I went to a Power yoga class at my gym today. Am I still allowed to call it a ‘gym’ or should I be saying ‘health club’ or ‘fitness club’. When I say gym it seems to be out of some antiquated habit I cannot break. I used to be a member of Gold’s Gym (even though I only took aerobics classes there). I feel like I date myself saying gym. Then again, maybe I date myself saying aerobics. I wasn’t sure if it was dated or regional. Sort of like saying pocketbook instead of purse.

I hadn’t been to a yoga class in about 4 years. I recall taking a class after Paige was born and I was in complete misery because in the class you were supposed to use your ‘core’ and my ‘core’ had just spent 9 months being stretched and was like an old rubber band; it wasn’t snapping back very quickly. So today after a multi-year hiatus from yoga, I re-entered the yoga world. First fatal error was that I didn’t have a yoga mat. I figured it was a gym (sorry, fitness club) they must have yoga mats? I actually lucked out because there were 2 yoga mats available (and I got one!). Clearly I was an oddity because everyone else had their own mats.

I knew the class might be a little hard (it was listed as intermediate), but I figured I run 2-3 times a week – it couldn’t be that hard! Well, I learned it was ‘that hard’. I felt like there were muscles that hadn’t been used in decades; although surely it couldn’t have been that long. Could it? I was lucky that I remembered most of the poses the instructor was doing – it was just a challenge keeping up. I didn’t know calling on these dusty and rusty muscle groups was going to make me so out of breath. One thing was for sure; I got my workout for the day. (Before the class I was worried it might not be strenuous enough for me.) My friends who are ‘yoga junkies’ are laughing at me now. I can hear it.

My favorite part of the class was the relaxation at the end. I could forget about all my worries (including the torture I had just experienced for the last hour). I actually really liked the class because it made me focus on my body as I made it move into all these crazy poses (I tried to get it to move, not always successful though). All I could think about was connecting my mind to my body. Everything else from the day seemed to fall away. I think I gained some much-needed patience that lasted through dinner and the usual evening routine with the kids. If my body could stand it, I could do that class every day and be a lot more mentally grounded. I probably won’t make it back tomorrow (since I may not be able to get out of bed) but I did promise the instructor that I would be back. Maybe I said that through the mind fog I experienced after the relaxation portion of the class. I am sure my post class yoga high will wear off tomorrow. Then I can decide if I am ready for another workout, or should I say yoga practice?