Ouch...

How is it that at 30, I'm still discovering muscles I never thought I had? Namely in the neck, arms and thighs. I'm sitting down right now and my legs are quivering... Yup, I had my first yoga class today. It's been something I've been meaning to do for a long time, and since I'm finally done with coursework (yay!!) and have a little more time this semester, I figured this is about as good a time as any. Besides I know of people who attribute their success getting into grad school entirely on the focus and concentration yoga afforded them. I'm taking both my precandidacy exams this semester- I'm going to need as much of that mojo as I can get.

So anyway, back to the yoga. It's a form of yoga called Ashtanga Yoga, probably one of the oldest forms of yoga although it's enjoying recent popularity because celebrities like Madonna and Janet Jackson swear by it. It's very much focused on deep breathing, balance and posture. The breathing part I can do (although I think many of us ended up sounding a little like Darth Vader...); the balance and posture part... ok, not so much. The instructor hardly needed to tell me that yoga is all about concentration and focus- there really isn't very much else you can think about when you're trying your darndest to balance while holding one leg 90 degrees straight in front of you while bending to touch that raised foot (Don't ask me if I could do it, I'm not answering you!... )

I do have to say though that there is something perversely relaxing about that hour, in spite of the ridiculous amount of effort it took to contort myself into these fantastical postures. The focus helps, the stretching is amazing, and even though your entire sphere of movement is confined to only that 24 in x 68 in area of the mat, your body is getting some intensely cathartic workout.

The last time I did any yoga was about four years ago when Jude and I attended a class together. After that, we couldn't bend our legs for days, and my shoulders were so sore I couldn't carry anything on my back. Right now, there're aches and sores here and there, but I think I'll only start feeling any real pain tomorrow. The good thing is that the workout really helps generate heat throughout your body (I was perspiring so much from just standing still), which is a great thing in winter.

I'm not sure yet about the whole enhancing my clarity of thought thing- I'll let you know in April. For now, my body's beginning to feel the ache and I think the lingering jetlag isn't helping. Thank god this it's only once a week- any more than that and I don't think I'll be able to even crawl out of bed in the morning...