Yoga in the Park, virgin visit!

There is a movement out here called Yoga in the Park, I heard of it through a co-worker who read it in the paper.  You know the story.  I thought about it last summer, and I was to nervous to go, and then the rains came, and who goes out and does yoga in the mud?  I'm not a dirt kind of girl, trust me.  It seems that I need to learn the names of the different types of yoga in order to speak clearly with yoga enthusiasts.   I apologize right now, I'm a beginner. My beginner status shone brightly on this yoga session as well.  The very nice instructor did say that we needed to respect where we were at, and to go into childspose as needed, in order to catch our breathe re-group, and then to jump back in.  I only took her at her word.  It seems that I was the first to break rank, because the firs time I huddled into childpose, she mentioned to the whole group to do the same if they needed to take a moment to breathe.  Yep, in front of 130 people I'm the one breaking rank first. It would have been more embarrassing, but I really needed to breathe. There were so many downward dog, and then the plank into something that looked like this.

 These were other poses we did.  The warrior pose is where the assistant came over to assist me.

Let me give you a bit of history, I love to dance, but I'm one who trips over their own feet in normal walking situations.  I run into walls if I walk to fast, it's been a clumsy life.  I'm not complaining, I'm just setting the stage, beginner Yogi in the middle of many skinnier bendier more established yogi's and here I am throwing myself into the posses with full abandon.  I'm sure it was quite a site.  The look on the assistants face said enough of that to me, she smiled gently but it seemed that it was because she was unable to hide the giggle that wanted to burst out of her gut.  She fixed my knee to bend farther forward over my feet, which made my legs shake in delightful convulsions. I'm not the skinny little thing I once was, and so here I am a bit out of the norm here in this crowd and I'm shaking, and struggling through some of these posses, trying to keep up when she accelerates the pace.  It seemed that I was three steps behind, but I did it.

The lessons are free, we are out in nature, and it was a beautiful day I did not my slowness or newness affect me or my mood.  I actually plan to go back and turn my legs to Jell-O again.  I got a beautiful dose of vitamin D and a walk with my friend after yoga.  It was a wonderful day. 

If you have the chance to attend a Yoga in the Park type experience, do it, at least once. She has begun a new thing, Yoga Across America, it is one way to see if three are things popping up in your area.

I will end on this note:

Ride a wild horse
with purple wings
striped yellow and black
except his head
which must be red.

Ride a wild horse
against the sky
hold tight to his wings

before you die
whatever else you leave undone—
once ride a wild horse
into the sun.

by - Hannah Kahn