Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Anxiety is not my friend

I've been practicing about 4 times a week. That seems like the sweet spot for me right now. I'm on my mat something close to every other day. I still have time to go to shows and drink beer and eat frozen yogurt and watch tv. A daily practice doesn't work for me right now because then it seems like life is just work + yoga. Anyway, last night was a really difficult class for me. The room was packed and I was one of the last people in the room. There was a newbie in front of me and during the standing series, her mat scooted back a few inches so it was basically touching mine. I was doing all of the postures so I didn't really notice where her mat was until we got down onto the floor... and her feet were basically on my head and I started to freak out a little. Ok, more than a little. I couldn't really scoot back because there was a row of people behind me. And I couldn't seem to make eye contact with the teacher who is new and it was my first class with her. I had to wait until we got on our knees for fixed firm and I asked her to scoot her mat up. I probably seemed like the crazy yogi, but I just felt so stressed out by the situation. My studio has lots of newbies these days and while I do sometimes get frustrated with them for not knowing how things work at the studio, my experience last night was a good reminder that the yoga room can be more than uncomfortable - it can move into scary/anxiety-filled. I'm going to try to be more kind to myself and more kind to my fellow yogis in the future.

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