New Thing: Firefly Yoga

I love Lava Yoga.  I go between four and six times each week.  This week I was aiming for five, but I forgot we were going to be in Wichita this weekend.  It would have been easy to blow it off, but my strangely fierce commitment to being active and getting fit wouldn't let me.  So I turned to the Internet.  My goal?  Find a yoga studio in Wichita that offered a class Saturday morning, which was the only downtime I would have on the trip.  After skimming the search results, I thought Firefly Yoga looked pretty good.  And your first visit is free! Score.

I called the number on the website and ended up speaking with the teacher of the class that was offered Saturday morning.  She is also the owner.  When she heard I was from Topeka, she asked if I went to Lava.  Apparently the women who opened Lava Yoga had visited her studio before they opened up.  She told me they were faster and hotter, which made me a little nervous, but I really wanted to try this.  So I packed my yoga gear and at 8:00, I was there.  Nickki welcomed me and lead me to the girl's locker room:

I kind of wanted to stay in this room all day.  It smelled so good and was so pretty.  There was a shower with an adorable purple shower curtain and a nice bathroom.  I did just kind of stand in there for awhile.  It was nice.  I also admired my new physique.  I am starting to visually notice the difference in my size, so I took a quick pic.

Notice the sinks.  So cool!

The room was about twice the size of the room I practice in.  The ceilings were much higher and one entire wall was glass.  It was frosted so no one could really see in or out, but it let in light, which is different from what I am used to.  Our room is kept quite dark and there are curtains that block the light.  Since I was the first one there, I got to choose anywhere in the room to set up.  Normally I like the back, but the door was at the back and I ended up in the 2nd to last row on the end.  As people came in, some stretched, some were in corpse (like me), and some were in child's pose.  The heat was definitely on and I was sweating before we even started.

The practice itself?  She was right - fast.  I don't think I would have struggled with it if I had known what to expect, but she did flows differently and she spent a TON of time on inversions (head down, legs up), which are maybe the thing I am worst at.  Just about everyone in the room could do a headstand.  Since I can't even come close, and since she probably spent 30-40% of the time on inversions, I felt out of place and pretty uncomfortable for a good portion of the class.  I did attempt, but I simply don't have enough strength in my upper body to support the rest of it.  I was also uncomfortable because I was wearing shorts and there was a dude behind me.  If you are unfamiliar with yoga, you do an awful lot of sticking your butt in the air and lifting your legs.  Your clothing should not have gaps - do you understand what I'm saying?  Why the heck did I not think of that possibility and grab a spot in the back row?  My goodness.  This is normally not a problem in my class at home because I'm usually in the back and it's dark!  Good grief.  I spent way too much time hoping I wasn't showing my goods off to this strange guy, and obviously, it affected my performance.  Not that my performance was all that great.  I was probably the 23rd best out of the 25 in the room.

But part of the beauty of yoga is that you do your best and that's it.  No one really cares how you do.  No one is thinking Wow, she sucks, or at least, if they are, they aren't looking like it.  The chick next to me was pretty good.  We helped each other out a few times, and she didn't make me feel like an idiot, even though I know I looked like one.

Somehow I made it through the class.  She said it was 100 degrees in there, but I don't think there's anyway that was true.  The heat level was very comfortable for me.  I did wonder if the ceilings, which were probably twice as high as they are at home, had something to do with making the room feel cooler.  When we were finished, everyone went to the back and grabbed a bottle of Meyer's cleaning solution and cleaned their mats with it.  I loved this.  I love Meyer's products.  I used the hand soap in the bathroom, too.

All in all, this was a great experience.  It reminded me that I have merely begun to chip the surface of yoga, and that my body has a ridiculously long way to go.  This thought can be wildly depressing, but if I think of where I was when I started, I am encouraged.  For instance, I used to not be able to do the side planks at all.  I always had to have my knee down.  Now, I can do them with no problem.

As I was leaving the locker room, I noticed this quote right by the exit.  It was a very appropriate reminder:

True that.  Keep trying, even though it feels useless.  It's not useless.  Eventually, it will lead to change.