Yea, I like to mix it up with something totally new sometimes, but the things that I do regularly generally stay pretty routine.
So it throws me off when something makes me change my routine. It's not that I'm a Sheldon Cooper-type who can't adapt. I can. And I do. It's just that when something changes, it sometimes makes me feel a bit off.
When it rains and I have to take the subway to work. When I need to take the dog out before my shower. When "my seat" on the bus is taken and I have to sit somewhere else (okay, maybe that does sound a little Sheldon Cooper of me...).
When there's a substitute yoga teacher on Tuesday night.
Which we've had twice in the last few months. The same substitute teacher both times. And I had the same reaction in my head both times. Not happy. This was not going to be a good yoga class.
First, she had us turn our mats in the 45 degrees from how we usually set up. So instead of facing the mirror and being in the front row, we were facing a wall and I was behind another person.
Then, she didn't turn any music on. Plus, she didn't start in a seated position, eyes closed, with a few oms. To top it off, the teacher didn't have the sing-songy calm voice of our usual teacher (don't get me wrong - she wasn't like a boot camp instructor yelling poses at us. She was calming, just not as melodic as I'm used to).
I mean, what kind of yoga class is this?! It just seemed so wrong.
Granted, my yoga experience is pretty much limited to the small classes at my gym or the ginormous classes at Yoga to the People. But this fit neither of them.
However, I'm not one to leave a class after I've already walked in and set up (I should clarify that to say leave an exercise class. I've left plenty of classes in college - and high school, for that matter - for much less serious reasons. There was the one time that I took the bus all the way to class on another campus, sat down, realized that I didn't have a pen, and went back to my dorm. In HS, I would leave class - I guess to go to the "bathroom"? - and go hang out with my food science teacher and eat whatever snacks she had around. Or leave food science class to go hang with my friends during their lunch period, since mine was at like 10:30 a.m.)
So, I stayed at yoga class. Both times. And, you know what? I actually really liked it. Both times.
Once I got past the whole this is different, I can't deal thing.
Just because class was different doesn't mean that it wasn't good (duh, Megan). Sure, it wasn't necessarily as stretchy and relaxing as our normal class is, but it was challenging and I learned new things.
Unlike our regular teacher, the sub allowed us to get into more difficult poses and challenged us by holding basic poses for longer. And, she came around to offer adjustments and modifications for exercises, which was incredibly interesting to me. Apparently I do downward dog wrong - I need to bend my knees a little bit and get my hips higher into the air. Who knew?
And the longer holds really made me work on my balance and my strength, while the adjustments helped me see where I was cheating and making poses a bit easier for myself. My muscles were actually pretty fatigued after the session, and I actually think I started to sweat a little bit. Which is an accomplishment, because the yoga room is usually kept pretty cold.
Plus, she didn't do any oms. Which, despite the fact that we usually do them every class, kind of weird me out.
So, what did I learn? Apparently, change can be a good thing. Mixing it up can help you improve and open up new possibilities. It's not earth shattering, and nothing I don't intrinsically know, but it's good to be reminded of it once in a while. Especially if the reminder ends in shavasana.
Which we've had twice in the last few months. The same substitute teacher both times. And I had the same reaction in my head both times. Not happy. This was not going to be a good yoga class.
First, she had us turn our mats in the 45 degrees from how we usually set up. So instead of facing the mirror and being in the front row, we were facing a wall and I was behind another person.
Then, she didn't turn any music on. Plus, she didn't start in a seated position, eyes closed, with a few oms. To top it off, the teacher didn't have the sing-songy calm voice of our usual teacher (don't get me wrong - she wasn't like a boot camp instructor yelling poses at us. She was calming, just not as melodic as I'm used to).
I mean, what kind of yoga class is this?! It just seemed so wrong.
Granted, my yoga experience is pretty much limited to the small classes at my gym or the ginormous classes at Yoga to the People. But this fit neither of them.
However, I'm not one to leave a class after I've already walked in and set up (I should clarify that to say leave an exercise class. I've left plenty of classes in college - and high school, for that matter - for much less serious reasons. There was the one time that I took the bus all the way to class on another campus, sat down, realized that I didn't have a pen, and went back to my dorm. In HS, I would leave class - I guess to go to the "bathroom"? - and go hang out with my food science teacher and eat whatever snacks she had around. Or leave food science class to go hang with my friends during their lunch period, since mine was at like 10:30 a.m.)
So, I stayed at yoga class. Both times. And, you know what? I actually really liked it. Both times.
Once I got past the whole this is different, I can't deal thing.
Just because class was different doesn't mean that it wasn't good (duh, Megan). Sure, it wasn't necessarily as stretchy and relaxing as our normal class is, but it was challenging and I learned new things.
Unlike our regular teacher, the sub allowed us to get into more difficult poses and challenged us by holding basic poses for longer. And, she came around to offer adjustments and modifications for exercises, which was incredibly interesting to me. Apparently I do downward dog wrong - I need to bend my knees a little bit and get my hips higher into the air. Who knew?
And the longer holds really made me work on my balance and my strength, while the adjustments helped me see where I was cheating and making poses a bit easier for myself. My muscles were actually pretty fatigued after the session, and I actually think I started to sweat a little bit. Which is an accomplishment, because the yoga room is usually kept pretty cold.
Plus, she didn't do any oms. Which, despite the fact that we usually do them every class, kind of weird me out.
So, what did I learn? Apparently, change can be a good thing. Mixing it up can help you improve and open up new possibilities. It's not earth shattering, and nothing I don't intrinsically know, but it's good to be reminded of it once in a while. Especially if the reminder ends in shavasana.
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