My local yoga studio has started doing outdoor classes the past couple of weeks. The classes are right down the street from the studio on a grassy lawn in front of an office building. This morning was my third class, and there is just something about doing yoga with other people. I just feel more engaged when I’m there in person and not doing it virtually.
This studio has hosted tons of virtual classes since March — they were posted on their Facebook page and you could sign up for classes using your regular class pass or just do the class through the page without paying. Back in March, I tried to keep track of the classes I did, and then I would e-mail the studio afterwards so they could use my class pass. I am never organized enough to sign up for a class before it begins, so I’d do the class and then try to remember to contact the studio. It worked for a couple weeks, and then I was just doing classes for free, never live, just whenever I had the time. I felt like a mooch, but I’m sure that I wasn’t the only one doing it.
Then they started doing in person classes out on the lawn. I still have to work during the week, so I don’t feel right scooting out to take a 9:15 a.m. yoga class on a Monday, but as soon as they announce the weekend schedule, I am probably one of the first people to sign up!
Today’s 10 a.m. class was in this outside courtyard, in the middle of a huge office complex. And because it’s a Saturday, there was no one around. And there were only 3 students in the class plus the instructor! I didn’t care at all — I was just so happy to be practicing yoga with other people, instead of streaming it on my phone while in my spare room. I must have been in a yoga state of bliss, because for the first 10 minutes of class, I went the exact opposite way of the instructor — he said left, I went right and then when I tried to correct myself, I just went the wrong way again. And I totally confused the other students and the instructor! Oh well, I finally got my shit together and played along. It was a beautiful sunny day, I even had the same sheen of sweat that I would have gotten inside during a hot yoga studio class!
It was a nice start to my Saturday, and just made me feel a little bit more normal. And that is so important right now.
Notes from a Self Quarantine 