Dahn Yoga
On my current quest to find new things about which I am passionate, I decided to try Dahn Yoga yesterday. There's a studio just down the block from my apartment and I pass it all the time and it always looks so nice and peaceful and Zenny in there I thought I'd go give it a shot. I did Bikram yoga for awhile, which is a very posture-based kind of yoga, but it had been a while so I was a little worried that I would have forgotten some of the poses. Turns out I did not have to worry about that at all. This was the weirdest kind of yoga ever.
I went in for their 10 AM class on Saturday morning (side note: proud of myself; I did NOT wish to get out of bed at 9:15, I had a headache and was all comfy and it was SATURDAY but I made myself do it and felt much better for that spurt of self-discipline - I'm learning) and I guess I should have guessed that it would be weird when I walked into the room and there were two people in there bouncing up and down on their toes while punching themselves in the chest. Turns out Dahn Yoga is all about "loosening your organs" and muscle tension and stuff. When the class started we spent the first twenty minutes hitting ourselves in various body parts, with fists and then with open palms, while bouncing up and down on our toes and counting out loud. The instructor was very cheery and kept calling out body parts for us to start hitting, and occasionally she'd say things like, "Kidneys! Do you love your kidneys?" and everyone in the class would answer, robot-like, "I love my kidneys!" and start pummeling them. Needless to say, I felt a little out of place.
But, as I was standing there punching myself in the butt repeatedly, I felt something change. Something inside me loosened up and let go, and it wasn't my muscle tension: it was my fear of looking stupid. Up to that point I had been thinking, "Oh man, I must look SO DUMB right now," and attempting to pummel myself in the most attractive way possible and avoid hitting any particularly flabby spots so I wouldn't ripple too much. But then I looked at the guy in front of me, this big, donut-shaped Mexican dude wearing green sweatpants and a wife-beater with boobs that were bigger than mine, hitting himself in the ass with extreme gusto, and I just let it go. I was trying new things, after all, and if I didn't try them wholeheartedly, if I was afraid of looking stupid all the time, then all I was doing was cheating myself, and besides, we ALL looked stupid. So I forgot about my insecurity and my timidity and went for it like a pro. Actually, it was kind of fun. After we finished hitting ourselves and loving our kidneys, we did a bunch of stretches that were really pretty tough by the end, and then we sat down and meditated about golden light coming through the tops of our heads and aligning our chakras, and then we finished up by choosing a partner and hitting THEM in various organs while chanting, "Good morning, my beautiful partner!" I chose the Mexican guy. It was a little weird having him hit me in the butt but whatever. Here's to new experiences.
Next Saturday, though, I think I'll try a different kind of yoga.
I went in for their 10 AM class on Saturday morning (side note: proud of myself; I did NOT wish to get out of bed at 9:15, I had a headache and was all comfy and it was SATURDAY but I made myself do it and felt much better for that spurt of self-discipline - I'm learning) and I guess I should have guessed that it would be weird when I walked into the room and there were two people in there bouncing up and down on their toes while punching themselves in the chest. Turns out Dahn Yoga is all about "loosening your organs" and muscle tension and stuff. When the class started we spent the first twenty minutes hitting ourselves in various body parts, with fists and then with open palms, while bouncing up and down on our toes and counting out loud. The instructor was very cheery and kept calling out body parts for us to start hitting, and occasionally she'd say things like, "Kidneys! Do you love your kidneys?" and everyone in the class would answer, robot-like, "I love my kidneys!" and start pummeling them. Needless to say, I felt a little out of place.
But, as I was standing there punching myself in the butt repeatedly, I felt something change. Something inside me loosened up and let go, and it wasn't my muscle tension: it was my fear of looking stupid. Up to that point I had been thinking, "Oh man, I must look SO DUMB right now," and attempting to pummel myself in the most attractive way possible and avoid hitting any particularly flabby spots so I wouldn't ripple too much. But then I looked at the guy in front of me, this big, donut-shaped Mexican dude wearing green sweatpants and a wife-beater with boobs that were bigger than mine, hitting himself in the ass with extreme gusto, and I just let it go. I was trying new things, after all, and if I didn't try them wholeheartedly, if I was afraid of looking stupid all the time, then all I was doing was cheating myself, and besides, we ALL looked stupid. So I forgot about my insecurity and my timidity and went for it like a pro. Actually, it was kind of fun. After we finished hitting ourselves and loving our kidneys, we did a bunch of stretches that were really pretty tough by the end, and then we sat down and meditated about golden light coming through the tops of our heads and aligning our chakras, and then we finished up by choosing a partner and hitting THEM in various organs while chanting, "Good morning, my beautiful partner!" I chose the Mexican guy. It was a little weird having him hit me in the butt but whatever. Here's to new experiences.
Next Saturday, though, I think I'll try a different kind of yoga.