Breathe, Stretch, Shake

The best things in life are free, or at least nearly free.  There is the conception that quality is compromised when something is offered for free but I learned otherwise a few months ago.

I used to take yoga classes to supplement dance classes but stopped because I couldn’t see why I should pay to stretch and decided that I could just do it in my spare time.  After a few weeks of self-taught yoga, I stopped because I didn’t really know how to organize a session

One random day in February, my friend tells me that there’s free yoga at St. Mark’s Place.  Without any expectations, I go to yoga with her.  She has a mat, gym clothes, and water at the ready; I have two bucks to rent a hopefully non-infected, slip-proof, decent smelling mat, the dress that I wore to school, and no drink to hydrate myself with.  To my surprise, I came out feeling lighter, energized, and relaxed.

I laughed my way through a good part of it: at this place, they encourage you to breathe with a loud sigh or hum if it feels good and let’s just say some people are loud.  Then there’s this pose that you lie on your back, and grab for your feet called “happy baby.”  It’s possibly the most awkward pose ever but then you realize that everyone else is doing it too, and nobody’s looking at you.  Then you start hearing the “goo-goo ga-gas” and gurgling noises and you think you that you’re in a room full of absolute nuts.  Then you try it yourself.  And you know you’ve become a part of it.

There are no mirrors, and anything you change you have to feel if it is right or wrong.  Yoga is something I do for myself and when I do my practice I’m completely involved in my own world, but there’s something about the collective breathing that’s calming even if it’s next to the most hipster-y hipster, the graceful dancer, the uncoordinated boyfriend who was dragged along, or the old couple that decided they needed to exercise and are less than a half of a foot away from you or even if you’ve had the worst day and you decided that you hate the world.  The practice, the teachers, and the people have transformed me in some way; yoga has helped me realize things I want to pursue and things I want out of my life.  It’s strange because yoga really just leaves you to your own thoughts; so I guess I’ve taught myself what’s best for me and it didn’t cost a thing.