Hello, My Name Is Brad, And I Like Yoga.
Posted on April 4, 2003 at 9:04 am | No Comments
Early morning, April Four…
… and I’m freakin’ tired. The man made me come in an hour and a half early for some network nonsense, so I’m groggy while bloggy.
As you may (or more likely, may not) recall, a couple months back I shared the painful details of my very first yoga experience. “Ashtanga”, they called it. “Absolutely Insane”, I called it. Took me days to recover, and nearly turned me off of yoga entirely… not that I was really into the whole idea to begin with. But hey, you make a promise to your smiling wife, and you gotta keep it.
“Give it another chance!” she said. “I swear not all yoga is like that! It was just the wrong class for you. Let’s try again. Pleeeeeaase?” Ok, ok, ok. But it had better be easier than “Ass-tangle”.
So she went ahead and signed us up for a series of intro classes at Beacon Light Yoga. Six weeks of Wednesdays, hour and a half long classes, with about ten other yoga novices. This past Wednesday was actually the final class, and yes… I am alive. In fact, you’ll notice I didn’t once complain about it. No Thursday morning ‘ouch!’ entries, despite the fact that I definitely felt seriously sore on certain days.
What did I learn? I learned I like yoga. There, I said it. I like it, despite my natural aversion to things that are even remotely associated with an over-the-top hippy-dippy lifestyle. Yoga’s changed a lot… it’s not just for go-with-the-flow space cadets and hardcore health nuts anymore. Apparently, it’s for everyone, although you’d have a hard time convincing most men of that. Of the dozen people in our class, there were a grand total of two guys. Actually, two other guys came to the first class… and were never seen again. From what our instructor said, 2 out of 12 was actually a high percentage for male attendance. It’ll be interesting to see if those numbers start to change now that more mainstream acceptance seems to be happening. I mean, if I can do this stuff, and enjoy it, anyone can. Seriously.
Breathing techniques, relaxation poses, meditation, balancing poses, and of course, the super stretchy action. A good mix of everything, actually. The instructor seemed to know her stuff, our classmates were relatively cool (well, except for the goofball who had to vocalize every stretch she did with a near-sexual “ooooooohhh!”, or maybe an “aaaaahhhhh!”, and a dash of “uuuuuhhhhh!”. frightening.), and it seemed most of us where there for the same reason. We sat in a circle during the first class and had to explain “what brought us to yoga”. Aside from my obvious answer (“Uhhh… my wife did?”), it was my daily stress level and a way to reduce it that brought me there, and that was the case for just about all of our classmates.
A bunch of wound-up Bostonians looking for a way to chill out… to relax… to… get more in touch with our bodies? Yeah, that’s what they tell you. “Inner-peace” and all that. The war started the day after our first class, and the instructor ended each one with a wish for peace to find the minds of the world’s leaders. Inner-peace, outer peace, one is easier than the other. If I feel powerless given the state of the world, at least I can work on my own mental and physical well-being, right? Right.
And so I did. I can honestly say I don’t feel the same as I did when I walked into that first class six weeks ago. My body feels a bit different, my brain does too. I’m a little more relaxed, a little less freaked, I’ve got a relatively healthy perspective on where I’m at… I actually haven’t felt quite so comfortable in a long time. I’m not sure yoga’s responsible for all that, but I do know that I’m continuing on with classes now that I’m finished up with the intro.
Oh, jeez. Does this mean I’ve turned into one of those ‘yoga people’? Nope, that isn’t official until I don’t feel like a total dork going “Ooooohhhhhhmmmm…”. And I can’t see that happening anytime soon.
The Essex Green : Just In Time For Spring
Posted on April 1, 2003 at 10:33 am | No Comments
Ah, the blessed signs of spring… early morning light, late evening sunsets, collegiate rowers on the Charles, Jerry Remy on the TV, Pedro on the mound …
… and the Red Sox bullpen blowing the opening game in the bottom of the 9th. As Matt said “It’s like last year never ended!.” Grrrr. Argh.
Hey, my old friends in the Essex Green have finally updated their website, just in time for the release of their new album, The Long Goodbye, which comes out the always-dependable Merge Records next week.
Download a couple mp3s off the album there, and check out the upcoming tour dates. They’re hitting the Paradise here Boston on the 24th of April… of course it’s the same night as the long-awaited Throwing Muses show. Unfortunate timing indeed.