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| (This is NOT what I looked like.) |
And in this next installation of things that scare me... Yoga. Yep, even relaxation techniques freak me out. For years, I've been fascinated with the idea of yoga, but too nervous to take a class in front of actual yoga-ers watching me. And WAY too nervous to have a teacher pointing out my bad form. My fear was that the judgmental teacher and amazing twisty-like-a-pretzel students would ruin my experience, making me hate yoga forever.
But here's the silliest part about it. I secretly love yoga, even though I've never really tried it. I own a whole laundry load of yoga pants, a barely-used turquoise yoga mat, and a queue full of yoga videos on Netflix. If you're a scaredy cat like me who wants to try yoga in the comfort of your own home without the embarrassment of doing it in front of a bunch of people, I highly recommend the Crunch Candlelight Yoga video. Although most of my yoga experience has been by the light of the glowing TV screen and not any actual candles, I also took a few basic yoga classes in college. TV and college yoga made me feel happy and relaxed, but still not confident enough to hold my own in a real class.
Last week, I'm proud to say that I took my very first yoga class – with people! I grabbed my fear by the hand and dragged it, thrashing and cursing and punching things, into the yoga studio with me. I'd love to say my first yoga class was a nurturing, kind and painless experience, but it wasn't. But that's the best part of the whole thing, I think. Even though my first class was awkward and painful and weird, it's perfectly okay! Sure, there's a couple of things I wish I knew before I got there – I should have brought a towel and a bottle of water. I should have taken a super-beginner's class instead of one that had a variety of twisty-pretzel skill levels. Because, let's be honest, I was quite obviously the worst one in the class. Downward dog, the most basic yoga position of all time, made my arms and legs rattle and my back cramp up. But when the class was over, I left feeling relaxed, light and free – probably because I left all of that fear on the studio floor. And all of that sweat.
