Pose Adjustment

My neighbor Connie called last week. She called about a new yoga class that she went to that she thought I would like. The call was surprising because all of the other times that Connie has called it was about construction, landscape or a mess that one of us was creating along our shared property line. It was also surprising because I had no idea that Connie does yoga. She is probably around 60, a retired school teacher and she and her husband are the only “out” republicans in our neighborhood.  I have also never seen any evidence of exercise including walks coming from their side of the fence. She said, “I know you really like to exercise and I think you would really like this. The teacher’s name is Nicky and she is supposed to be one of the best teachers in town”. * What the heck I thought and entered the time into my Google calendar and promptly forgot about it.

Flash forward to yesterday, the day it was on my calendar. What the heck I thought again. When I got dressed I put on my extra supportive exercise bra, a tank-top, my yoga pants and then all of the other layers I would need for the morning with my daughter and then a mad dash to the yoga studio after nursery school drop off.

Come 12pm I was at the yoga studio. Since Connie is kind of old I was not surprised to see that most of the other people there are older than I. Probably a nice spread of women in the late 40s, 50s and even 60s. Piece of cake I thought. I was feeling kind of superior for bringing my own yoga mat and not being the kind of person who needs to borrow one. I also thought that since I exercise a lot and do yoga once a week that it would be a piece of cake. I even started to think about the rest of the afternoon and how I would fit in a real workout after this.

When I arrived women were kind of milling around. I was not sure who to pay for my drop-in class so I looked for Nicky. In my mind, Nicky would be about 29, probably have some kind of pixy haircut dyed jet black, be wearing a cute form fitting x-back shirt with a built in bra to support her perky B sized breasts,  and have her nose pierced.  I was very surprised to find out that Nicky was probably in her mid-70s and had some kind of eastern European accent.  Hmmm, I guess this means the class will be for old ladies. I was a little disappointed but interested to see what golden sneakers yoga would be like. Again my mind went to the other real workout I would need to have later in the day to compensate.

We started the class with a standing pose and some breathing and then very quickly moved into some of the hardest and most intensive yoga that I have ever done. The old lady kicked my butt!! I looked at my watch thinking that the class was almost over and I was a mere 30 minutes into a 90 minute class. Nicky was not a warm nurturing earth mama. She was kept coming over and adjusting my out of alignment poses and when I confused my right and left hands and knees she said, “You are just not listening!.”  Did I mention, the old lady kicked my butt!!

I ended up with a good workout and I am sore, sore, sore today. Since I am a glutton for punishment I plan to go back next week.

AND most importantly I am thankful to be reminded not to judge a women’s strength or ability by the color of her hair, or wrinkles around her face. Thanks for the adjustment Nicky!

*Note: In the spirit of full disclosure I hate exercise. I may do it a lot and be happy when its over but I don’t like to exercise.