Sara tries yoga part II

What I wore: Purple Rese crops,
Lulu FTB bra, Lulu Salute the Sun Singlet.
Loved this outfit. 

I tried yoga!

I have done exactly one yoga class in my life. And I didn't go back. Neither did any of my friends. It wasn't my speed. I'm too ADD and fidgety. I always need to be moving. I am so bad at sitting still.

Fast forward two years. I'm determined to try yoga again. Everyone loves it. I could use some calm in my life.

There's a free yoga class I can go to. I never made it last semester. I'm determined to make it this semester.

My mood that morning.

So after an EXTREMELY STRESSFUL morning at work, I decide I will go to yoga for lunch. I will turn my phone off. And any emergencies can wait an hour until I get back. (I'd wanted to go to yoga that day so I packed yoga clothes.)

I'm leaving for yoga (I have one coworker covering my work for an hour) and another coworker is going to the same class. Even better! We ride together.

The class is maybe a dozen people of varying ages and body shapes. The light is off. It's dim and tranquil. There's calm-ish pop music playing. So far so good. I set up a mat in the back. I'm behind a fabulous woman with a white bob and cool lulu crops that I regret not buying. I bet she knows what she's doing.

People are getting pillows. And I do not know what the pillows are for. (I do like nap time!)

I make sure to tell the teacher that I'm TRYING but might not know all the moves.

And the class starts. It's lots of downward dog and plank positions. (I know these moves! Hooray!) I don't know warrior pose. (I was possibly the worst at this of anything in the class.) I wasn't sure what the position was. Where were my feet? My arms?

And since I was in back, I couldn't see the teacher. So I'd try to watch a neighbor, but when we faced the side, I had no one to watch.

I liked all the downward dog stretches. And I knew a good bit of poses—maybe just not all the details, or sequences. But I definitely wasn't lost. I kept up pretty decently.

I learned chair pose. (With eagle or evil arms!? I couldn't tell what she was saying.)

We tried tree pose, which some days I have pretty good. But the mats on the floors in this room made balance extra hard. I tried tree pose with leg extended, which I had trouble with. I'm blaming the mats.

We even got to work on crow (which I know. I hope that I impressed the teacher. Second ever yoga class and I can hold crow for 7 seconds before falling loudly to the mat. I did fall the loudest in the class.) Then we moved on crow to (almost a candle stick roll.) I like this part of class!

Playing with crow the next day. #badlighting #needahaircut

The class ends with something like supported fish, which you lay back on the pillows (they're called bolsters). Which I couldn't do with my knees open. My stupid hip flexors. The teacher came and put some blocks under my knees (so that's what they are for!). And then we decided just to put my legs straight out front (relaxed). And we sat there forever. We did some eye exercises. I was fidgety and seeing what everyone else was doing without being too obvious.

My apple watch said I burned 181 active calories in 56 minutes. (Which is interesting since it said 82 calories in a pilates class.) I also went running later that night. I think I felt less achey than I normally do going into the run. (Which yoga + running two -a-days might be what I need. Or yoga on my rest day. Decisions.)

MY THOUGHTS
I actually really liked this yoga class. I do think that I need to stretch more. And taking this class, which is a lot of stretching could add some balance to my workout schedule (run, abs, trampoline, gymnastics, run, HIIT barre, run, bootcamp, handstands, cycling)

I didn't get too bored until the end of class, when I decided just to relax instead of doing the eye exercises she was telling me to do (and think about how tight my hip flexors always are.) She had me engaged for 45 of 55 minutes, which is saying something. Some of the poses I was too ADD to hold for too long so I was looking around, but it was so much better than the last time I tried yoga. Maybe I liked the teacher better.

Overall, it was a good experience with yoga. And I liked that it was restorative. I feel like a beat myself up so hard running hills and flipping my body though the air, jumping and just pushing myself to my limit. It's nice to do something that challenges me (all the down dog pushups etc) but doesn't nearly kill me.

I'd love to go again. But it's so hard to get out of the office at lunch. MAYBE I could fit yoga in once a week?

BONUS: I was a lot calmer after class. 

If I went again
1) I'd sit up front so I could see what she was doing. (So get there earlier)
2) Ask the teacher about the warrior pose, triangle pose sequence
3) Maybe do some stretching on my own--when I feel like I need to stretch something else or stretch further down. (I always want to do splits instead of pigeon.)

If you go:
1) I was really worried I'd be lost and wouldn't know the poses. I've learned so many of these poses from other exercise classes and stretching that I was not lost. So, don't think you'll be lost. You'll be fine!
2) Don't be afraid to sit up front. (Or bring a friend to watch).
3) Find a a teacher and speed of yoga that works for you.

And I was a dork and used the yoga blocks to do an L hold after class. I totally wanted to try over-splits on them.

A lady came up to me and had heard this was my first class (they'd all been coming all semester). I said it was. She smiled and said it was the toughest class they'd had all semester. I told her I was a beast. Bring on the hard classes!