I attended a small yoga class on Sunday. It was the first in-person yoga practice, I’ve attended, in years.
I’ve written, previously, about how I enjoy yoga, but it’s not my favourite form of movement. I am committed to a regular routine of running, strength and HIIT workouts. I pepper my routine with yoga.
I went through a phase several years ago when I practiced yoga more frequently. During that time, I met one of my favourite yoga teachers, Lisa. She used to be an instructor at a studio I went to that combined yoga and kettlebell. She became my favourite yoga teacher – in person. She is highly knowledgeable, makes her classes interesting and I just dig her energy. When the world changed and we were locked down, I continued to enjoy her Zoom offerings. I have also enjoyed Yoga with Adrienne, especially her 30 day practice at the beginning of each year. I don’t mean this as a slight but Adrienne’s classes feel more like “stretching for various purposes” than traditional yoga. That can have it’s benefits for when I need “yoga for a tight low back” or “runner’s yoga”.
Even though I’ve gone back to regular gym classes, in person, since 2022 or so, I have continued to limit yoga to the virtual kind. Financially, it doesn’t make sense for me to join a yoga studio, on a regular basis, when I am already paying for a more, all-purpose, gym membership (with no yoga offerings). I may buy passes, here and there, to try a pilates class or yoga class, but I can’t commit to too many regular memberships.
Also, let’s face it, virtual yoga, is convenient. You don’t have to go anywhere, on a specific schedule. You simply unroll your mat and voila! You can pick virtual practices that suit your interest that day and many of those practices are short. Often, I will pick a video that’s 20 minutes and which addresses a specific issue I want to address that day. I used virtual yoga practices when I was having balance issues, this past spring. I was grateful to learn yoga-based grounding exercises when going anywhere was a bit treacherous (on wobbly feet, or more accurately, a wobbly head)
Well, despite the convenience, I siezed the opportunity to break schedule (from “Sunday is Run Day”) and attend Lisa’s yoga class on Sunday. Lisa borrows space from a karate studio about a 45 min walk from me. The scheduled class was quite a bit later than my usual Sunday run time but that gave me the chance to sleep in a bit and try a new-ish bakery in the area along the way and enjoy the sunny autumn morning.
I ran a charity 10km race the day before AND this morning person who typically falls asleep by 9:30/10 pm, went out on a Saturday for a friend’s birthday and didn’t get home until close to 11pm. My body appreciated the later start (11 am – I’m usually out running by 7 am).
It was nice to see Lisa in person at the beginning of class. There were only four of us in class and it was a lovely space for our group in the karate studio. The five of us joked about the guilty pleasure of watching reality tv to escape from day-to-day stresses. Lisa expertly guided us through yogic breathing and intentional movement. The whole class flowed seamlessly through well planned asanas that focussed on our hips. Lisa gently nudged us with useful adjustments. That doesn’t happen in virtual classes. When the class was over, we expressed our gratitude to each other for sharing our time and that we each enjoy the rest of the day. That doesn’t happen in virtual classes, either, not the two-way exchange.
There is a lot to be said about the power of connection. There are ways to be connected, both, virtually and in-person. I am a big supporter of hybrid work arrangements because there are benefits to both. I feel the same way about exercise. There are benefits to the convenience and solititude of solo workouts, in one’s own space.
However, I would argue that yoga is most beneficial when the whole experience – being in a room together, working through breathing and movement – warming up to cooling down, greeting each other and wishing each other well, at the end, provides a form of connection that is not possible virtually.
It makes me wonder what other forms of connection could beneft from more in-person interaction – perhaps conversations about big issues that need patience, intellectual exchange and compromise? I digressed there, of course. My apologies.
Have you enjoyed a yoga practice, in person, recently? Do you prefer it to virtual yoga?
