yoga

When the boys' mother asked what I did early in the morning, I told her that I walked around and did some yoga in the playground.  She said she liked yoga, and I couldn't suspect things were already in motion.

I've only been trying yoga for about a year, beginner classes at the Y, where kind, gentle Mark would try to encourage my body into unknown positions, "Can you turn out your hip a little more?"  "No," I'd strained to keep my breathing going, "I'm a runner, this is as good as it gets."  Me doing yoga is awkward, at best, injury producing, at worse.

I shouldn't have been surprised that by 8 pm last night I was standing on a yoga mat in a nearby park with 20 other participates, who were warming up with contortions I didn't think humanly possible.  I was place front and center, of course, attempting to just touch my toes, as usual.

When we arrived, there were a few bystander, kids running around, some older folks chatting.  People were out walking in the "cooler" evening temperatures, and by the time class started, probably 75 people had stopped.  Were they curious to see the nightly class?  More likely I was the entertainment because many cameras recorded the event, and I know there is at least one video by someone who came right over to me.  I smiled, made painful faces, and continued to try to touch my toes, sweating like I'd just run Robie Creek.  This class went on for 2 hours! I made it for 1 1/5 hours, but then the positions became insane pretzels, and I was done.  Now, a yoga mat is on my shopping list.

I met a Chinese college student studying English when she took pity on me ordering lunch.  I ended up with some great soup, half of which I spilled on my lap using chopsticks.  She helped me get a SIM card for my phone.

My 1st language test caused near paralysis.  One-on-one with my instructor, I attempted to sight read words while he marked the many sounds and tones that give me trouble.  I haven't known this kind of school anxiety, ever.  I'm giving myself frequent pep talks, "You've learned hard stuff before, you can do this!"