Yoga

So on Wednesday night, I went to my first ever Ashtanga Yoga class. Now, I’d heard all these great things about yoga, and I know lots of people who do it regularly, but I’d never myself participated.

So I’d imagined yoga as this serene, peaceful, meditative exercise — low strain, low stress, etc. But let me tell you people, that’s all lies. Yoga is hard. First of all, I may be somewhat wussy, but I just don’t have the strength to hold a downward dog pose for that long. Nor am I flexible enough to do half of the other exercises. And relaxing? I was having such a hard time figuring out what I was supposed to be doing, and desperately trying to maintain the pose that I was stressed, stressed, stressed. To boot, and this may in fact be part of the point, I sweated up a storm. So much so, in fact, that my mat had become slippery underneath my hands and feet. eww! (and a little dangerous).

By the end of the 90-minute session, I felt like I’d run a marathon. I knew I was going to be sore, but I had no idea that I would be this sore.

All that being said, it was fantastic. I retrospectively (is that a word?) really enjoyed my session. In fact, I’m going to sign up to take a 4-week introductory course at the same studio. Which probably means 4 weeks of my going ‘owww…’ everytime I move, but well, it’s probably for the best. I’m insanely inflexible, and indeed, my ankle problems are significantly exacerbated by that fact, and I can see just how much regular Yoga practice would help that. And the non-impact nature of Yoga means that I can do it without doing further damage to my ankle (although I will have to be careful with some of the poses, just because my mobility is still poor).