Daily Zey

Yesterday I had my very first Yoga lesson. Thanks to the traffic and a very lovely trash truck blocking the road, I was around 10 minutes late. It was my first time being there and I had no idea what to expect, even regarding the logistics.

So apparently the class was right in the entrance hall of the studio and I happened to barge in when they were done ” grounding”. As if the owners wanted to punish those of us having trouble with time, they got bells attached to the damn door. The second I heard the sound, my heart skipped a beat. All three of the students opened their eyes and I was preparing myself to see some anger or frustration in them. Unlike what I expect, they quickly went back to meditating and I thought- huh, maybe it does actually work. If that was the case I was just in the right place for my mental health.

From the entrance to my mat it was like the road to Mordor. I had zipped knee-level boots, had three layers of clothing and the floors were squeaky. I felt I had to schedule the next class to recover from entrance to this one to make it even.

Finally I made it to my mat. The instructor and the people in class were lovely, my only issue was I had a hard time understanding what they were talking about. So like a toddler, I tried copying my classmates. Monkey see, monkey do. And you know what? It was fun!

No one told me it was fun. They said it is “calming” and “healthy”, but no one mentioned the joy of it. First of all, it is like your body massages itself. All that back pain, neck tension? Poof, gone! But the best part is I felt like an actual toddler, trying to see if my leg can go up like that, or I could stand in that weird way. Afterwards, you are so relaxed and sleepy – yet the next day your muscles hurt like you went to gym for four hours.

Of course in the yoga class all of this is mentioned in a very classy and mostly Sanskrit way. Let me share with you the wisdom I gathered so far – some of them might be pretty common knowledge, but in my culture we have a saying that pretty much tells “Only not learning should be frown upon, not knowing is normal.”

First of all, there is bunch of different Yoga classes out there. The one I went to was “Hatha” which means “power” in Sanskrit. The standings/postures during class are called “Asana’s” and from what I figured out so far, Hatha is a combination of these very, very, very difficult moves with breathing techniques. Everyone in the class seemed to know about various Asana’s, for example the instructor would say now we are switching to X and it would mean lay down face flat + lift your legs and hold it with your hands. I guess with time I will get there as well but for now it feels like someone’s explaining board game rules to me.

Another thing I am captivated by about yoga is, each style (can I call it style- no idea but let’s go with it) has its lore. I went through the trouble (!) of asking AI about it and was shocked of the diversity yoga provides. My dear friend GPT provided with 10 different styles along with their main focus and themes. It makes me want to try each and every one of them like I am collecting Pokemons. Maybe it can even be my February challenge to try as many as I can, if Hatha yoga continues to mesmerize me.

So far, I am giving 10/10 for my first Hatha yoga class. If you think like I used to, that yoga is a less fun style of healthy exercise, I suggest you give it a shot. It might surprise you like it did with me. 🙂

With love,