German Pretzel

I went to my first and probably last German Yoga class this week. I thought it might be a good way to meet some English speaking people as it is an English yoga class.

The class was Vinyasa yoga so the instructor started with some chanting and then it was a free for all. Everyone works at their own pace going through a series of poses. Now, if I am paying for a yoga class, I don't want to have to think about what pose is next or remember how many sun salutations I've done so far, that's just me. Plus, everyone doing their own thing is really quite distracting. I spent most of the class watching what everyone else was doing. Although then the "instructor" told me I wasn't focused enough.

Since the instructor wasn't bogged down by teaching the class, she was free to walk around the room and help put people into the correct position. She put my hands behind my back in a prayer position which I've never been able to do. Of course, then I couldn't really do the forward bending part because I thought my shoulders were going to come out of their sockets. In the next pose, she seemed to think it wasn't a big deal to wrap my arm around my body a few times and grab my sweaty foot. I must be missing that rubber arm gene.

I had two realizations during this class. 1). I think I like the idea of yoga more than I like actual yoga. It sounds peaceful and enlightened and people who do it always seem to have really good posture. 2). That torture device called the stretching machine that they used in the middle ages is a lot like yoga.

I have decided that I should spend my time in Germany eating pretzels rather than trying to be a pretzel.