliment and let it go…
The other participants handled the class in varying degrees
of enjoyment – Mr. “it hurts” may never attempt yoga again, as he struggled to
his knees and then eventually his feet before staggering unsteadily out of the
studio. Ms. Flirty was chatting to Adam
as I left the room and the other guy had gone before I had even rolled my mat –
yeah, he’s not coming back. The high
school student seemed like she was having fun with her aunty who also struggled
with many of the exercises.
My big lesson from this weeks class is that it takes courage
to try something new like this no matter what age, size or shape you’re in
especially if you have to try in front of others – so I take my hat off to all
of my fellow participants for getting outside their comfort zone and trying
something new. Well done!
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