Lacking the om factor!

After 3 years of contemplation (more like procastination) I finally hit the mat and tried the much- talked- about yoga. A colleague and I had originally signed up for a fusion dance class, but it was cancelled at the last minute. Not wanting to waste the trip, we settled for the next available slot for multi-level yoga (read 'advanced yoga').

How is it that people make yoga look so easy? The yoga master could have reached nirvana and I would have believed it. Hailing from India, he is a strong man with a short stature. During the one hour lesson, he taught us to do 'stunts' like 'topsy turvy' and 'sun salutation'.

To do topsy turvy, we had to lie on our mats, raise our legs as high as possible and then use our arms to support our back as our legs hang (straight!) in the air. Obviously, to do this, you need very strong arms. Sensing my inexperience, the master walks over to me and used his one arm to lift my two legs high.

'Use some strength girl, use your arms!' he barks before lifting me even higher, like I was some feather. And he holds me in this uncomfortable position waiting for me to gather strength in my arms. 'Now relax and use your arms!' he barks again as I shuffle around trying to find some balance... I don't find any. As he looks down at me, I say, half-giggling 'I can't do it. I am going to fall!' Sensing how hopeless I was, he finally freed my legs, shook his head and walked to the next struggling disciple. I return to lying down lazily on the mat again.

Then came 'sun salutation'. There was no sun to speak of seeing how it was evening time and we were indoors. We just simply posture ourselves so that it looks like we're receiving the sun :). That was easy. The master didn't need to bark at me for that. But he consistently looked in my direction. The weakest link was easy to spot. And so I go through the rest of the lesson like that, red-faced and smiling rather stupidly. Didn't help that the lady in purple beside me was such a pro. Her face was always so screwed up with intensity and concentration.

I can't say my first attempt at yoga was a breeze. (Far from it!) Nor can I say I have done much justice to yoga and its practitioners. To begin with, I was in the wrong class and very ill-prepared. But I did enjoy myself tremendously during the class. All that stretching and flexing did me some good. I was a bag of loose bones afterwards but it was good while it lasted. What I do know now is that the next time I try yoga, I'll definitely save myself some embarassment and sign up at the beginners level.