I went to yoga for the first time in a long while on Saturday. I have been through various phases in my fitness life some of which have included a lot of yoga. For example, when I was in school in Iowa I would go several times a week. In part because I liked building flexible strength and in part because I really needed those last five minutes of class in corpse pose where I imagined the faces of my advisors on apples that gently fell to the ground and rolled away. But that was pretty much as meditative as I ever got. No offense to all the yogis out there, but I just never got into all the Eastern philosophy. So I seek out classes that do not include this as a huge component.
The class on Saturday fit this particular bill. It lacked a little bit of the athleticism I am used to, but my calves didn't care because they have been tight on the verge of snapping and thus anything was going to help improve that situation.
Unfortunately my instructor probably wasn't as concerned about my calves because I am a woman, and, as she said in class, men's calves are usually quite tight. And then she gave instructions for modifications. She did this several others times with various body parts.
And then to make it worse, during one of these essentialist comparisons she said "Girls are more blah, blah, blah and men are more blah blah blah." Yep girls and men. This is in a room where there were men and women of all ages.
And of course there was the ubiquitous "you guys" throughout class. (Because she talked a lot--more than any other yoga instructor and not always about helpful things.)
It is very hard for me to be zen when I am being called, at various points, a girl and a guy.
So the search for the perfect yoga class continues.
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