Adventures in the gym, Part 1

Where I'm from, the summers are scorchers.  As you well know, there is a mathematical equation that guides fashion during said scorchers... the increase of temperature corresponds directly with a decrease in clothing worn.  [I'll save the modesty post for another day.]  When people wear tank tops and shorts, the condition of their muscles, or lack thereof becomes more apparent.  All this to say, I live in a city obsessed with their own image.  There are gyms on every corner.  Gyms can be fun and helpful, as I'm learning this week.  My mom belongs to one of these aforementioned gyms, not because she's self-obsessed, just healthy and awesome, and gave me her 7 day friend pass to use while I'm at home.

Day 1: Yoga Class
Because I am a future teacher, I love classes.  Cooking classes, sewing classes, language classes, music classes, dance classes, you name it.  Thursday morning I woke up and sleepily stumbled out of my bedroom to find some breakfast.  Mom tossed me a good morning and asked if I wanted to go to yoga class with her.  [Note: this was her first time, and she's more of the kickboxing type, not the zen, yoga, pass the organic hemp milk type.]  First I said no, then I said yes, being indecisive by nature, and more so after just waking up.  I trotted back to my room, threw on some shorts and a roomy v-neck with a picture of Africa that I thought would be cool enough for yoga class.  I grabbed my trusty green Nalgene on the way out and hopped in the car.  Mom and I strode confidently into the gym and into the classroom [if nothing else, we're go getters].  We scoped out the situation... bare feet and mats, ok, here we go!

The warm-up was a little comical for someone who is a novice yoga-er.  Lots of breathing, good energy, bad energy, blah, blah, blah.  I almost lost it a couple times just thinking how goofy we all probably looked.  The funny thing was, I don't think the instructor believed a word of it, she was just speaking Yoga language to teach the class.  After the warm up, things got a little more interesting.  Several downward facing dog, Monkey, Half Moon, Sunrise, and Warriors later, we were sweating it up and feeling muscles stretch we didn't even know we had.  The instructor led the class through several rounds of pose routines, including one involving standing in a one-leg squat with the free leg wrapped around the squat leg and the arms twisted around each other.  You bet your bottom dollar I was sore the next day.  Mom and I walked out of that class feeling like every muscle that could possibly be stretched had been, plus a few.  It was the most relaxing workout I've ever had.  Yoga adventure: two thumbs up.