Starting my practice

As a student new to observing yoga, even if you are experienced at practice, begin your journals by observing the physical environment, the community of people who attend classes and frequent your practice space, and your impressions feelings and observations about what you are doing while "doing yoga". 

For my very first session for this blog, I ventured to Anytime Fitness in my home town and had a Yin class with the instructor, Gail Cassidy. The class was maybe 12 to 15 of us, all of us showing different body types, which reassured me. I haven't done yoga since highschool, so I'm not sure how I'm  going to react. However, I'm assuming I stuck out like a sore thumb, since a few classmates was asking prior to the session if I were new. I felt intimidated, but knew I wasn't there for criticism, but for enlightenment (or at least in hopes of.)

I learned that Yin Yoga means elongated, held out asanas, or poses. The instructor kept an IPad handy for keeping time, which seemed to be increments of 2 minute long asanas. We started doing gentle stretches for our lower backs, which instantly made me nervous. I have back problems, so my flexibility was something to laugh at. 

I drug my boyfriend and my mom along for moral support. My boyfriend has a worse back than myself, and he was trying. My mom can't stay on her knees or fluid builds around them, but yet here she was in her own flow, and I think it was the inspiration of seeing them both truly trying, made me realize no matter how silly I looked, this was for me.

So there I was, stretching out into my banana asana (as the instructor called it) when I realized how much I was enjoying myself. I stopped worrying, started focusing, and could actually see a physical improvement in my flexibility in just one class. We ended the class with citronella aromatherapy and a bow followed with a "Namaste."

I talked with the instructor after class to let her know my story, and why I was in her class. That's when she explained what Yin means, and even suggested other branches for me to try in my practice. I plan on doing just that, trying different instructors, and modalities, but overall Yin Yoga with Gail Cassidy was excellent.