Go Yoga!

So all this time I've been saying to people "yeah, I'll do Yoga one of these days." Never got around to it. I did begin stretching early in 2006 and found it made a miraculous difference in how I slept, how I started my day and virtually eliminating the beginning stages of plantar fasciitis. I just couldn't seem to get myself to a Yoga class.

This morning my original plan was to get to the gym by 6 a.m. and do a spinning session (by myself, as there are no early morning spin classes on Friday). Unfortunately, two things happened to derail that plan: 1) I woke up a little late and took a bit longer than usual to get things moving; and 2) I forgot to charge my iPod, which was pretty much dead. Anybody who's taken spinning knows it's pretty difficult to spin without music. I *really* wanted to spin, though, considering that I probably wouldn't get to ride my bike this weekend due to inclement weather and the fact that Sunday I am swimming in the Pacifica Relays. What's a girl to do?

There was a 7:15 a.m.-8 a.m. spin class. At 6:30 a.m. I thought "well, I can do some stretching, ab work and then start spinning at 7 a.m. and stay through the class until 7:45 a.m. That should work." Something in me, however, decided to go have a look at the class schedule. I immediately saw this:

6:45-7:55 a.m.: Hatha Yoga

"What time is it?" I thought. "Oh. It's only 6:30." My mind begin to spin around what my workout for the evening could be, how I could get some good spinning time in, and at that moment, my muscles reminded me how badly I needed to get some good stretch work in after my lifting this week and the crazy swim workout I had the night before. It might make me a little late to work, but I decided that this was my chance to give it a shot.

The instructor was already in the room, so I introduced myself and asked him if the class would be appropriate for a beginner. He told me that as long as I was fairly knowledgeable of the basic poses and wasn't afraid to look around the room to see what other people were doing, I would be okay.

I went to the spinning room to spin for about 8 minutes, and went back to Yoga at 6:43 a.m. This 70 minute class was absolutely incredible. It was an infectious way to start my day, and I have a feeling I will be committed to doing it on Mondays and Fridays. It's a great way to start the week after a long weekend of activity, and end a long work week of stress and weight lifting. Joey, the instructor, was phenomenal. He explained well, was patient, calm and had a manner about him that was very unintimidating.

At 8 a.m. I left the room with a smile on my face and feeling calm, refreshed and well-stretched. I can't wait to do it again!