Thursday, October 9, 2014

40 by 40: Take a yoga class

About 2 months after my 30th birthday and I have completed my first 40 by 40 task!

I have been taking a kickboxing class for a little while now and I really really like it. It's a good workout that I enjoy and the hour goes by quickly. Last week, though, I had to miss a class due to another event, so I asked about doing a make-up class so I didn't lose the money. They said no problem so I signed up for the Vinyasa Yoga class.

I've been wanting to try yoga for a while so I was excited to see what's it's all about. Yoga girls are always skinny so I figured it must be a good workout. And Vinyasa yoga is also known as "power yoga" and is a bit more of a flow of movement which sounded interesting to me.

There were 5 other people in the class and the room was dimly lit with some nice music and fake candles lit - a good ambiance.

We started with some deep breathing and feeling your body melt into the mat. Then we moved on to different movements with a lot of focus on downward dog and planks. It wasn't easy. I'm not as well balanced as I thought and all those planks and push-up type movements were exhausting.

At the end of the class I felt relaxed, but not like I had done a workout. Without the sweat and the desire to chug the rest of my water bottle, it didn't feel like an exercise class to me. And there was a lot of lying on our backs and stretching, or sitting in child's pose. It was a nice break from the plank, but the whole class left me without the feeling of accomplishment I get from kickboxing.

I haven't ruled out yoga entirely, I think I would probably try a class or two again sometime, but I still love a good cardio class.