Yoga

Yoga is one of the most popular exercises, nearly quadrupling is popularity from 4.3 million in 2001, to 16.5 million participants in America today.

Today I tried hot yoga for the first time. I have so many friends who love yoga and swear by it, but I have always been so scared to try it because I feel like it is such a different exercise than what I’m used to and everyone who does it has been doing it and been good at it for a while.

Today, I figured when better to try it than when I have no plans and I won’t know anyone in the studio. So I drove over to Wexford, to where I thought the yoga studio was, then drove past it, got lost, turned around, and finally found the yoga studio five minutes after the class started. I was sure they were going to tell me it was too late and I was really upset because it really took a lot of will power to force myself to try hot yoga in the first place. Fortunately, this was a YOGA studio so everyone working there was incredibly friendly and relaxed. I walked in looking stressed and they just looked at me and said “you’re here. Take a deep breath, just relax.” Then they asked me if I was a student for a discounted rate and of course I responded, “I am, but I don’t have my card with me…” They responded “don’t worry!!! It’s no problem” and gave me the discount. I am usually never late so luckily I picked the right place to late to! 

Here's the studio I went to

The yoga was difficult at times, relaxing at others, and ultimately I left feeling pretty neutral about the work out. I was unsure of if I was doing everything right, and everyone around me seemed to know exactly what they were doing. What I finally realized was that noone was looking at me because that’s not what yoga is about. Me being a little wobbly didn’t bother anyone and the instructor even made a few comments about how the workout was designed for you to just to see “what your body is giving you today.” I liked the way she said that because it wasn’t like see how strong you are and how much you can focus, but rather maybe today isn’t your strong day and tomorrow can be.

The other comment the instructor said was that if a movement was hard “flood it with breath” because that helps your muscles, but she also mentioned once that focusing on your breathing and breathing a lot can increase your focus and as a result you can balance and hold a position a lot longer than normal. I thought that was really interesting, and the more I tried it, I found it to be true.

I must say, when I left yoga, I was really relaxed. I did enjoy it, and I think I will go back again before I leave for the Bahamas for the rest of break- -maybe Saturday? We’ll see!