This is about as close to touching my toes as I have come since hitting puberty some 18 years ago. It’s embarrassing and alarming! This photo was taken about 10 minutes after an hour of deep stretching in my first yoga class of the Power Year. I don’t have documentation to confirm this, but I estimate that just prior to the class I was probably two inches shy of this pathetic showing. I am really inflexible. Physically.
I usually go to classes at Core Power Yoga, which is basically yoga meets jazzercize in vibe. It’s a fast moving, heated vinyasa class with a lot of emphasis on the core (i.e. crunches.) I really enjoy these classes because I feel like I’m actually getting a workout in addition to reaching those fingertips just a little bit closer to those toes.
The problem with Core Power is that it’s pretty far from my house and if I go home after work I often lose momentum for braving the traffic to make it to a class at rush hour timez. So on Friday I tried out Yoga Shala which is just a few blocks from my house. It was very different from the crowded, hot, fitness vibe of Core Power. There were only two other people in my class at Yoga Shala, and the instructor started us off with a good deal of chanting. I think you can guess where I’m headed with this.
I don’t care for hippie yoga. It stresses me out to be told to empty my mind. I don’t want my sweaty head to be touched during Triangle Pose and I certainly don’t want to be murmured to. I want to get in, stretch my damn hamstrings, do too many chaturangas, attempt a head stand and go home! No chanting at me, and no encouraging me to chant, okay?! No chanting!!
So it seems that Yoga Shala is not for me. I bought a 3-pack of classes at a special new student price ($21), so I’ll go back at least twice but after that I think I’m done. There’s a hot yoga studio nearby that my friend Amy swears by, so that will probably be my next step. They have a 10 classes for 10 dollars deal for new students- that would get me 1/5th of the way toward my goal!
But for now: 1 class down, 51 to go.
i go everyday. just let me know when you want to come along. we can get beers afterwards, which helps to wash away any residual hippie vibe and leaves you feeling like a superyogi!