2 weeks ago, i joined yoga and pilates classes at a little place called zen yoga, which is where i just came from a few minutes ago. i do yoga on tuesdays, pilates on thursdays, and hobble around in pain all of the days in between. i've done a little yoga before, and please don't get me wrong, i am outrageously excited to finally be part of a class, (and in the continent where yoga was created no less!) but i do not think i can put into words the difference between the flexibility of the american body and the korean body. i've never been a flexible girl. i remember the day in the 4th grade when mrs. kobas showed us how to "stretch out" in p.e. class and as i looked around the gym and saw my fellow classmates with their legs out, stretching their hands out past their toes, laughing with their friends like touching your toes was as fun as eating a gaint bowl of very berry captain crunch with only the berries left in it, i realized that reaching just slightly past my knee and wincing in unexplainable pain was not normal. my body had a glitch. i am a living case of extreme and painful-to-even-watch-her-try inflexibility.
so just try your very best to picture me amidst a room full of tiny little korean women (and one very sure-of-himself korean man) bending over and putting their elbows on the floor without bending their knees and placing this leg inside of that arm and twisting the other leg while placing your other arm straight in the arm like an arrow, all the while keeping your back straight and your head forward, and balancing perfectly and effortlessly while steadily breathing through your nose in some yoga-ish way that from the sounds of the room is supposed to make more noise than normal breathing. and the only words i can understand the entire time are "inhale" blah blah blah blah blah blah blah "exhale" blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. so i'm constantly straining my neck looking around to see what everyone else is doing, which doesn't exactly help with my balance. my poor yoga instructor. she's constantly coming over and trying to push my arms further down to the ground of bend my back more as if i am not nearly break my body in half trying to go as far as possible. the other night she tried to push my legs completely over my head as i lay on my back. it was the most awkward position my body has ever been in. my face has never been that close to my stomach before in my life. i felt like i could have eaten my belly button! and it doesn't help that she is the size of my left leg. i feel like at any moment my legs could snap back and crush her to pieces.
if she weren't my friend, i may have considered doing that on purpose.
but i love it, believe it or not! my goal is to be able to bend over and touch the ground with flat hands without bending my knees by christmas. i will keep you posted on my progress.
i feel like i should give an update on new position as president of the music department at tango pango. (doesn't that sound prestigious? the truth is that i AM the music department and i've officially voted and it turns out that i was elected president.) despite a few rocky days of "how do i teach kids english songs when they don't speak english!", i'm really starting to enjoy it. it feels so good to be teaching music again and it feels good to feel good about what i'm doing. it really excites me to watch the way kids are affected by different music sounds and moods. and i've even put a big colorful sign on the door that says "WELCOME TO THE MUSIC ROOM!" complete with the music notes, the treble clef and the floating conductor waving a wand. things at my school always seem to be a bit dramatic and because it's new, things change every day, but i'm hoping they stick with the music program because i like what i'm doing. it funny to me that every time i think i am going to leave music, it holds on to me and re-enters my life in a different way.
4 comments:
oi, I'm going to yoga *tonight*!! at the beginning of the class, our teacher (well, our old teacher. She retired to Indiana. Our new teacher may not do this) - but anyway, our old teacher would always say, "Make your intention for this class." I'll be thinking of you and your plans for flexibility!
Oh, and that breath? It's called ujaya breath (hm, spelling?). You close up your throat a little bit so that you sound like Darth Vader as you breathe. It's supposed to bring heat into your body as you go through the poses - and boy, does it! Not sure *why* exactly.....
Wow Carolyn! I stumble on your blog and find out you are in Korea!! Very impressive- it sounds fantastic. And a bit more scenic than here in LA.
You're experience with Yoga reminds me of the story my Buddhist professor at University would tell about when he was in Japan studying Buddhism and learning to meditate with Buddhist monks. Sitting meditation is done in what is called the Lotus position which is like siting on the floor with your legs crossed but with both your feet tucked up on top of your knees. (which generally one can only do if one has not been sitting full lotus since childhood as most Japanese Buddhits have been.) To his embarrassment and frustration he could only do a half lotus .
One evening he was at a dinner party with some of the monks and someones house, and there was a good bit of Saki, and my professor and the abbot of the monastery were drunk. So the abbot made some remark how their American friend was never going to be able to sit Lotus. My professor took that as a challenge and promptly folded up his legs in full lotus. The next day he discovered that he was in great pain and had torn a ligament in his right leg, and limped for several weeks after much to the amusement of the monks. He warned all his classes not to attempt full lotus and if we felt we wanted to simply work up to it slowly under the supervision of someone, but that even he after years of Buddhist sitting mediation still had not achieved full lotus. he just wasn't that flexible, and accepted that he probably never would be.
I hope you can achieve your goal, but it might be good to keep in mind that it is likely that the people in the yoga class have been doing yoga possibly since their youth, or at least sitting meditation full lotus. They probably have much more training in knowing their bodies than we get here in the States.
thanks larry...it's good to hear that other people can't contort their body in freakishly flexible ways either. usually when i can't be the best at something, i quit, so this will be a good test in perserverence! (seriously, how do you spell that word???)
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