June 2019 marathon
This is the thirteenth year of Juneathon and with each ‘athon I usually set myself a challenge within a challenge. This Juneathon, I challenged myself to try a new gym class every week. Today’s class was yoga.
I’ve been toying with the idea of trying yoga for a while now because:
a) I’m starting to grind with old age and I read that yoga is good for flexibility;
b) for months now I’ve had the impression that sleep is something that happens to other people and I’ve read that yoga is good for sleeping; And
c) everyone who says they do yoga on TV is thin (although I’m aware that most people on TV are thin because it seems fat people aren’t allowed on TV unless they’re is a program about fat people).
Puregym Folkestone
When I moved to Folkestone a few years ago, I joined a gym about a mile away. I haven’t been there very often because:
a) it was a mile away, which in itself wasn’t a problem, but it was a mile uphill so cycling there wouldn’t have been any quicker or easier; And
b) I couldn’t be stupid (especially because of a)
so I canceled my membership.
Then, a few months ago, a Puregym opened with an opening offer of £10.99 per month for the first year. The cheap price tempted me, but it was just over a mile away and most of that mile was uphill. But then I googled if there were any alternative routes there and, lo and behold! Google told me there was a flat path to get there. I tested it on my bike and wow, I got there in less than ten minutes. Result.
I feel a little bad when I get to the gym and see the hills beyond and my brain starts telling me that I should exercise by running up the hills, not by peeing on the machines in a gym, especially on sunny days. day. But I enjoy both, and to prove it, here’s a photo I took last Sunday of the gym from the top of the hill.
I can see the gym from here
yoga
As with most gyms, classes are included in the membership and although most classes are free at Puregym, the yoga class costs £2 more, probably because they have to use specialized instructors and do not use staff already present. .
I have to admit that I felt some trepidation about trying yoga because I thought everyone would be there:
a) young;
b) thin;
c) curved; And
d) coordinated
and none of these things can apply to me and, to be honest, only two did (you can guess them for yourself. It’s like a free quiz, yeah. There’s no prize for the correct answer though, ha).
I walked into the studio, where the instructor was happily sitting alone and not surrounded by young, slim, lithe, coordinated women and she asked me the usual questions about whether I had ever done yoga (no) and if I had any injuries (yes). *) and she asked me if I minded if she came and adjusted my position if she needed to and I said no because I would probably do everything wrong anyway.
There were only three of us in the class and a small part of me felt mildly happy to see that I was neither the tallest nor the oldest and that even the shortest and youngest was only slightly taller. small and younger.
My main concern, aside from not being young, slim, lithe and coordinated – and hoping my feet were clean because we had to take off our shoes and socks – was that the class was an hour long and, if I was as bad as I am, I thought I would be and I wouldn’t be able to follow what we were supposed to do, I would become horribly self-conscious and want to run away from class, but I would be stuck there for an hour doing the wrong thing and trying not to. cry.
As it happened, all the dogging down, sun salutations, stretching and everything else was easy to follow (especially when I looked sideways to see what the woman next to me was doing) and I didn’t like it. I haven’t been singled out for doing things wrong the whole time. time. Ha, pass me Miss Yogi.
The hour passed quickly and afterwards I felt incredibly relaxed, light and flexible. I thanked the instructor and told her how good I felt – like I had been covered in foam, in a good way – and she said I did very well and had seems to be bigger.
I will definitely return.
*I broke my foot last year when I came home drunk from a party. Since then, I’ve been paranoid about my foot and avoided anything that might involve stretching my toes.
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