#49 check out my warrior pose

I got to cross another one off the 101 list today!

✔ 49: Try yoga.

I had been meaning to get my butt to the base gym to do this already, but it I admit it took a bit of urging from a gal I just met at a spouse event Monday night to finally bite the bullet and do it.  No, I'd never had any experience with yoga before, and I definitely didn't know my Downward Facing Dog from my Child's Pose.  I decided to go to Hatha Yoga, because the gym's class guide said it was good for beginners.

I didn't do any preliminary research, but B did some yoga in college to fulfill his P.E. requirement (everything else was full, he says).  All he really told me is that he fell asleep often.  That being said, I figured it was a good excuse to bust out my lounge pants.  Because don't yoga people always wear pants?   I showed up and soon realized that my sneakers were unnecessary.  The gym has always equaled sneakers to me; I guess I didn't think that far ahead.  I kept the socks on though, since I'd rather not catch Athlete's Foot again (which I had when I was 10 and don't care to repeat).  All the other women were barefoot, but I did take note that the A-school rescue divers in the back were rocking the stocking feet also.

The instructor was an adorable pregnant gal (6 months along, she said) with a really thick north-Midwestern accent (I'm guessing maybe Upper Peninsula Michigan?).  I usually don't mind accents, but sometimes it took me a bit to realize what "axe - hell" actually meant.  Anyway, she was a pretty good instructor.  She couldn't do all the moves herself due to her pregnancy (and called out modified forms for the other preggo gal in class), so she told me to follow the older ladies around me, who were a big help.

Some of these poses were stretches I recognized from my elementary-school gymnastics days (cobra = seal stretch, and I think the lady next to me did a back-bend at some point), and others were positions we use in Gut Cut (plank and side plank, anyone?).  And yes, there were parts of the class where we just LAID there either on our stomach or back for like 5 minutes.  I can totally see how B fell asleep.  However, I had just woken up to take this class, so I really wasn't interested in going back to bed.

During the laying-on-our-stomach time, the instructor walked around and tried to push on people's backs to get the tightness out or whatever.  She made it to me, said, "Oh, so much tightness in there," then proceeded to freakin' PUMMEL my back with her fists.  Yowch, no wonder I'm tight!  That hurt!  Worst massage EVER.

As for the music, it was mostly soothing until some song with absolutely ridiculous lyrics came on.  As a singer, I can't help but listen to lyrics, and these were just plain AWFUL.  [Something about wanting to be born 50 years ago and seeing some girl outside watering her yard?  Wth?]  I think sticking to instrumentals would be a good idea.

Overall, it felt a bit too 'hippy-dippy-trippy' for me, which was substantiated at the end when the instructor thanked everyone for letting her "guide their journey" and then everyone (sans myself) responded with some foreign greeting that sounded like "Amistad."

Will I go back?  Possibly.  But it might take a friend to drag me there.  For now, I think I'll stick with my sneakers-required gym classes.  I'm can't say I'm a fan of leaving the gym feeling like I still need to work out.