My aim for the year was to be able to touch my toes when I bend over by Christmas. So I thought to myself that I have to practice yoga to improve my flexibility.
I must, I must, I must touch my toes!
When I was still living in Singapore, my very good friend, JZ, introduced me to yoga. JZ was a gymnast so flexibility was innate. She dragged me into class and boy did I struggle. After two minutes, I had wanted to walk out but I did not want to embarrass her. Everything was horrid. I could not understand a word the instructor was spewing and I could not bend anywhere. The last 10 minutes was sheer bliss to me. The instructor had told us to lie down and relax.
Elegant tree pose which JZ can easily do
We were made to take very deep breaths and clear our heads. And I fell asleep. I was in slumber on a yoga mat, in the middle of the class. JZ said under her breath, ”Babe, wake up.”
That was the last time I was going to embarrass myself, or any of my friends. I swore off yoga.
Some of the yoga poses I probably did the first time round, without me knowing.
Now that I am in New York, bored with a gym membership and no friends to embarrass, I decide to rediscover yoga.
The first class was a mistake. I accidentally went for the advanced yoga class. I was beyond a beginner. The instructor was very kind and patient to see me through 60 minutes of shock and bewilderment. I felt like an alien drowning in a sea of flexible homosapiens!
Words like “downward dog," “cobra pose," “dolphin," “tree," “vinyasa," “chaturanga," “reverse warrior," “pigeon” and “lotus” made me think I was in a Kama Sutra class! I had no idea what each term was; let alone how to do it. I copied the guy in front of me. The lady next to me did not just touch her toes; she put her palms underneath her feet while keeping her legs straight. Oh, did I add that she was 62? Lily is her name.
Caterpillar crawling...
...and searching for food from the sky.
People like Lily make me feel like killing myself on a bad day, or inspired on a good one. Born with a competitive nature, I stuck it through 2 months of yoga. I want to challenge myself and if 60-somethings can do it, so can I.
I realised that breathing is a fundamental of yoga. Every graceful movement (for some) is done in accordance to either an inhale or an exhale. After a month of frequent yoga sessions (at least 3 times a week), I dare say that I can do a “cobra pose” from chaturanga better now. It looks like a caterpillar crawling and searching for food from the sky. Initially I must have looked like Chewbacca doing yoga, mane and all. Awkward and clumsy I was.
The same frustrated look (and hair) I have whilst in a yoga class.
Today, for the first time, I went to a yoga class taught by a male instructor. He is very graceful, handsome and speaks with a strong Greek accent. His physique embodies a yoga ideal. He has a strong but lean body, fluidity of movement, and absolute precision in every pose. Just as I thought I knew quite a bit about yoga, this "Yoda" made us do something I have never heard of or imagined. He told us to put both our index fingers in our ears and hum like a sweet honeybee, “not a mosquito." Remove and repeat 3 times and thereafter, focus on our right ears. We should hear a high-pitched sound.
Errrr, Yoda, I heard nada…
Some pictures taken off the internet
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