Little Miss Runner Pants: i'm a natural!!

back in college, when i realized doing yoga was sort of this very popular trend, i... kinda thought it was lame.

it was a bunch of chicks (usually), in a dark room, on these girly colored mats... basically all just... stretching. together. in a "find your third eye, feel the light shine through your belly button" kind of way.

and it?!
wurnt fer me!

since then i've taken a yoga class or two... mostly at 24Hr Fitness.. and used it for that exact thing.

to stretch.
usually either before or after a long run, and... i'd typically hightail it outta there when the ringing of the gong, "feel yourself sink into the earth" sort of loony business began.

a few weeks.. maybe a month ago however, a friend of mine.. Biker Chick... invited me to an actual yoga studio, and i decided what the hell...can't be any worse than what i'm used to.. right?!

i walked in and immediately knew it wouldn't be the same thing.
for starters, the TNT Tri-coach was the instructor and... i don't know her all that well, but i do know she's hardcore. in pretty much whatever she does, so..

huh. this could get interesting.

as the hour progressed, TriCoach talked us through a variety of poses that i'd not only never done before, i'd never seen, never would have imagined a body could do, and really never had a desire to try myself.

it was rough. and unlike 24HRFIT, where they just kind of go through the motions and you tag along... TriCoach walked around making adjustments on all of us, keeping our hips/shoulders/body in line, and quickly i realized...

um. OUCH.
apparently when you yoga RIGHT.. it sort of hurts.

A LOT.

after that class life sort of got a little busy and i haven't had the opportunity to go back.

until last night.

ooooooh, last night.

i walked in, just before 6pm, and was greeted by the owner.. YogaLady.. to find not only was i one of two people that showed up that night (can we say LOTS of one-on-one?!)... but also class would be held...

for an hour and a half.

...... joy.

before we got started YogaLady asked about my experience with yoga... (almost none)... assured me that i can take a break whenever i need, and we began.

can i just say? right now? that yoga?

KICKED MY ASS.

that woman had me in the most ridiculous, body quivering, muscle aching, hard to hold positions i've ever been in. it was insane.

how. ev. ah....

half way through the class, as i'm bent over in warrior one, with my right shoulder inside my right knee, my left arm shooting up to the cieling and her coming over to rotate my left shoulder around and then down behind my back so that my right finger tips and left finger tips can touch underneath my leg..

yeah. RIGHT!...

she sort of whispers, in that very yogini way... "wow. your hips are incredibly open for a runner. this is impressive, you're a natural at yoga. you really are".

......................... HA!!!!!

HA!
...... HA!

i'm a natural at something!!!
WHO KNEW!!?!?

in my mind i took a minute to visualize myself doing a little dance of happiness and then, because my concentration was now... well. it wasn't... i sort of fell out of position and tumbled onto the floor.

but her point was made, and my feelings about yoga have definitely changed.

in the coming few weeks i have a lot of crazy going on. but one thing i know is that my interest has been piqued, and i plan on exploring this "natural" thing much, much more!

Comments

The vision of you tumbling over after being told you are a natural has made my day :-)

(and my hips are ridiculously tight)

Posted by: Danielle in Iowa | October 24, 2007 9:25 AM

So.Funny.

So if I yell something encouraging at your A race next year, will you totally collapse?

Posted by: Greyhound | October 24, 2007 9:29 AM

Awesome! I was skeptical about yoga at first to, but now it's hands-down my favorite workout of the week.

Posted by: Siren | October 24, 2007 10:35 AM

Yoga is so freakin' hard - I'm NOT a natural. I do, however have a funny yoga story which I will write up one of these days.

Posted by: 21stCenturyMom | October 24, 2007 11:48 AM

my coach has encouraged me to take up yoga...but i've never gotten past the whole inner enlightenment fruity feel the earth part of it. maybe i'll give it a shot anyway. thanks for sharing.

Posted by: TJ | October 24, 2007 12:09 PM

i'm a natural blonde. really. does that make me a natural yogi?

Posted by: Susan | October 24, 2007 4:20 PM

YogaLady

i like it.

reminds me of my Celebrity Yogini...

um, but we did a different kind of yoga.

Posted by: bold | October 24, 2007 5:13 PM

My favorite part of yoga is when someone let's one fly. I have to laugh at them. It's natural - to laugh.

Posted by: P.O.M. | October 24, 2007 5:31 PM

A friend is trying to convince me to go to a Yoga class with her. Seems like a very dangerous proposition considering I can't even touch my toes. Plus - she wants to take me to the 'advanced' class. I see much pain in my future.

I think I'd rather just live through your yoga experiances instead - much easier.

Posted by: rainmaker | October 25, 2007 1:24 AM

I did yoga for a few years, and now pop in occasionally to classes. If you get the right instructor, it's pretty cool. And I'm not surprised at all that you like it.

Posted by: The Rover | October 25, 2007 1:43 AM

A few weeks ago I started picking yoga back up and completely forgot how much it can hurt...seriously to the point of wobbly legs and body quivering.

Good workout! I've definitely noticed an impact on my running, too.

Posted by: Running Jayhawk | October 25, 2007 8:50 AM

i love yoga!! and yeah, it's not so easy.

i wonder what kind of yoga bold is talking about.

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