Y Is for Yoga

It started at a party during the holiday season where I saw one of my favorite people in the whole world. She's an accountant and a yoga teacher. She's written checks for me since 1989, and whenever I send her an invoice, we exchange a couple of sentences about movies. But on this occasion, I asked her about teaching.

"Do you teach beginners?" I asked. That would be me. I've followed Richard Hittleman's 28 day program at home, but then strained my Achilles, and abandoned the practice all together.

She told me she did have a beginning class, once a week, 7:30 to 9:00 AM.

"I would love to do it," I told her, "But there's no way I'm getting up that early."

We continued to talk. She told me why she started yoga. She told me how she became a teacher. She told me more about the class.

"Suppose I did do it," I said. "Would it be the kind of thing where I could just show up?"

She told me about class fees and class schedules. She said the next class would be in two weeks, because she was going on retreat. She told me about the retreat.

"All right," I said, "Then I think you'll see my smiling, tired face two weeks from now."

She told me it would be the last class of the year.

"Oh," I said, "Maybe I should wait until 2008."

She laughed. "Just come," she said.

So I did. I showed up at the ungodly hour and I claimed two mats, two wood blocks, one purple block, a bolster, and a strap. I stretched and balanced and rested and twisted and lifted and then the class was over.

"But that seemed like five minutes," I told my friend.

I have now gone to three classes. I still love it. I worry the day beforehand, "Did I set the alarm? I don't want to miss my yoga."

I notice now sometimes when my shoulders are up. I sometimes now remember to breathe. Is it yoga yet?

Comments

[Lisa Kenney]

That sounds like yoga to me. I used to do quite a bit of yoga and in late 2004 when my father was diagnosed with lung cancer, we made a series of moves around the country and my whole routine was shaken up and has never recovered. I remember that feeling. I remember vividly the very first yoga class that I took and the end of class relaxation and how I never wanted it to be over.

[Wendy]

Lisa, I know what you mean. I think it's a really wonderful activity. The great thing is is that there's so many classes and so many teachers. If you want, there's so many opportunities to start again.