As yet another idea to log an exciting new activity, I want to record my progress through one month of Yoga, for which I signed up just last night. Last afternoon I attended the class at 4:30PM, and it was greeeat. I arrived around 2 minutes late, I showed my 1-month groupon, took off my shoes and the stuff from my pockets, and entered the room. It smelled of citrus and felt hot - the thermostat next to the door said 100F.
I lay down my borrowed black mat somewhere on the side of the class, and lay down along with everyone else. The ambience seemed purposefully relaxing, but I didn't quite feel the relaxation just yet. I lay on my mat, looked around, and stretched my body out a little. I breathed in the citrus, held a few wispy thoughts that crossed my mind, and just waited for the class to start.
A few minutes later, the instructor came in, introduced himself, said there were a few new people in the class, and told us to do as much as we wanted, but to back off if it hurt, and to listen to our bodies, as this was our practice, anyway. It seemed to be something he said a lot, probably at the start of each class, and then he started.
He spoke very fast, and many words sounded Hindi-like: Prasanna, Vinyasa, Darshadan... and they were all names of positions to follow. Then he also talked about a half moon, a warrior position, a cobra, and sometimes he shorted sentences to only one or two words, and that seemingly was enough for other students to understand what movements to take. I thought it'd take me too much time to recognize and parse everything that he said properly, so I ended up just doing whatever the asian girl to my right was doing. She was dressed in a gray suit, and she responded to the teacher's instructions instantly, so it seemed like she knew what she was doing. I followed her for most of the class.
The movements were mostly fairly simple - stretch one leg, bend the other knee, hands down - half-push-up position, then do like a cobra (stretch head and thorax up in a curve); stretch both legs in pyramid position; bring head down to a block while lifting one leg, keeping balance only with leg and head; stretch arms up, stretch arms to the sides, bring them along with body; it was quite fast-paced, and though the positions seemed simple, staying in them was the trick... even if the muscles are able to easily flex into such positions, they're not used to staying in most of them... and the constant work on each of the body parts certainly works out the body... every part that is being stretched. The class tasks are basically "stretch this, flex that, lift that, pull here, keep balance, keep the position for X breaths while stretching/flexing/lifting/pulling/balancing, and just breathe naturally and comfortably in and out while you do all of this - no hurried or blocked breathing".
Throughout the class, I noticed how rapidly my body seemed to adjust and gain flexibility for some positions. Reaching down to touch the floor with stretched legs, for example - the first time it seemed out of reach, but after a few ups and downs and leg stretches, I was touching it with my fingers. After a few more, my palm knuckles were. It felt good to sense my body changing and adapting.
The class lasted about 75 minutes, and it seemed to work out most of the main parts of my body. My legs felt especially exercised, my shoulders seemed looser, and I felt more flexible and relaxed in general. I was sweating moderately, but I didn't feel quite tired, and then Jesse mentioned that the next class was Power Yoga, and that we were welcome to stay. Curious and encouraged by my first class, I stayed. I moved my yoga mat to the center of the class so I could face the teacher directly, and lay down on the mat for a while. I felt energized though, so I began stretching my legs up as much as I could - first at an angle, then straight up, then back as far as they would go, aiming towards the floor. I played with my arms, sought new positions for them to be in, and tried to feel out the balance of my body as I stretched and flexed in several ways. I arched my back, I turned this way and that way, and just moved around until the class started.
And then it started. It felt very similar to the first class - same movements, same poses, about the same speed. Then I noticed a few new positions. They also seemed harder, or at least more complicated. "Bring your right leg to the front between your hands, then bring your right hand behind and beside your right leg. Pull your head as much as you can to fit behind your leg, even if it doesn't go all the way, then keep it there, bring your hand down, and stay there for 10 breaths". Or the firefly: "Crouch, spread your bent legs in front of you to over shoulder-width, bring your hands between and behind your legs, then stretch them out behind your legs. Put the weight of your legs on your arms, and lift your legs off the floor. Stay there for 10 breaths". And even if I felt that I breathed 10 times, slowly and deeply, I often finished them, then Jesse would still say "...we're gonna do 3 more...", and then after the 3 he'd say "...two more breaths...". I know people breathe at different rates, but I still felt a little like in PE - where the professor would always ask more iterations of us than he declared at the beginning.
Power Yoga made me sweat more than the first class, and its design felt geared to a higher intensity. A few times I slipped on my sweaty hands, lost balance, or decided to take a 5-10 second break before rejoining the group's movements. I tried to wipe off the sweat with a towel, but it didn't work - my hands were either sweating constantly, or the mat was sweaty itself. In any case, at the end of the class I felt quite worked-out, but still, not out of breath or exhausted. I felt sweaty, stretched, and internally energetic, though my muscles might not have been quite up to a sprint race in that moment.
In short, I loved the Hot Yoga class. Let's see what happens during the rest of this month (lots of classes!!!!)
I lay down my borrowed black mat somewhere on the side of the class, and lay down along with everyone else. The ambience seemed purposefully relaxing, but I didn't quite feel the relaxation just yet. I lay on my mat, looked around, and stretched my body out a little. I breathed in the citrus, held a few wispy thoughts that crossed my mind, and just waited for the class to start.
A few minutes later, the instructor came in, introduced himself, said there were a few new people in the class, and told us to do as much as we wanted, but to back off if it hurt, and to listen to our bodies, as this was our practice, anyway. It seemed to be something he said a lot, probably at the start of each class, and then he started.
He spoke very fast, and many words sounded Hindi-like: Prasanna, Vinyasa, Darshadan... and they were all names of positions to follow. Then he also talked about a half moon, a warrior position, a cobra, and sometimes he shorted sentences to only one or two words, and that seemingly was enough for other students to understand what movements to take. I thought it'd take me too much time to recognize and parse everything that he said properly, so I ended up just doing whatever the asian girl to my right was doing. She was dressed in a gray suit, and she responded to the teacher's instructions instantly, so it seemed like she knew what she was doing. I followed her for most of the class.
The movements were mostly fairly simple - stretch one leg, bend the other knee, hands down - half-push-up position, then do like a cobra (stretch head and thorax up in a curve); stretch both legs in pyramid position; bring head down to a block while lifting one leg, keeping balance only with leg and head; stretch arms up, stretch arms to the sides, bring them along with body; it was quite fast-paced, and though the positions seemed simple, staying in them was the trick... even if the muscles are able to easily flex into such positions, they're not used to staying in most of them... and the constant work on each of the body parts certainly works out the body... every part that is being stretched. The class tasks are basically "stretch this, flex that, lift that, pull here, keep balance, keep the position for X breaths while stretching/flexing/lifting/pulling/balancing, and just breathe naturally and comfortably in and out while you do all of this - no hurried or blocked breathing".
Throughout the class, I noticed how rapidly my body seemed to adjust and gain flexibility for some positions. Reaching down to touch the floor with stretched legs, for example - the first time it seemed out of reach, but after a few ups and downs and leg stretches, I was touching it with my fingers. After a few more, my palm knuckles were. It felt good to sense my body changing and adapting.
The class lasted about 75 minutes, and it seemed to work out most of the main parts of my body. My legs felt especially exercised, my shoulders seemed looser, and I felt more flexible and relaxed in general. I was sweating moderately, but I didn't feel quite tired, and then Jesse mentioned that the next class was Power Yoga, and that we were welcome to stay. Curious and encouraged by my first class, I stayed. I moved my yoga mat to the center of the class so I could face the teacher directly, and lay down on the mat for a while. I felt energized though, so I began stretching my legs up as much as I could - first at an angle, then straight up, then back as far as they would go, aiming towards the floor. I played with my arms, sought new positions for them to be in, and tried to feel out the balance of my body as I stretched and flexed in several ways. I arched my back, I turned this way and that way, and just moved around until the class started.
And then it started. It felt very similar to the first class - same movements, same poses, about the same speed. Then I noticed a few new positions. They also seemed harder, or at least more complicated. "Bring your right leg to the front between your hands, then bring your right hand behind and beside your right leg. Pull your head as much as you can to fit behind your leg, even if it doesn't go all the way, then keep it there, bring your hand down, and stay there for 10 breaths". Or the firefly: "Crouch, spread your bent legs in front of you to over shoulder-width, bring your hands between and behind your legs, then stretch them out behind your legs. Put the weight of your legs on your arms, and lift your legs off the floor. Stay there for 10 breaths". And even if I felt that I breathed 10 times, slowly and deeply, I often finished them, then Jesse would still say "...we're gonna do 3 more...", and then after the 3 he'd say "...two more breaths...". I know people breathe at different rates, but I still felt a little like in PE - where the professor would always ask more iterations of us than he declared at the beginning.
Power Yoga made me sweat more than the first class, and its design felt geared to a higher intensity. A few times I slipped on my sweaty hands, lost balance, or decided to take a 5-10 second break before rejoining the group's movements. I tried to wipe off the sweat with a towel, but it didn't work - my hands were either sweating constantly, or the mat was sweaty itself. In any case, at the end of the class I felt quite worked-out, but still, not out of breath or exhausted. I felt sweaty, stretched, and internally energetic, though my muscles might not have been quite up to a sprint race in that moment.
In short, I loved the Hot Yoga class. Let's see what happens during the rest of this month (lots of classes!!!!)
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