My First Yoga Class

I took my first yoga class yesterday morning. It was pretty darn awesome.

Last week, out of nowhere, I developed a curiosity about yoga. I checked the schedule at the gym, and they had a class at 6:30 AM on Tuesdays. For me, that's a few hours after lunch time and a few hours before I have to pick Joe up from work. Perfect timing. So there I was yesterday morning, 6:25, in loose stretchy jeans 'cause I had no yoga pants, with a bath towel to use for a mat and a gross brown smudge that I'd managed to pick up between the house and the gym right on the front of my white tank top. Great. And it turned out I was the only student; me and my brown smudge got a one-on-one lesson.

The class took place in a room with hardwood floors and mirrored walls. The teacher-lady started by turning off most of the lights, leaving just a lightrope going around the floor of the room. I borrowed one of the gym's mats, so I didn't have to use my towel, thank goodness. (It wouldn't have worked anyway; yoga mats are, like, rubbery and grip to the floor. Towel = stretchy and sliding around.)

For an hour, I did the moves she demonstrated - like sun salutation A and sun salutation B - except badly. I was clumsy and missing steps and completely neglecting the important breathing method. There was one part which involved standing on one leg where I just kept falling over 'til she told me which muscles were supposed to be holding me up...then I did a little better. Some of the more simple moves were fun and nice and made me feel like I was expertly performing yoga on top of a mountain, surrounded by blue sky, green grass and serenity. Others with more difficult foot placement and a focus on spine alignment I just totally failed because I was watching her demonstrate rather than holding my head in the proper spinal alignment position.

At the end, my body was tired - probably mostly from Monday's workout - but I felt stretched and exercised and challenged. (But not too challenged because the lesson was perfectly tailored to my capabilities since I was the only one there!) It was such a refreshing break from my usual workouts, which are all about pushing myself to go just a little farther or lift a little more. In yoga, the teacher told me, you to listen to your body, respect its limits, and don't force it to do anything it doesn't want to do. Instead of pushing and torture and that fun lungs-are-about-to-explode feeling that comes on normal workout days, there was quietness and peace as I worked with my body to get into the right positions and hold them, making compromises with my muscles when necessary.

It was a successful workout...but there was still the problem of jeans being my only yoga pants.

After my class and my shower at the gym, I went and camped out in the parking lot of the on-post thrift store. It was 8:00 AM, and I expected them to open at 9:00, but they didn't – they were supposed to open at 9:30! Sadface! I couldn't be there, since that's when I'm supposed to pick up Joe! But I sat in the parking lot anyway to see if any of the employees might show up early. None of the thrift store employees showed up, but something even better happened: a Swap & Assist employee showed up! 

Swap & Assist = "free shopping" for E-1 through E-4 (E-5 and higher can also “shop” there, they just have to bring something of equal value to trade for what they want.) Since Joe's E-2, we can get stuff there without trading anything. Mostly they have clothing, but they have a lot of books and some toys and household goods and baby stuff.

Anyway, the employee was getting stuff out of the donation sheds because it was going to rain soon (she told me) and the sheds (she told me) are leaky. I was like, “I know the S&A isn't open until Thursday” (because it's only open for a few hours on Thursday mornings and closed the rest of the time,) and she was like “Yeah but what are you looking for?” And I was like “lol yoga pants” and she was like “Come right in and dig around” and I was like YAY because even on Thursday mornings there's quite a line to be the first one in and grab the good stuff. But I wasn't there for any of the good stuff, just pants. Surprisingly, I found 6 pairs of pants which might work. The ones that don't fit will be going back to the S&A, along with a large box of things I've been meaning to donate for a while. Pants problem solved!

So it was a lovely morning. Looking forward to next Tuesday. Especially now that I have pants.