Open to Possibilities

The theme of today's post is going to be the theme of my yoga workout today, and mainly just my new outlook on this "season" of my life...since it's summer and all, and I have to figure out what I'm going to do with my "free time" that is still research-related. So, theme of the day (TOD): "open to possibilities."

I'm still on the trying new workouts schtick, and because the recreational center at school is having free group fitness classes, I thought I'd try a few more out after my finals ended on Thursday. On Friday, there was a Pilates class and then an Advanced Yoga class back-to-back around the lunch hour, so I scheduled that in. As a dancer, I practiced Pilates for about 3 years and then I also did reformer bed classes in college. I also took yoga as a PE class in college, so these classes were not anything new to me, just stuff I haven't done in a while.

I enjoyed the Pilates class and got a pretty good sweat on from the ab work we did. It was relaxing too because the instructor left the lights off the whole time. Then came the yoga class. The guy who led it is very hard to describe, but I'll try my best. He definitely was a yoga teacher - really in tune with nature, the universe, his spiritual self; he just had this positive aura around him the instant he walked into the room. He was energetic and kooky, but not in an annoying way that seemed inappropriate for a yoga class. He was mellow and chill, but not so much that he put me to sleep. It was the perfect balance for someone like me doing yoga - high energy but low-key (paradox, yes I know).

So onto the actual class. We jumped right into poses, since it was advanced after all, and I'm glad that I'd taken a few yoga classes before in my life. We started in a seated position to set the tone for the class - apparently this instructor always has a theme for how he's going to lead class and the "cues" he's going to call out. He began by telling us about some yoga principle that translates literally to being "open to grace," but that he took to mean being open to possibility. Being open means recognizing when an opportunity presents itself to you and taking on the challenge. It means being an active participant in life, not simply just going with how fate rolls you along. And, once you actively recognize opportunities and possibilities, it means stepping head first to meet the challenge. I thought that was a pretty good outlook to have in life.

During class, he kept using the "cue" of "be open to the possibility of..." and then usually referring to being okay with falling out of a pose, or maybe realizing that the next progression was too difficult for you. So, being open to possibility also means recognizing when to push yourself, when to sit tight, and when to slow down a bit. I even took the phrase one step further to signify being open to new forms of movement and activity. Yes, yoga is not what we think of when we think of "high intensity," but it still kicked my butt and I was totally sore today from all the stretching and balancing!

I think next semester I'm going to balance out my CF training with a little yoga too. This instructor was just too chill and cool to pass up - I think something calming like yoga will definitely be a good way to de-stress during the week.