Some People Should Take Yoga Class

The past few years, I can't tell you how many people told me to go take a Yoga class. My doctor, my (former) chiropractor, my massage therapist, my friends, a former neighbor, etc.

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It wasn't an easy plunge. I've put it off two years. And, when I did decide to go, I almost missed the first class because I spent a half hour trying to decide what to wear. My big fear was that I would be in a class of skinny mini's all in lycra, balanced like flamingoes, and I would be this sweaty nerd woman in a big shirt and shorts, looking like Janis from the Sopranos from that fateful episode when she met Richie Aprile. (Who she later killed, but that's more than you need to know here.)

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It couldn't have been further from reality. I'm fitting right in. It's not about the clothes. Or about anyone else. It's about being comfortable and paying attention to your own body and the signals it gives you. It's about focus, and in the end, it is about making peace with what you can or cannot do and working toward your own goals.

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The stretches are simply great. My sense of balance is improving with every class. And, this is harder to describe, but it is a nice sense of community....being in a darkened room with other like minded people, going through a series of stretches and poses, and being separate, yet together in a common experience. Suki first mentioned this aspect to me. It really is different than going to a gym with headphones on-- (or worse yet, hooked into the TV attached to the treadmill,) or beating up the stairmaster and not really interacting with anyone.

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As expected, you get out of something what you put into it. That's why, as excited as I am about yoga, I'm starting to see that yoga isn't for everyone. For example, I spotted one young woman who wandered in and I sensed immediately that she was not going to stick it out. She looked like a busty glamour gal, with full makeup and heavy earrings, and a look of "okay, let's just see if this does it for me," impatiently waiting for the class to begin, fussing with her clothes. There are a few women like this I have seen. They flit from class to class.... trying to find the magic bullet to help them lose weight. Will it be boot camp? Spinning? Zumba class? They take classes and quit and move on.

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She didn't last 15 minutes.

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Teenagers with their MP3 players and phones, games and whatever else, have such short attention spans. I've seen a few unhook themselves from technology and come on in. Sadly, they leave without saying why. They don't have to. They are bored. It seems they lost the ability to focus, or to just be quiet for very long.

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But for the few who remain, the class is addicting. I have my own mat now. And I am wearing a nice stretchy black outfit..... because it works for me. I feel good in it, and I can pose with the best of them, without fear or embarrassment.

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P.S... the class was not full of skinny mini types contorting like circus performers. There were normal people from all walks of life. The people who benefit most, the instructor said, are those who really aren't the most flexible.

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Because they improve.

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