The great yoga adventure

Tonight I participated in my third Yin Yoga class with yet another instructor. It was a pretty full class and I had to be careful not to invade the personal space of the people around me. This wasn't as relaxing as the second one I went to. In fact we did a lot of twisting; so much so that I felt like a cork screw at times.

I think I have my head and body back around the right way now. This session had a special full moon slant about it according to the instructor and no - we didn't do any howling. We did say three "oms" at the end. Usually we only do one and in one session, we didn't say it at all. It's a sacred sound and I have no idea what it means. We also say "namaste" at the end which is a greeting and sounds very nice.

No Warrior poses in that session. I did my own in the bathroom tonight so I could check whether I was doing it right in the mirror.

Wow @Phoenix_Rising - you must be very flexible. I definitely need that strap to connect the body parts. I bet you can do this:-

I haven't got a hope of getting my hands to touch.

I love the dog peeing pose. Does it have an official sounding name?

I think there were two guys in our class tonight. Maybe they go there to meet women 😆. When I was leaving, another guy rocked up on his skateboard to do the following class.

No one talks in our class except the instructor. Not sure if that's a part of being a Yogi. It's all very quiet and serene. No laughing. Very serious. No mirrors either - phew. Although they are closed for a week at the end of the month for renovations. Hopefully no mirrors.

Hands up if you've been a Warrior yet today.

I'm off to a Slow Flow class later today. Shall leave my sword and shield at home I think.

Good evening everybody,

I have warriored today, have you? I am a bit of a wounded warrior today but that's ok - all warriors in battle need to expect to get wounded sometimes.

@Maggie I super love the picture of the baby chicken doing warrior pose. That made me giggle a lot! Have you warriored today?

@Ant7 Do you have any thoughts on why so few guys do yoga? I really can't see how it can be regarded as a "girly" thing.

@soul I THINK ohm means "I am". My class was really full last night too. My comfort level is definitely inversely proportional to the number of people in the class! Our instructor talked about the moon last night as well. Some of the spiritual/religious aspects of yoga don't fit with my own spiritual beliefs well so I kind-of just filter out some of that stuff. I think different studios vary on how much emphasis they put on the spiritual versus the physical aspects of yoga. I do like saying "namaste" at the end of the class and I like how our instructor says "thank you for sharing your practice with me" rather than "thank you for coming."

You are right @soul that I can clasp my hands behind my back like in the picture you posted. It definitely amuses me that I have this quirky physical flexibility while being so cognitively "rigid." Methinks that in the real world, cognitive flexibility is probably more useful than physical flexibility. I mean, job ads often ask for people who can multi-task and prioritise multiple competing demands. They don't so often ask for people who can clasp their hands behind their back, stand on their head, or put their head on their outstretched legs. Yep, I really excel at the important things in life.

I love the cartoon of the peeing downward dog. That is what we did!!!! At least, I think it was. I can't quite remember now if we were in downward dog, plank or table. That is definitely how we stretched our leg out though. I did some quick googling and haven't found the name of the pose yet. I'm guessing it probably isn't called peeing dog. I really don't think I'm brave enough to ask my instructor "hey, what is the name of the pose that was like a peeing dog." Maybe you could ask your instructor @soul???

Our class is very serious too...which is why it was so bad that I giggled at the peeing dog pose. I also tend to giggle when our instructor gets her words scrambled up. I kind-of like that she does that - somehow it makes it all seem a bit less serious. She will be using her calm flowing yoga voice and then kind of go "oops" if she gets left and right or hands and feet muddled up.

So...from what I can tell, thus far today @Ant7 @soul @CheerBear and I have all warriored. Anyone else???

@Former-Member did you manage to get vertical today...even better if you got vertical AND warriored.

@Former-Member @Former-Member have you warriored?

Anyone else? I super want to build an army of warriors in the forest of Forum Land.

Here's the how-to video again just in case anyone tries to use the "I don't know how to" excuse. Happy warrioring. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oltXEk70A_0

@Phoenix_Rising I haven't warriored yet this week! Will do so soon, need a good stretch out and to feel strong and stuff.

Well I'm glad we have a male contingent in our warrior army @Ant7. I wonder where @TheVorticon is. I hope he hasn't done himself an injury trying to warrior on his skateboard!