...To Lay A Tablecloth on Your Back

Roy DeCarava's Catsup Bottles, Table and Coat

Still basking in the glow of swimming a mile. I think this is about my fifth or sixth time. Hopefully, I’ll make that milestone more often and the novelty will wear off.


I don’t get to swim on Saturday often but several climbing buddies were out of town and another, Patti, decided she wanted to unclutter -- a perfect opportunity to squeeze swimming into the schedule. At lap 25, I was slated to leave but 25 is so close to 32.5 that I couldn’t pass it up. I had to fight for the last five laps but I did it.

Missed yoga last Sunday because of the Rock ‘n’Roll Marathon gridlock but made sure that I got out of the house with enough time to spare since this class averages about 40 people.

It was the best of classes and the worst of classes.

People tend to arrive as late as 15 minutes for this super-packed class. This woman who came in late put her mat directly in front me which wouldn’t have been a big deal if there hadn’t been more space around her.
Who am I? The main character is Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man? When people do stuff like that it makes me want to kick them and I’m pretty sure that you should feel less like kicking while you’re practicing yoga…

We had a sub. I think her name is Sandy.

Sandy is very soft-spoken and she told us that from the get-go. She said that if anyone was new to yoga, they should move closer to the front. Otherwise, if we couldn’t necessarily hear her, seasoned yogis could pick up on visual cues.

Sandy was all about pulling in the core then taking a deep breath and, in general, taking breaths during asanas and between them.

It was, by far, one of the quietest yoga classes that I’ve attended but there was no need for Sandy to raise her voice. It’s kind of hard to explain but Sandy cast a calm spell over us and she did an excellent job of holding space and, for the matter, guiding.

When we were in table top, she told us that if she were to place a tablecloth on our back, it would just lay there or when we balanced our spine with one leg and arm extended she said Imagine that someone is tugging at your fingers and toes.

Before class started Sandy asked, very nicely, for everyone to turn their electronic devices off as opposed to on vibrate etc. and before savasana, she asked that if people had to leave, to do it quietly. I guess you can say that Sandy is good at setting the table.