[yoga] feet

feeling a little restless and wanting to try something new, i recently signed up for a yoga class. although it's been rewarding, it's not at all what i had planned.

first of all, one reason i joined the class, i thought it would be a great way to meet some new people. young, hip, earthy, healthy, stress free, urban people. the kind of people who would know the best place to get pho, or hear a poetry slam reading. stereotypical i know, but i felt a yoga class would be a good place to start. the first day of class however, i found my fellow yoga partners to consist of one other dude, and five ladies, all above the age of 65. not a problem, just not what i had planned.

secondly, i'm not very flexible. now although i hoped yoga would help this, i am, by far, the least graceful in the class. during some stretches, and eerily similar to one of my favorite movies, the instructor will say, "if you're feeling any pain or discomfort, feel free to lie in child's pose..." although it may sound like she's saying it to the whole class, deep down, i know she's speaking directly to me. even with this suggestion, i still find i wake up the next day, sore in places i never knew existed.

finally, and by far, what's making my yoga experience go astray, is my wardrobe. before the class started, i thought i'd buy some yoga pants, thinking if i had the right attire, i might not look out of place. however searching the internet, i found yoga pants to be terribly expensive! seventy dollars for what appear to simply be sweat pants! with that logic in my head, i went to the store to find the cheapest pair of sweats i could. $4.95, you can't beat that. not seeing any need to try them on, i grabbed a pair of dark colored extra large ones and purchased them. leaving them in the bag for a few days, i didn't actually put them on until i was in the locker room of the gym. the legs were twice the length i needed and the crotch hung down past my knees. not having time to run back to my apartment and grab something else, i headed to class. although the pants were easy to move in, the pants made my torso look 4 feet long and my legs look 6 inches long, but i kept at it. during the end of class, as we were lying in our "savasana" pose, trying to rid our bodies of any tension and our minds of any stress, one thought kept running through my head.

between my stiff and awkward stretches and the sagging sweatpants, i was trying to figure out how exactly the "golden girls" on the mats next to me, hadn't cracked up at the "penguin" working out next to them, because that's exactly what i looked like doing yoga. i'm just thankful i didn't purchase the purple sweatpants. couple that with a k-state shirt, and i would've looked like grimace from mcdonald's.