This morning I struggled with my first gentle yoga class, after having felt deeply humbled when I previously had tried a regular yoga class. I hope to continue the gentle yoga classes at least weekly.
Background: I have exercised regularly for a long time. Spin cycling is my love and I'm pretty good at it. I gave up long distance running in the 1980's because I constantly was pulling leg muscles, due to inflexibility and my difficulties in stretching. I enjoyed yoga several times years ago, though I wasn't real good at it. More recently I'm aware of how at age 59 my body is less flexible and more difficult to manipulate. I hope that yoga will help me avoid periodic back pain as well as making it less likely that if I live to a ripe old age that I will be hunched over as my 83 year old mother is now.
When I exercise and struggle as I do with yoga my feelings go in strange, not always pleasant ways. I see the women near me with much envy as they bend and stretch out far "better" than I do. It is very easy to go into a space of: "it's hopeless" either with some specific thing we are asked to do or with yoga in general.
When I reflect upon some of what I've gone through with my recent yoga classes I think of some of the much larger issues that many people face such as losing (or fearing the loss) of their jobs and/or their homes in the current "recession". Under pressures far greater than what I face, it is very easy for people to want to find reasons and blame for what is occurring.
It is no accident that making President Obama into a "Muslim" or worse and radical right wing efforts such as The Tea Party Movement have seeming strength now in these difficult times. It is more difficult to offer support and help so many people see the traps of these simplistic, narrow often bigoted answers to the tough issues we face today. Thanks!
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