man corner

I attend a great yoga class at my gym twice a week and kind of particular about where I put my mat. I like to be either in the back row, or along one of the side walls - for some reason it give me a sense of stability not to be surrounded on all 4 sides by other people. Last night I snagged an ideal spot for me in the back row with only one person between me and the side wall. I was amped up for a great practice.

Because the class can get pretty crowded, I try to get there at least 10 minutes early. As people started to filter in last night, I ended up being surrounded by men. This isn't typical in a yoga class, and it seemed that in last night's class, every man in the class was surrounding me - one on either side, 2 immediately in front of me and one crammed in halfway in front of me and halfway next to me. As I started class, it didn't occur to me that being in the "man corner" would be any different than being surrounded by women.

However, as we got started, being in the "man corner" was quite a different experience than I'm used to. Men's bodies are very different from women's, so postures that I was having no problem with, most of the men were taking different options, or falling all over the place. As we got into more active and advanced postures, I had a really difficult time keeping my focus. The man in next to/in front of me was holding his feet really strangely when we laid our ear to our mat, the man straight in front of me kept going into postures way to far and would dramatically fall out of every one, the man next to had really labored breathing when he went into a twist. I spent most of my practice being distracted by other yogis' feet, loud breathing or lack of balance. I had a hard time focusing on my own practice and let other things bother me. The heat of the room was bothering me (it's not a hot yoga class but takes place in a room after a hot and sweaty Zumba class so it's pretty hot in there), I was having an impossible time with my balance and I wasn't feeling strong.

So what did I learn from my experience in the "man corner?" First of all, I learned that my own focus could use some work. I am pretty good at quieting my mind when my eyes are closed, but with my eyes open I tend to get distracted by what others are doing and, in turn, allow other senses to spark up and get in the way of my practice. Secondly, I need to work on my competitive thoughts during my practice. I often found myself wondering what the men were thinking of me and my expression of the poses instead of quieting my mind and focusing on my breath.

I enjoyed my practice last night, but I also felt frustrated by my lack of balance and concentration. However, I'm glad to take these important lessons forward as I continue to practice yoga!

om.