First Real Yoga Class Ever

I have attended one or two yoga classes that Stockton offers, and a few that a friend of mine taught, but never a class like this one. My professor turned into my yoga instructor for the morning. Dr. Laurie Greene started off the class slow, focusing on our breathing. In my head I'm saying "Yes, I can handle this! I'm doing yoga!" By the end of the class my body was shaking.

On her waiver, she asks- what do you plan on getting out of yoga?
My answer- flexibility and a better control of my body.

When you stretch before a workout, or watch yoga videos, you don't really understand that there is a right and a wrong way to touch your toes... so you just stretch from any point on your body that you possibly can until the tips of your fingers just barely tap your big toe. "Alright... I can touch my toes! I'm flexible" Wrong.

I consider myself very athletic. I go to the gym every day. I lift. I run. I stretch. I recover. I do it all over again. However, I had a lot of problems pushing my hips forward during "Warrior 2", and my shoulders started to cramp because I forgot to rest my arms in between my shoulder blades. If my knees were bent too long- they shook. If my arms were above my head too long- I could feel the rush of blood eager to get to my fingertips when I finally put them by my sides.

My first impression of this class following my lesson is this: "Let's go again." I am eager to learn, and eager to learn the proper forms. Yoga is something that people practice for their entire lives and still practice because they do not feel they have mastered it. One day in the classroom as taught me that I have a long way to go, but the human body is capable of truly remarkable things.