Breaking the box

Since my separation I have adopted an attitude where I was going to be very open to stepping outside my box of comfort, doing things I have never done before.  Basically if an opportunity presents itself to me and I have never done it before, that is the indicator that I need to do it.  Some of these ventures out of my safe zone have been good, some have been bad, but they all have provided learning opportunities.

Well last night’s outside the box experience was taking my first legit yoga class.  My buddy at work had started going to yoga over the past year and has sung it’s praises regarding how it has helped his overall wellness.  He encouraged me to go to try it out.  So last night I did.

Now I have done some yoga poses on the Wii Fit so I was not a total noob.  I also do a few stretches on a regular basis for my running, primarily stuff for my quads and hamstrings.  Of course neither of these things prepared me for what was to come.

The first thing I noticed was the yoga studio was warm.  Before we did our first stretch I was already breaking into a sweat just because of the temperature of the room.  Once the class got underway I quickly realized I was going to be in for a rough hour.

I was the only first timer in the class so the instructor really couldn’t worry about my inexperience, she started into the holds rapid fire.  I was very surprised with the quick pace between the holds.  Not only did she call out the holds, she also called out if you should be inhaling or exhaling during them.  I discarded any breathing instructions, I was just trying to keep up with the poses/holds, many of which had names I was not familiar with from my Wii Yoga world.  I used the other people in the room as a visual reference.

Well as you can imagine, if I was sweating before we even got started, once we got actively rolling into non-stop movement the sweat output was increased, I was soaked in no time.

Movements that relied on flexibility in the hamstrings I could do relatively well.  Anything that focused on hip, shoulder or knee flexibility was extremely tough for me.  My swollen right knee made it even touchier in certain holds.

I was surprised that there was some hand balancing in the class, something I already work on with my calisthenics training.  People were surprised I could hold a frogstand with relative ease.  They also did wall handstands which I made sure to hold longer than anyone in my vicinity just because I am a competitive jerk.

I was quite glad when we finally arrived at the last section of the class where you basically just lay flat on your back while the instructor talks you through various visualizations to calm your inner self.  To be honest I had a hard time doing the visualizations, I was just glad to be able to lay there for a bit.

After cleaning off my sweat covered yoga mat I stood up, thoroughly spent from the session.  I was tired but in a good way.  My appreciation of yoga went to a new level.

I enjoyed the class enough to consider possibly working it into my routine once a week.  Yoga would compliment all of the other fitness activities I already participate in.

This was one of those out of the box steps that definitely is chalked up in the “win” column.