Yes dear readers, I am a ninja.
So said my instructor yesterday, as I am apparently so quiet when going into my poses that you wouldn't hear me if I sneaked up behind you. Doing yoga poses apparently.
It was an awesome hatha class. I was energized and ready for the day once I left, and I just loved it. I was hoping he would be teaching other classes, but it looks like he was just a substitute instructor. I will keep an eye out though, just in case. It's kind of fun doing yoga with a surfer boy.
And then there was today, lucky day 13. Due to hot yoga teacher training, the class I took last week and was hoping to take every Sunday was preempted, and a Power Yoga for Hips class took its place (next week as well.) The teacher was very, very nice, but it was the hardest class I've ever done.
I am more of a strength-based yogi, which comes in handy for postures like the plank and downward dog. I am NOT a flexibility-based yogi, at all. And this class was hugely based on flexibility, making it very hard.
The idea of it seemed so great, because I do hold a lot of tension in my hips and I would love to be able to release it. But a flexibility-based class is just not what I can handle right now, as much as I wish I could.
At the end of the class he asked me how it was and whether I enjoyed it. I said I had enjoyed it to some degree, but that it was really, really hard. His response was that it's supposed to be hard, which I disagree with.
I don't do yoga as a form of exercise, though it certainly is one. I do it more for the mental and spiritual benefits that I cannot get from my time at the gym. I've certainly seen some physical benefits of this challenge, including better sleep, increased energy level (most of the time) and a bit of increased strength, but I am not going to yoga to lose weight. I go to the gym four days a week for that.
Yoga is supposed to be challenging, but I don't think it should ever be hard. I don't want to go to yoga and be frustrated when I leave because I felt like I made a fool of myself. Even though something in me is telling me to try again, to do that class next week because if it's hard, it's something I should be doing, I just don't want to. I want to go back to my hot yoga, secure in the feeling that even if it's challenging, I'm still capable of doing it. I don't think I'm capable of doing that class again.
I'm frankly terrified of tomorrow. I have a meeting after work and I'm not able to attend my usual 5:15 hot class, so I signed up for a 7 a.m. core class with the same instructor I had today. My abs are definitely the weakest part of my body, and after today I think it's going to be another hard day. My other option is a 6:30 a.m. hot class, but I don't think I'm the type of person who can get up at 5:30 to go to yoga. I may spend half the class in child's pose on my mat.
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