BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Yoga My First Ever Yoga Class

I took my first ever real in person yoga class today. I was petrified! You guys know I get nervous easily with strangers so this was a double whammy, strangers, plus doing physical things I might fail at.

Plus they moved the location so when the time came around and nobody was where I was I had to go scramble and figure out where they were, and I showed up late. So I had to wedge myself into a spot in the middle, instead of the way back where I wanted to be.

It was great! I am VERY glad I've done DVDs because a lot of times she'd say "go into downward facing dog" and I knew what it was. Otherwise it could be challenging. I knew most of the poses. It was an hour long and she broke 3 times for water. She was good about doing things like "touch your toes, or if you can't, just touch your knees". So she offered choices.

It was challenging at times, to hold a pose, but never ridiculous. I never felt like I was going to die if I tried to do what she asked.

I'll post some of my other comments as separate threads about individual items, so we can talk about them!

Bravo, Lisa! It sounds like such a positive experience! Your instructor obviously cares about how her students feel and offers alternatives to help them succeed!

Nancy

Yay, good for you. I was scared to go my first time to but my friend Andy tricked me. He said he would meet me there then as I was driving into the parking lot he called and said sorry I can't make it but you'll be fine on your own.

I almost didn't walk in. Don't know why it's so hard for most to go to their first class. Lots of clients have told me stories like this too.

If your like everybody else I know you'll be hooked in no time and wondering how on earth you ever lived without it for so long : )

It turns out the instructor this time was a sub so I'll have to see next week what the "real" instructor is like!

ok so here I was thinking that the sub was a killer yoga person and I was tired out. The regular woman who does yoga looks like Sarah Connor from Terminator 2 Very muscular and lean. Which is cool, but slightly intimidating.

"Hold your leg above your head for 8 hours. See how easy it is?"

OK she's not that bad but where the first instructor did lots of smooth flow action things, this one is more of the hold-position-for-10-hours. Which is hard in a different way.

Good news, I had my new yoga pants so I was not bright red in embarrassment the whole time because my shorts were riding inappropriately. Also the class was much smaller so I could be in the back and have plenty of room and see things. The weather was *gorgeous* for our outdoor yoga.

The first instructor used new agey music which I loved. This one used Michael Jackson and other active music, which distracted me.

Nobody got up during the ending meditation! Great!

Lisa, you may be happy to find out that the instructor varies the practise a bit each time, so it may not be all about long holds every time.
The long holds are called Yin practise, and while I like that once in a while I'm happier with the more flowing type of Yang practise. Last fall my familiar yoga teacher moved away, and her replacement does only Yin practise, and I finally couldn't take it any more and started going to a different teacher who has a much more flowing Power Yoga practise. I was worried that at age 76 I would be the real odd man out in the class, but I simply do as much as I can without pushing myself over the edge, and I find that the challenge is doing me good!
The point is that you can usually find something useful to take out of every teacher's practise; so good luck and have fun!

Lisa, were your hands slippery during this class? Oh, and you'll burn fat and raise your endurance level maintaining a hold. And, it'll shape your body beautifully!

Nancy

Depending on my mood, i enjoy both flow yoga and the pose holding. I find they do different things for me mentally. The flow yoga is nice and relaxing (I don't like power yoga - I do yoga to relax). but i almost love the hold pose type more, because it forces me to breathe into the pose and relax into it. I need to learn to relax into my life in so many ways. So spiritually it's very good for me to do the holding.