I am on the mailing list for Lululemon Athletica, and a few months ago I received this notification for my local Cleveland Showroom located in that shopping center I’ve mentioned, Eaton Collection:
Blindfold Yoga and Chocolate tasting
Thursday September 16th at 6:30
lululemon showroom at ETON 28867 Chagrin Blvd. Woodmere Ohio 44122
Explore your senses, take your attention inward, and experience a class without judgment…it’s just you and your own personal practice. Let your practice naturally unfold as you weave together doing and feeling. No complex poses will be given, and some yoga experience is helpful but not necessary. Please bring a scarf or bandanna to be used as a blindfold. There will be a taste test to follow.
I’ve been trying to get back into yoga and had gone to a free class at the Showroom two weeks earlier. Had a great time, and felt like a million bucks afterwards both inside and out. Long story short, at the last minute I decided to go!
The “long story” that I won’t get into resulted in my being completely ready for a yoga class, even down to being at the right shopping center, but I didn’t have a blindfold. I was sure that I could at least walk into one of the lovely shops here and find a nice little scarf that would do the trick. I didn’t find a scarf under $50, but I did find a cute black knitted headband with little white crochet flowers. Blindfoldey enough!
I walked down the shopping strip to Lululemon for the class. I made myself a little space on the floor, unrolled my mat and began to stretch. The showroom is a small, bright little space with hardware floors. For the class, they have to move the store fixtures out of the way for people to fit. So it’s ultimately an intimate space, and not in the least bit intimidating. Very informal and friendly.
As the instructor, an “ambassador” from an official school/studio, began the class, I began to get nervous. I’m no Yogi and she was using a lot of Sandskrit words. I’m in a room filled with lean bendy Yogis. If I’m blindfolded, how the hell am I going to know what to do with myself?! Panic! Too late to do anything about it…I slid the headband over my eyes...
Heeeeeyyyyyy! I can see through this thing! Bonus!
So we breathed, I peeked, we leaned & stretched and I peeked a little bit more (mostly to prevent tipping).
I’m doing alright here! And if I stumble, it’s no problem because everyone else is blindfolded!
But then we hit another little issue…yoga makes me sweat. I know there are certain flavors of yoga where you are supposed to sweat, but I sweat doing “gentle” yoga. It feels really gross to be writing this, but it’s a fact. I sweat when I’m nervous, and I sweat when I exercise. I’m not flexible…at all. So making myself a pretzel really is active work for me. I’m sure if I practice more it won’t be, but for now…I have a problem. Oh, and the blindfold was wool.
*facepalm*
It’s embarrassing to be in a room filled with bendy, willowy Yogi’s and be the ONLY one having to use a towel. But hey! We’re all blindfolded, so no one can see!
We had a great instructor. She explained each pose very clearly, and she went around the room gently adjusting limbs. She stepped towards me, reached out to move my ankle slightly to the left…and her hand slipped.
Ew ew ew ew I’m the creepy gross girl in the class! Noooooooooooo!
…and that made me nervous, and being nervous makes me sweat…grrrrr….
The second class was over I gracefully ripped off my blindfold, grabbed for my towel and tried to dry my mat and myself off before anyone could notice. Avoided all eye contact with the instructor.
“And now it’s time for chocolate!” she said sweetly with a bright smile. They had 3 varieties. Everyone casually slipped into the Lotus position to receive their treats. I tried, but ended up fumbling into Indian Style, sucking in my stomach as hard as I could. Close enough. We each got one piece of each flavor, and we were going to taste them together. “OK everyone! I want you to focus on what you are tasting. Take your time and see what flavors you can pick out.” OK! Like a wine tasting, we’ll taste each, discuss, etc…
And then she took out a piece of paper. “Everyone tasted all three? OK! The first was sea salt, the second was orange, and the third was lavender. Wasn’t that nice! Thanks for coming!” Everyone floated out of Lotus and began to pack up their things.
So we’re not going to discuss? Where is the chocolate from so I can buy more? Hmmm. OK. “There’s more chocolate up here if anyone wants any.” I immediately turn and step towards where she is pointing, and everyone else turns away to talk, look at clothes…I froze in place, pivoted immediately and pretended to look at a T-shirt on the wall. Yep, I’m the chubby girl in a skinny girl food tasting.
Don’t get me wrong. Everyone there was incredibly nice. And I felt just terrific afterwards, both mind and body. But I really did feel out of place, and it was the last class I’ve been to. I bought a book so that I could try to practice at home instead of at a studio, but Chapter 1 insisted that the best way to practice Yoga is with a group or with a personal Yogi. They’re probably right. In spite of all of my insecurity, I have to admit that I felt calm and happy after class, and also felt like part of something in a weird little sparkly spiritual way.
Take a Yoga class once a month. This will help me become more flexible, will be great for my crummy joints, I’ll learn more about the poses, and ultimately be more confident with the practice. If I’m more confident, I’ll probably end up taking more classes, improve even more… That would be nice.
Namaste
en