But I Do

Put mat next to Janice's in Gloria's class last night. Met Janice in another Gloria class.

Things that I know about Janice:

Where she works

Number of children (including one who works at a computer but is not convinced that stretching will help his neck pain)

What area she lives in

Mother is a bibliophile

I don't really know Janice but I do. Don't feel like I'm infringing on her airspace when we make a wide V with our legs or when we're twisting, arms extended.

Also know that I enjoy practicing next to someone that I'm familiar with even though no words or looks, barely, are exchanged.

Felt lovely after class too. Must have been all of that hip opening with dragon and pigeon...

I am totally addicted to relaxation music and looking forward to creating my next playlist.

Favorite song so far is Lili Haydn's The Longing.

Do you have a favorite relaxation song?

But I'm Pure Yoga

Went to sign up for boxing class and it was full. Waited too long to decide on what I wanted to do and missed an opportunity to participate in another class that incorporated boxing and still another boxing class at another gym. I don't think that I was meant to box today.

It was a perfect day for bicycling or maybe hot yoga but I finally decided to tackle the lawn so that I don't have to deal with it this weekend.

Went to my gentle yoga class and saw no sign of my 4'7 teacher, Donna, who frequently talks about not being able to do poses a certain way because of her short arms. I also did not see Donna's usual sub.

I see this woman walk towards the front of the class and I kind of recognize her. I'm pretty sure that it's the woman from another branch of my gym. I went to her class once last year when I was supposed to go to Yoga at the Confluence (where the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers meet) but it rained hard that day and I opted to go to a yoga class at my gym thinking that few people would come out in the rain. Wrong. Her (Gloria) class was packed and I barely squeezed in.

As we arranged our mats, I heard Gloria say to Marissa, who teaches this hardcore Muscle Works class, I wish that I could sub for you but I'm pure yoga and she said this matter-of-factly as if she were saying her name or address and I remember when I went to her class before, I could tell that she was the yoga teacher by the way she was dressed and the way she moved.

Gloria: What kind of class do you want tonight?

Class: Silence...

Hmmm,  no one had ever asked that before....

At one point, she asked us to shake everything out and she was completely goofy with her movements which made us laugh. Yoga is not that serious, she said and she pretty much dropped science for the whole hour. When we did hip openers -- the hips are the junk drawer of the body.

We did some amazing stretches. We put our feet together, cupped our heads and leaned back for an amazing stretch. Ditto for making an okay sign with the fingers then grabbing that "okay" hand by the wrist then leaning in the direction of the "okay." Amazing.

And after we got through with all of those amazing stretches, our final pose was to make eagle arms. Just the arms. Seriously? This pose haunts me but when she saw me just cross my arms over my shoulders she said It's okay to do that... Then we got down on our mats and made eagle legs. Earlier in the program, we did half camel and it was kind of cool to do that pose halfway.

We got around to savasana and the tears started rolling. Guess I cleaned some junk out of the drawer... After namaste, Gloria thanked us and we thanked her and I saw Linda -- this older woman who is a workout machine. She takes Marissa's class, yoga then rides her bike home.

I asked her how often she exercises and she told me that her father says: Linda, you make coffee nervous...

As for Gloria, she is pure yoga. You can tell by her energy, what comes out of her mouth and the way she moves...

You Know What They Say About Hip Openers

It was a Jeremy-free yoga session and Cindy was the captain of the ship. Actually, she reminded me of a flight attendant:

Legs in the upright position. Feet as if they're walking on the ceiling. Arms parallel to feet and we're here for five, four, three, two, one...Halfway down for five, four, three, two, one...two inches above the floor for five, four, three, two, one...exhale and bring your knees to your chest. Inhale...arms above head. Exhale with two breaths, touch your toes and spin back around.

Cindy was her usual on point self urging us to clear our minds. She made me laugh during cobra when she told us everything off the ground except for hips unless we were good at levitating.

Despite the good advice, I felt like I was going through the motions in class and never got in touch with Ujjayi breathing. And, yes, I write stuff like that now. After 90 minutes of yoga, my mood turned pissy. Maybe it's hormones, the hip openers or both.

Before savasana started, Cindy told us to take a moment and appreciate what our bodies had done. Maybe I was too tired to move or too tired to notice but there were only two people in the room when I finally emerged from savasana. Perhaps another round of savasana is in order...