I'm sore - YAY!

Last night, after much talk, talk, talking about it, I actually went to a yoga class!

My friend and neighbor Kelly (Abby and Maya's mom) and I pulled ourselves away from the loveliness of dinnertime with twin 4-year-olds (and in my case, a 2-year-old) and went to do something restorative and relaxing for ourselves.

Only thing: This class was not relaxing at all! It was HARD. Despite being a wiry, ponytailed hippie who is headed to Colorado this summer to legally smoke weed with his parents, this instructor was not the singsongy "clear your mind, think about your breaths, focus on you, no judgment" kind of teacher, with chimes and flutey music playing in the background. This dude was hard core, all about strength and stretch and bone alignment. There were no candles. No music! Just the sound of human beings grunting and breathing and wanting to cry. Oh wait. Maybe that was just me.

I don't know if it's because he's tougher than the yoga instructors I'm used to, or if it's that I'm so, so, so, so, so, so (add 27 additional so's here) out-of-shape, but at certain points, my muscles were quivering from bending and holding poses. Instead of regulating my breathing and heart-rate, this class made my heart was pumping like I was on the treadmill!

Seriously, once, in between trying to freakin' focus on my breathing during a pose I thought, "We signed up for 'Beginner's Yoga,' not CrossFit!

In my pre-kid years, after hot yoga (which is my favorite), I would leave feeling limber and cleansed, like all the sweating and stretching had pushed toxins (both physical and emotional) out of my body. I felt like I could breathe and think more clearly.

After yoga last night, all I felt was tired!

But this morning, I woke up feeling soreness in my arms and neck and shoulders. It was a pleasant feeling, something I hadn't felt in years! That warm achiness that comes from knowing you've just pushed your body to do things it's capable of doing, but just never given the chance.  I like feeling aware of my body -- and knowing that if I keep this up, my body will get stronger, those stretches will be less taxing, the poses less impossible to hold without quaking.

I might still try to find a class that gives me the relaxation and inner-cleansing I loved so much about hot yoga. But for now, I'm not going to run away from the hard work this class looks like it's going to be.

Namaste.

#FortyFine