The Yoga Dilemma

I've only taken a handful of yoga classes and certainly had mixed feelings on them.  To take a step back, I will say that I can be resistant to trying new things.  Not that I don't want to or that I won't, but it may take me a little while to get comfortable with the idea of stepping out of my comfort zone.  On top of that, I have this idea in my head that in order for something to be a "good" workout, I must have to work really hard at it.  I like feeling exhausted at the end of a workout; like I've really accomplished something.  I understand that I don't always have to work that hard to get a good workout in, but mentally it makes sense to me.

I took my first yoga class about two and a half years ago when B and I first started dating (pre-running days).  It was one of my first trips out to Southern California and I was intrigued by the idea of men doing yoga - that's so LA.  We went to a Power Yoga class and *gasp* I worked up a good sweat!  Despite the good workout, I didn't stick with it.  My next go at yoga was about 6 months later when I decided to try out a new yoga studio near my apartment in Virginia.  I found this class way too easy and again, never went back.

Cut to two weeks ago. A good friend of mine is a yoga instructor here in LA and invited me to attend one of her power yoga classes.  Knowing how I am about trying new things, I got a morning workout in on the Santa Monica Steps... almost to give myself an out.  Wellllll, I already got a workout in today, so maybe I don't have to go to yoga.  Seriously, how pathetic is that?  But when B called me out on sabotaging myself, I made the decision to go.  And guess what?  I LOVED the class.  I worked up a great sweat, was sore in muscles I haven't felt in ages the next day, and left the class excited to start going to yoga more often!

So keeping in the spirit of my morning-workout-in-case-I-bail-later mentality, this past weekend I again went to the steps in the morning while still hoping to get to an afternoon yoga class.  I decided to try out a new studio in Venice that advertised a "yoga for athletes" class.  I'm not sure what I expected, but it was not what I got.  I felt like I was in a stretching class and didn't get a workout at all.  I actually left the class a little bit angry, which kind of defeats the purpose of yoga, right?.

I'm not saying that the class or the instructor was bad or ineffective, I just need to manage my expectations about what yoga is.  Maybe I just don't like certain types of yoga.  I think it will take some experimentation with different classes and instructors to find out what works for me, because I do like the idea of rounding out my workouts with some strength training and muscle lengthening.

In the meantime, I am doing things to make me happy.  Like this:

And these:

And making this for friends:

And eating three of these:

And about 10 of these:

Drinking some of this:

And buying these:

And wearing this (did I mention B is a Red Sox fan?):

And looking at lots of these online:

And go to bed every night with this at my door step: