Yogalicious

Our summer seems to have really tapered off all the sudden. We've opted out of certain activities due to Stiner's back - like Stacey and Crow's camp out wedding last weekend. I hope it was magical, and was sad not to join in the festivities. Our trip to celebrate her dad's 60th in Colorado has also been canceled for other reasons. So it's both strange and welcome to have a mellow patch in our typically frenzied summer.

One of things I've been focusing on is my body/back. I need to step it up around the house, do most of the lifting, and such. I've had re-occurring back issues for the last decade or so, and now the activities that I usually avoid are the ones that I need to take charge of. Thus, I've decided to start doing Yoga twice a week to supplement my bi-weekly work outs. Its something I've had in mind to do for a while anyways - our current situation has spurred me to take action.

I've now been to a total of 3 classes at Bija yoga. I went to an intro class last week prior to Galactic, and decided to commit to 10 classes at the studio. My experience so far:

• All the level 1 classes are sparsely attended. I think this is fantastic.
• I've not seen another single male student yet.
• I'm terribly unflexible.
• Somehow I never correlated pain with Yoga before. I know better now.
  
• The white folding chair is a fun prop.
  
• I've a different teacher for each class. The teacher makes a big difference.
  
• Never wear boxers under your sweats.
  
• Every class starts with a chant. I have no idea in what language or why we're doing it.
  
• An hour and a half yoga session goes by surprisingly fast.

I did a morning class today, and for the first time, I could feel my body thank me for going to class. That was most encouraging.

At the end of class, we do a silent meditation pose for a couple minutes. We are supposed to let our minds focus on our bodies and not dwell upon thoughts. At one class, the instructor kept telling us to let the [something in yoga] wash over us. For some reason, I kept substituting the [yoga phrase] with "tuna melt". This led to a fit of silent giggles during our meditation. I think I failed the lesson.