Put a sock in it (and does one really need yoga pants to do yoga)

Yes, I’m back to trying yoga after a year’s hiatus (or should we say a false start a year ago). I have been digging around and finding yoga instruction that was much better than what I had before. Not like a drill sargent. Have only been at it a few days but Monday night, with a cheap cheap audio I’d found online that day, via an emphasis on breathing into poses I was liking it, feeling like this was more what I’d been looking for, a chance to just be in a posture instead of it seeming like a series of disconnected stretching and balancing exercises, and was very surprised that I was even able to do a downward dog with heels on the floor the way this particular audio led into it. How did that happen? But there I was, despite my being a wobbly beginner, finding my heels on the floor by breathing and stretching that straight spine and sucking in the abdomen. And it felt so easy. And I’m doing my best to not push as the last thing I want to do is hurt myself. By the end of what seemed a very fluid practice I was blissful smiling and feeling so unexpectedly nurtured that, though I tell myself such an ancient art should be able to be pursued without making a money hog of it with unnecessary paraphernalia, I started thinking of things like a yoga mat and an honest-to-god pair of yoga pants. Charcoal gray. Not so I’d feel all yogi like but because my jeans, though I wear them big and baggy, were feeling constricting with some of my very basic beginner poses.

Anyway, Tuesday evening, after the 45 minutes of Hatha and lots and lots of breathing concentration I was feeling marginally more at ease after an out-of-kilter day. Things did feel slightly better though H.o.p., while I breathed and worked on postures, was continually calling to me to take a look at this and that and this and that, but at least not mocking me as he had done in the morning, which had, before doing our language and science and etc., sent me all disgruntled to stare instead at the kitchen sink which was, indeed, stopped up again, just like it was stopped up again yesterday, and unstopped, and the day before that and the day before that.

Though not writing (still), but feeling a little better after the 45 minutes of Hatha it had occurred to me that now was a good time to go ahead and get the vacuuming done as the floor was cleaned up.

Last week Marty remarked on how this vacuum was wearing well after our going through vacuums like crazy, one vacuum breaking after another. I agreed.

Tonight, I popped in the earbuds of the iPod and proceed to vacuum. Within ten to twenty seconds I smelled something funny…like something burning. Cut off the vacuum and flipped it over and there was one of H.o.p.’s old socks jammed up in it. And the smoke poured forth.

A sock. I guess it got sucked up when I pushed the vacuum under the couch/futon.

Long after I extracted the sock, the smoke continued to pour, and I sat and watched.

But it was one of those days, despite my uhm four days of endeavoring to find serenity via yoga. Off kilter and disjointed. Nothing productive happening. All effort for naught, for naught.

I’ve decided the yoga pants can wait but I may go ahead and get a mat.

The idea of yoga practice being a time of sacred space is going to have to include, as part of that sacred space, a ten year old laughing at my fumblings and doing his energetic best to distract. Even if I say, ok, you try this position out and see if you can do it, and he replies oh there’s no way he could do it, he still laughs uproariously over my efforts. “You’re wobbling! You’re wobbling!”

If I don’t cease to be high entertainment in a week, I’ll have to accept my yoga routine as a comedic act.

I will put a tip jar at my side.


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3 responses to “Put a sock in it (and does one really need yoga pants to do yoga)”

  1. YogaDawg Avatar

    Funny. Thanks!

  2. nina Avatar
    nina

    That’s wonderful, trying yoga on again. You know I’m a great believer in the benefits of yoga. And it sounds like you’ve found something that fits with who you are. As for yoga pants, I bought some pants at Target several years ago that are like yoga pants–straight legs, stretchy all around but no elastic anyplace so they don’t bind, particularly at the waist. There are no pockets on them. And they are comfortable to wear so I can stretch in any direction without feeling distracted by clothing feeling too tight. As for the other distractions…I think it is helpful in the beginning to have as few additional distractions as possible just because it makes it easier to turn your attention inside and notice how you feel, your body, your mind, your breathing. But a few years ago I decided, after many years of practice, that while it is wonderful to have that bit of time entirely alone, one way of putting yoga into practice is finding that you can make your way to that yoga state of mind even when all the distractions are going on around you. So whereas at one time I might have been more of a purist about not practicing with the TV on, etc. I do it wherever and whenver it suits me and try to cultivate that yoga state as something contained within everything else that goes on around me. I have this notion that if I can do it with the usual things going on then maybe I stand a better chance of putting that into quiet action when the even bigger challenges come, like if I find myself feeling really pissed off by someone that is difficult, or when life becomes very challenging, that kind of thing. So, H.o.p. may be a little distracting to you but maybe he’s helping you learn to maintain your focus. So he distracts you, you notice that, and then quickly you bring your attention back to that center within you. It’s like building a flexible muscle.

  3. Idyllopus Avatar

    Today H.o.p. actually helped out with managing the video so I could check my positions, or looking at it and comparing with what I was doing and telling me if I had it right.

    Lots of breathing work today. But I remain unsure about the constriction of the throat, if I’m doing it properly. I feel like the constriction sound is manifesting from the top rear of my throat.

    I may or may not be very tiresome and write a little online about it daily for a while just to help with making it a habit.

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