Yogi Bear? Yogurt? OH! Yoga!

With the invitation from a friend to give a month of yoga a try , I found myself on a borrowed mat in a gentle class. A room full of thin, limber, stretchable, serene people isn't really a place I've ever thought was a good fit for a small, roundish lady who has a scorching case of undiagnosed ADHD. Stillness, quiet and focus are not my strengths, and I believe that recognizing and respecting your limitations is an important quality in life. Flexibility is surprisingly mine, but I look like a blobular glob when I stretch my limbs into unnatural poses. I've been to one or two classes before, but my attendance was more socially driven than truly inspired.

The good news is that I am already the owner of an impressive yoga-pant collection.  When the sundresses are stored for the season, yoga pants become my uniform for the bleary months that you don't exactly want the breeze blowing up your skirt.  How could I resist the urge to actually put them to use? Who knows?  Maybe after a month of it, I might appear to actually belong in them. 

So, there I was, focusing. Focusing on the fact that my mat was not my favorite color of pink, on what ZK might actually stand for,  whether the class would last an hour or was it longer and that I was the only person in class that actually wore yoga pants.  Maybe the teacher had some on, but my classmates were so cool they just wore sweats, shorts or (my personal favorite) polka-dot leggings. So....maybe true yogis don't need the pants.

Focus, Crys. Focus.  ON YOGA!

Breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out.  Breath in, hold it, breath out.  My breaths didn't match the instruction.  Trying to do it for as many seconds as suggested really confused me.  For a while, I was doing a breathing cycle opposite of the one instructed.  Trying to get my breaths in sync resulted in a little hyperventilation and a little dizziness.

Next came poses and some cool hand exercises with a ball.  That was fun, and I was enjoying myself.  I made some mental notes to incorporate some of the best ball-hand massages into my doula techniques and then came my favorite part of yoga:  Laying down on the mat!  Stretches, relaxing and that cool thing they do to the back of your neck.  Finally, a nap.  Just like in Bradley birth class, yoga ends with a totally relaxed nappy-nap.  Sweet mother of sleep, did I enjoy just laying there!  Instructed to do so, I felt zero guilt and was surprised to find my mind relaxed and unfocused.  Yes, unfocused must be the key.  I had been trying too hard to focus on peace, on zen, on relaxing, when the key was to just relax

I think I'll go back on Tuesday and relax.