Yoga is not for Sissies

In the last few months I have started to do vinyasa yoga. For any disbelievers as to the difficulty of yoga, let me correct your assumptions and tell you right off the bat that it is really hard, and it will kick your butt.

Spiderman (my boyfriend - I will call him that since he sincerely believes he is an arachnid-man) thought it was "girly" until I took him to a class where all the guys - half the class - looked totally diesel and my dearest ended up huffing and puffing his way through the asanas until he collapsed into a sweaty mess onto his mat (I was also like this the first few times). I am very proud of him, though, because now he goes too and is not only Spiderman but will someday be a master yogi.

In yoga, you will find yourself in some very compromising positions, things you had never thought you could make your body do: putting your legs over your head, reaching around with your right arm between your crotch to catch your left arm under your right thigh, squatting while balancing on your tippy toes. You wouldn't want anyone tickling you while you do this.
Wear long pants, for the love. Also, mind you, this is done in a room that is heated to your body temperature, so it is generally inevitable that everyone leaves a nice little puddle of sweat on the floor after their practice.

So why would anyone engage in such masochistic tendencies? Sometimes I too ask this myself in the middle of crow pose when I'm trying to balance my entire body on my elbows.

I, for one, wasn't able to do a pushup 4 months ago. I cheated and did the dinky knee-on-the-floor-pushup for middle school girls. Now I can do LOTS! And they're not the knee-pushup, they are the real deal. Also, I feel really energized afterwards - but not tired. That's the chakra, the mojo, being released and helping to keep the yang up :0)

I've also been much more aware of my breathing and posture during the day. It's funny that I pay someone to teach me how to breathe; but in our society we're not really aware of that. It's the same reason I will pay good money for a great massage, which is essentially paying someone to touch you for 60 minutes: it's all about focusing on yourself for a moment.

One more thing about yoga, though: all the release of that energy comes out in different ways too. At one particularly crowded class some woman kept releasing her foul-smelling brew three feet away from my face, and this in a space where you are being told to focus on your breathing! There are also people - male and female - who come to class wearing little more than tiny shorts made of dental floss. Avoid placing your mat directly behind these people, you will regret it in cat pose. And like I said before, wear long pants.