Gentle is as Gentle Does

I went to a Gentle Yoga class today.  My studio just started this type of class and this week the classes were free, so I thought I’d go. Now “gentle” is not a word that is ever used to describe me but I figured this class was something I would do to take care of myself after exerting me body heavily earlier in the week. I find it amusing that my sore muscles help me feel justified and less guilty in taking a gentle yoga class rather than the regular. Like I need a reason to be kind to my body or to take it slow for a change. 

As it was, and with only a small amount of guilt, I was looking forward a languid yoga practice. I thought I’d come out of it and write about how nice it was to shift gears for a change. How my body thanked me and how my mind was calm and serene like a placid lake. But such was the case.

I’m not sure if the teacher was nervous about having another teacher (who was on a mat next to me) in class, or if she in her spry youth thought she was being gentle by forgoing arm balances, or if she figured gentle meant simply talking in a soft voice. Whatever the case, this flow was not gentle. 

A quarter way through class and I was getting annoyed. What was with all these standing sequences? My core was hurting from earlier in the week and I didn’t come to this class to do a series of Boat crunches. I guess others in the class were surprised, as well as many of them spent a third of the class in Child’s Pose. “Couldn’t she see that she needed to lay off a bit?” I thought as I didn’t what seemed to be my millionth Chaturanga. “Dancer? Really?” I grumbled as I tried to keep my balance while extending my leg back. It was only as I took an optional shoulder stand that I realized that I was being the ridiculous one.

The class wasn’t bad at all. It was my expectations of what it should be that were the cause of my disgruntled attitude. It was also my expectations towards (surprise) myself. I had come there hoping someone would tell me it was ok to take it easy. I find it hard not to push myself when the options are given, if I’m physically able to do them. But just as I don’t need an excuse to take a gentle class, I don’t need an excuse to take it easy on myself. Any class I take can be as gentle or as hard as I want it to be. I can learn from my fellow yogis in Child’s Pose. They were listening to their bodies and honoring what was right for them that day. 

With Savasana came a new appreciation. So after class, when the studio owner asked how I liked it, I was able to truthfully smile and say “Wonderful.”