I tell people that somewhere between age 35 and 85 I'll have to stop playing contact sports. One of the keys to staying young is staying flexible. When I mentioned that to a co-worker recently, she said that she took yoga classes that were offered right in our office building, and that in fact there was a free trial coming up. How could I pass up such a blogworthy moment?
Preparing as I often do, I was at lunch with another yoga practitioner friend and asked for wardrobe guidance. She politely explained that basketball shorts would not be a viable option. Still, being a temperature-minded guy, I filled a bag with shorts, some fairly snug running pants, a t-shirt and a long-sleeved shirt.
The class was to be right after work. Around 3:00 an announcement came over the loudspeaker about deteriorating weather conditions outside, the kind that causes parents to sprint for the parking lot to pick up their kids from school's early dismissal. Would it also keep yoga instructors from making it to Corporate, especially since there was no pre-registration?
I made my way down right on time to the stated location, in the basement, and waited for about five minutes by myself. I'd dressed just right, going with the t-shirt and pants combo. A second woman showed up, and after a few minutes of small talk our instructor Erin from Main Street Yoga arrived.
Erin's my age, my nationality (Irish, how about that) and my ideal style - pleasant, peaceful, optimistic, modest. Quickly she had us lying on a mat with our legs straight up against a wall. I briefly envisioned myself in this pose while wearing basketball shorts (in later poses, I came to understand why my friend also said that women don't wear baggy shirts). My 20 minutes of daily stretching for back therapy came in real handy here, apparently I have developed flexible hamstrings for a man, enough that my knees even hyperextend slightly.
After an hour of contorting myself into shapes like a star, triangle, dog, mountain and mangled tree, we were in the 5-minute meditative cool down period. Even though the effort had been relatively easy and the time had passed quickly due to the constant stream of directions, I always appreciate reflection. Following this eyes-closed spell of listening to positive phrases, we gently rolled to our feet and the day was done.
This might be the last time men make up half the membership of a session, but I thought this was a nice segway from the work day to life. The next ten sessions are $70, which seemed like a good use of time and money. Let's roll! Or should I say "shanti, shanti, peace, peace..."
1 comment:
I had a yoga instructor that shortened "downward-facing dog" to "down dog" and we all obeyed like trained dogs...heard from muscles in places I didn't know I had muscles...Namaste.
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