Ok, so I was inspired by my friend and soul sistah Viola to try yoga. So today I decided I was going to take my adipose tissues
to the gym after a long time and bunch of resolutions that I never followed up on. Deciding to launch another attack on my
“jiggly” parts I strolled in the gym with my hubby in tow, looking to go from one machine to the other, first treadmill, etc. I
digress. I noticed that it was time for yoga. Now, I always thought like most of you, don’t judge me, yea, I stereotyped, that
yoga was for the already skinny folks, so looking at my round tummy, head down & hoping I don’t get shooed away
I found my mat at the very back of the class, not daring to look around, praying I can strike at least one pose. I was late, great,
now everyone can watch me waddle to my place, haha. Anyway, I looked up finally from my lotus position and noticed the
instructor was a 6 ft probably 220 pound African American guy! hahaha and my fellow mates were a bunch of senior citizen
Asian women, one Caucasian guy who looked like he only fed on vegetables & should be teaching the class, and one
40 year old lady.
I wondered, is this a good time to waddle back out, too late, we were being instructed to breathe in and out, hands up,
hands down, twist here, twist there……..and slowly the peace settled in my spirit. I ignored the fact that those old
women were stretching and turning more than me, or the fact that I tumbled on my face at some point, or the fact that
the regular-sized teacher was flexible like rubber! ( egg in my face). I thought, surely, with all the lying down and looking
up in the sky I have always thought yoga to be, this should be easy. WRONG! At the end of 1 hour I couldn’t spell my
name, I was limping, and feeling thoroughly instructed! Yoga is my new friend. Don’t judge exercise by how it looks,
unless you try it. I will of course revisit…or just go back to my reliable treadmill.
…..On my way out, one of the 7oyear old Chinese ladies beckoned to me, smiling. I went over, thinking she was about
to confess too that this was her first time in a yoga class. She looked at me, touched my stomach roll and in her thickest
accent told me “yoga, 2 times a week, stomach gone”, then smiled into my eyes like ( ya heard me). (The nerve!)
Hahahaha, but since she was a grandma, who had out-performed me I feared she might be black belt karate or
something, I respectfully said “yes ma’am” She went ahead to give me the class schedule so I dont forget! lol
The thing I realized, was during the 1 hour I started to feel connected to my spirit. Though I was hurting, I
felt my soul and spirit start to communicate. I was stunned. I had not realized just how noisy my head was until
listening to the Barry White sound-alike instructor I began to relax and tone down on the voices in my head. I forgot
I was there to work out and concentrated on the exercise of my mind and spirit going on. I may have stumbled unto
yoga by accident or the universe intended for my friend Viola to tell me about it, no matter the case, I think yoga is in my
future, if not for weight loss reasons, but to take me a step further in this spiritual journey of awareness I’m on.
Thanks Viola, thanks old lady, we’ll see where this journey ends. Stay tuned, the Yoga Chronicles Coming Soon!
Pearls of Our Lives 
I actually laughed out loud while reading this piece! I had the misconception that Yoga was easy and relaxing, was I ever wrong. At the end of class, we laid on the floor in silence and I literally passed out! I could not believe how tired I was, it is definitely a great addition to your workout!! goodluck to you
Dino, my dear sister oh
hahaha I swear, at the end, the instructor made us lie on our backs, hands and legs in the air for I swear what seemed like 30minutes in my head. He said it was a healing position, if im not mistaken I might have dreamt, but I got tired lying on my back! can you imagine, hahaaha, who would have thought it, at some point I put my darned legs down, all those mammies were still holding pose. Anyway, we will see who is who