This probably explains why I was playing on 3 soccer teams and a flag football team this summer, and at the same time had no problem sitting, not moving and watching 4 hours of soccer in a row on Saturday mornings. Or why I'm trying this whole do-52 thing in the first place, but yet also bought the newest Call of Duty game (re: nerd) for XBox last week.
I'm not exactly sure where video games actually fall on the spectrum below. I mean, Wii excluded, they require you to sit on the couch and not move for hours on end (let's be honest - no one plays for 20 minutes at a time), but at the same time, you are actively involved and it does require you to think (though the level of thinking can ceretainly be debated). Even something simple like Tetris is working your spacial reasoning and hand-eye coordination. And yes, I'm really stretching to justify playing video games as a 31 year old.
Even one of my (now shockingly) favorite activities, running, isn't spared from my boredom curve. All running activities exist on the right side of the above curve, but I'd rather run in 20 degree weather through an ever-changing city route than be stuck indoors on a treadmill. Half the time I run, I end up listening to podcasts because despite the fact that I've got 5,000 songs to choose from, sometimes I'm just not stimulated enough running and listening to songs I've already heard. And good Lord was I scared when I ran the Reach the Beach team marathon back in September (no, I didn't run 26 miles. I ran 5, then 3, and then 4). Not because my first leg was at 10:30 at night along the pitch black hill-filled rural roads of upper New Hampshire, but because you weren't allowed to wear any headphones while running. That was a first, and even then I made sure to listen to a catchy high-energy song up until the few seconds before my legs. God forbid I listen to my own thoughts for 45 minutes straight.
So this whole need for massive stimulation, or no stimulation at all, is the main reason why yoga has never appealed to me.
The idea that yoga could be considered by some to be emasculating actually had nothing to do with it at all. Trust me. You're reading the words of someone who's dressed up as various women at least 4 times now for Halloween. Someone who has "bake a cake" on their year-long to-do list. Someone who'll be running though the streets of Boston in a Speedo in under 2 weeks (insert cheap plug to donate to the kids!)
I figured yoga would sit smack dead in the middle of the boredom-enjoyment curve - just enough movement and strenuous activity to make me somewhat pay attention, but nowhere near enough to get me to actually enjoy myself. Like a lot of the items on the list (i.e., the blind date), I expected yoga to get me out of my expected comfort zone, whether I liked it or not. And so while Malinda suggested Bikram yoga (aka, sweat your balls off yoga) for the list, I decided to bring it down a notch, do yoga at a more sane room temperature to start, and to also actually do it within a little bit of my comfort zone - my work.
The lovely ladies at my fairly small company have been doing lunchtime yoga once a week for a year or so now. Recently, my friend Katie has started teaching the class herself. Thus, when I screwed up, I'd only mildly feel like a jackass. And with my co-workers on-hand, they'd get to enjoy the lasting images of my virgin yoga experience. A win-win proposition.
Normally I would have liked to include pictures here, for the readers enjoyment, but I figured taking pictures mid-class may have been a little disruptive and disrespectful (yes, this usually tactless boy still occasionally retains some of those midwestern manners he grew up with). And taking pictures mid-class kind of goes against the whole let-yourself-go-and-relax thing that yoga kind of has going for it. So really, all I can do is leave you with hastily thrown together photoshops of me in a couple poses I actually did do.
According to the interwebs, this is the crane pose, though I think Katie called it the crows nest. Either way, I was able to balance on my hands, but maybe not quite as nicely as shown above.
This is, shockingly, called a headstand. It took me an attempt or two, but I was able to hold it for a good 10 seconds or so. Maybe not perfectly vertical, but damn close. Yes, even I was surprised.
The class lasted an hour, so obviously more poses were thrown in, but these were probably the hardest, and thus, made me feel the most like a bad-ass, if its actually possible to feel like a bad-ass during yoga. And the class may now be the current posterchild for the do-52 list because . . . ummm, I actually enjoyed it. I enjoyed yoga. In fact, I'll probably be at the same class tomorrow despite already crossing it off the list. Instead of getting restless due to lack of motion, or possibly falling asleep for the same reason, I was able to actually focus, do the poses, and enjoy the overall sense of calmness . . . . and all while not even feeling emasculated.
- Thanks to Malinda for suggesting, Katie for teaching
- I hit up Kelly's Roast Beef (item #9) tonight post-soccer, but since I'm just getting around to this post, it will have to wait. Not exactly exciting, but a Boston food landmark none-the-less
- I'll be going to see some Christmas burlesque (item #10) next week - The Slutcracker. Tickets are general admission, so if you'd to join me and a couple girls from my work, email/text/comment me.
- Around the same time next week will be item #11. All I will say, is that it will involve pain.
Such strong poses, such weak Photoshopping (you should add THAT to your list).
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it. I think it's great if you find new things you really like - instead of JUST doing/trying crazy things (like eating a raw pumpkin).