Over the weekend, I got a txt from Melissa telling me that I should find a yoga studio by me, for us to start going to.  Now, I had taken yoga in college about seven years ago, had found it to be boring and vowed never to do it again, but Melissa always has a way of persuading me to do things.  Okay, not really persuading as much as, we always have fun together no matter what we do, so why wouldn’t we have fun at yoga too?  The only thing that I was worried about was that we would end up laughing the whole time and be asked to leave.  The latter of which did not happen, but only because we got there late and were not seated next to each other; who knew that so many people take yoga!

I did not do a lot of research as to different studios…rather, I just picked one of the ones that popped up on my google search.  The studio was quaint.  Melissa and I got there early so that we could fill out paperwork (since it was our first time there), but still managed to be one of the last ones in the studio itself.  There wasn’t room for us to sit next to each other, so I ended up sitting directly in front of Melissa; in the front row.  I don’t know why, but any time I have ever taken a class that I was not completely confident in, I end up sitting in the front.  I don’t actually choose this…it just always seems to happen. 

As we waited for the class to begin, I kept looking back at Melissa and we would start silently laughing: it was probably a good thing that we were not next to each other.  The instructor came in and started the class with breathing; I remembered exactly why I had disliked yoga in the past: it’s slow.  Not only is it slow, but the movement from pose to pose is slow.  I’m the type of person that likes to get things done fast, not take my time.  For me, the most challenging part of yoga is making myself do things in a slow, methodical pace.  I hadn’t been able to master this back then, but maybe now that I’m older it will be different. 

At one point, I felt like I was going to faint, and after discussing the class afterwards with Melissa over Red Mango, I found out that she had felt the same.  Only, it wasn’t the end…it was only the halfway mark.  I thought to myself that I was not going to make it.  This of course, made me refocus myself.  It had been a long time since I’d taken any kind of exercise class.  The last time was when I was dating my most recent boyfriend, and had taken up kick boxing and Thai boxing for a year.  I hadn’t actually been interested in it at first, but his step-father owned a Martial Arts School.  I had originally started it as a way to spend more time with my guy, but I actually grew to love it.  I found Thai boxing very challenging, and that was why I loved it so much, just as I now found the yoga to be challenging.

After the class was over, we left the studio and headed to Red Mango for a treat.  It was kind of cold for it, especially because we were dressed for yoga and not the outside elements, but we didn’t care: our hands froze all the way back to the car, which is where we consumed the deliciousness; we had a time limit on our parking.  It was in the car that we decided to go back tomorrow (today) for a candle-lit meditation and relaxation class.  Hopefully it won’t be as demanding as the yoga, and we will be yoga-ing next week as well. 

We both woke up this morning in serious pain.  If we decide to stick with this yoga thing, I am considering freezing my gym membership and just doing this for a while: every once in a while, it’s good to completely change up your exercise routine in order to get the most optimum benefits 🙂