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Wednesday, June 17, 2009

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I lived in Hoboken, NJ for two years after college. While I loved where I lived, enjoyed my job and of course reveled in the whole social scene, I realized I was getting a little stressed out. Studying for the LSATs didn't help. I decided to take yoga.

Once a week for about two years I showed up for yoga at the Y. I would take my mat, get setup and enjoy an hour all to myself. While the class was really good for me, there are very few things in my life at which I have been worse. I was truly awful when I started doing yoga, and I was truly awful two years later when I moved out of Hoboken. I was even awful at prenatal yoga, which I tried briefly during my first pregnancy three years later.

Some of it was nervousness. For example, I have to confess that the first time we sent Omms to India, I tried hard to stifle a laugh. I did not succeed. I ended up being the crazy lady whom no one knows sitting there laughing out loud. Having to announce my color to the class didn't help either. I think I said I was chartreuse or something like that. The instructor paused for a moment and then went on take great delight in the next person's choice of color. The main problem, however, was that despite what the name of my blog might suggest, I am inflexible. (Hush up there, Big Giraffe! I mean my body not my personality!) Even when participating in multiple sports and in my best shape, my flexibility has been a huge weakness for me. My high school fencing coach made it her mission to work with me on it, and she was disappointed with how little I improved.

About a month ago, my triathlon training buddy told me she was going to start participating in a yoga class. She asked me if I wanted to join her. My first reaction was "no." There was no way I was going near a hot yoga class. Now technically her class is not a hot yoga class, but it follows immediately after one. She had warned me that the room is really hot. Why would I want to do that? After hearing for a couple of weeks how good it made her feel, I reflected on my own positive history with yoga and decided to give it a try.

Our family miracle for 2009 is that I actually managed to find my old yoga mat. No, not the one from Hoboken; the one from prenatal yoga. It was in the exact spot in our messy basement where I had left it 6 years ago! Unfortunately, the mat smelled somewhat musty, mainly because it had sat in our basement for so long. It went well with my yoga pants. The pants smelled like a dog had slept on them, mainly because a dog had slept on them.

When I first walked into the room, I couldn't get over how hot it was. A classmate informed me that it was in the low 90's. I immediately chose a spot by the open window. The same classmate was kind enough to warn me that my spot was actually in the front of the classroom. I immediately moved next to another window. Everyone dropped their mat and some special yoga towel with grips whose purpose I did not understand. They then began to rub down their mats with tree tree oil, apparently to help them relax. I also began to rub down my mat with tree oil to attempt to rid it of the damp basement smell. I figured alleviating the odor would be a huge source of relaxation. Any relaxation directly from the oil would be a nice side benefit.

Once the class started, I couldn't get over two things 1) How hard it was ) how much I sweated. I found myself slipping on my mat. I then understood why most of the students had that special towel. When some of the students were balanced with their feet on the back of their arms, I was doing the "modification." The modification involved me crouching down and sitting on a block. The teacher suggested adding a second block. I immediately did so. I still found it challenging. Needless to say my bridge did not go into a full back bend later on in the class!

Yes, I am still awful at yoga, and yes I was drenched by the end of the class. However, I really did enjoy it. I was even able to stretch further than I had been at the beginning. I also felt very relaxed...until I got into my car and the windows completely fogged. I couldn't see anything.

A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: Bring a towel with grips to a hot yoga class or a yoga class right after hot yoga.

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posted by Alex Elliot @ 8:25 PM   1 comments
1 Comments:

  • At 6/29/2009 8:12 AM, Blogger Goofball said…

    I take yoga and I am soooooo inflexible as well. But I don't care very much...usually in a forward bend where others put their hands on the mat, I'm somewhere dangling mine at kneelevel. When I'm supposed to stretch a leg, I never do.

    But our class is quite relaxing, it helps me. And the average age of the people taking it is far higher than me. Nobody is dressed in the right outfits or so, which is cool.

    we rarely do ooohms and that's good as I find them so weird. Positions , stretches and turns: ok I can see the body value for it and concentrating on those does clear my mind. Breathing excercises: ok I can see how that relaxes us. But chanting, colors, chakra's? Huh, no no not for me.

     
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Name:Alex Elliot
Home:MA, United States
About Me:Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 5 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
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