I'd Rather Be Dancing

Today I took my very first yoga class. I went here: It's Yoga San Francisco

I used to be a ballet dancer. I danced until the muscles in my legs were as strong as a Navy Seal. I was on a gymnastics team. I was so good when I was 6 years old that my parents started trying to figure out if the family could move to Texas so I could train with Bela.

There are two bottom lines about today's yoga class:
1. It definitely made me sweat, and my muscles are sore.
2. I'd rather be dancing.

I had a nice time - I met up with two girls, each of whom I'd met exactly once before, but were both very nice. The instructor was very warm and encouraging and could NOT have been nicer. Nobody else in the class paid me any attention, which is pretty much how I like things. But....

There were certain poses where my body could have gone further, but I didn't have the muscle control to make it happen, and it would have been helpful if the instructor had come over and forced my leg higher, further, whatever the pose called for.

I am used to instructors constantly correcting things. "Shoulders back." "Chest out." "Suck in the gut." "Turn out more." "Hips over knees over feet."
I needed feedback in order to do each pose more perfectly, and didn't get that. Why? Because yoga is not about getting it perfect - it's about gently stretching the body to make it feel good and to make you more aware of, and in touch with, your body. COMPLETELY FOREIGN TO ME!

So all in all, I'm definitely glad I went. I got to experience a yoga class - something I've wanted to do for a long time. I did something social with new people. The yoga, all 90 minutes of it, DEFINITELY worked my body.

But... it gave me a wedgie like no other, and it mostly just made me nostolgic for a ballet class.