Yoganista: Day 1

The night before was all kinds of giddy anticipation, not unlike the night before the first day of school. I showed up to the studio early, kicked off my shoes (love that part) and proceeded to hang out on a couch near the entrance waiting for my friend to show up and class to start. It was still an early hour for me so I wasn't feeling all that chatty, but a nice lady started talking so we bantered back and forth for awhile.

Truth be told I wasn't all that interested in meeting people since I already knew someone in the class. Well that was blown out of the water when my friend never showed (turns out she had a scheduling conflict). I guess I'd have to take part in forming our own yoga community (as our instructor so aptly put it). I realized that as an adult who will soon no longer be in school that classes such as this one are probably the best way to meet new people (outside of church of course). So wherever my next move takes me, I'll have to be creative and brave in joining new things to meet people (ahem, men) who might share in my similar interests. It's a win-win really.

Class started with a round of introductions and our teacher letting us know that she didn't like people who always stayed in the back row. I quickly learned that she liked things organized (2 rows of 6) and that once she was in the room and the door was closed nobody else was let in. I figured that a ringing cellphone probably wouldn't add much to the ambiance of the yoga class so it was on silent out in the front cubbies. Turns out that not everybody thought to plan ahead in this way as lo and behold a few minutes later someone's cellphone trilled. I had to keep from laughing as the teacher said something like, "Is that what I think it is"? Haha! Busted! (I should have learned my lesson that you shouldn't laugh at other people's misfortunes last year as I got my first speeding ticket a few seconds after laughing at the lady getting the sobriety test along the roadside- but alas, I'm a slow learner). Now I'm just waiting for karma to come back and bite me on that one.

The first class consisted of a lot of lecture, learning how to stand in mountain pose, and engaging the different energy loops in your body. The thing that stood out to me the most was the motto of "valuing a beginner's mind". It was interesting to see that there were some people in this beginner's class that had some substantial yoga experience and yet they were going back to better focus on the basics without shame or impatience with the process.

I'm a planner who spends very little time in the now and revel in crossing things off my list. So, not only am I not encouraged to cross things off my list, but I'm starting to feel like in yoga you shouldn't even have a list!

Take Home Lesson Week 1: Work on being ok with just being.

SBD: 0
L&P: 0
(Did I mention that my class is all women? I think this might impact my anal acoustics tally)