Day 23

A new beginning…


I took a beginner's hot yoga class today. I thought it would be a good refresher course and maybe I would learn how I wasn't quite aligned correctly. But that didn't happen. Chanting and nomenclature got in the way.

The teacher began class with chanting. The first round of chanting was "like the sound of the ocean" as the teacher described. That wasn't so bad. The next round of chanting was just that- a round of "om" like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat". This did not go over well. No one knew when to stop so when the teacher stopped chanting, so did the class. Overall we sounded like a broken radiator.

After the chanting stopped the confusion really began. When the teacher said, "lie on your back, knees bent, palms out and then press down," I had no idea she was trying to get us into bridge. "Beginner's class my eye!" I thought. "This teacher is awful. She doesn't even know how to describe bridge."

Then again after plow, she instructed us to cross our legs and then scissor them- it was all too much. The worst, however, was when she wanted us to go from warrior three to down dog split, back to warrior three. My thighs were beyond burning and I thought, "She is nuts!" I let out a dramatic and audible "ugh". I suddenly felt guilty because I knew I was complaining. But I couldn't shake being more than a little miffed at the teacher.

"I'll never take her class again," I thought as I stuck another sticker on the "20 in 30" board.

After class I realized why I was angry. It wasn't because of the chanting or the way the new teacher described poses. It wasn't even because she made my thighs want to melt into the mat. I was upset because things were different.

I wanted my old teachers back, the teachers that I knew who didn't start off chanting rounds or describing poses in a different language. I wanted the familiar. Having the same teachers I was beginning to feel comfortable with yoga. After all I could flow through poses now: warrior one, warrior two, peaceful warrior, triangle, cartwheel hands down, plank, up dog, and down dog. I had to admit to myself that I went into today's class believing that I might be too advanced for the beginner's class.

I was wrong. I am a beginner and a new teacher taught me that today.

Challenge Counter:
Number of Hot Yoga Classes: 13