Yoga - Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

For those of you unfamiliar with the term Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, don't worry about it. It will all become clear in the body of this text.

Tonight, Amber and I went to the gym to participate in an hour long Yoga class. Amber has been to Yoga classes before, and enjoyed them so I figured this was something we could do together. To be clear, I have never participated in a yoga class. The closest I've come was a stretching and flexibility class at BYU a few years back. Great class by the way, towards the end of the class I was able to place both palms on the floor with my legs totally straight. Tonights class had nothing in common with that class.

I expected a relaxing 60 minutes of stretching and relaxing. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, I now hate the phrase "Down Dog Position," I suppose it was a surreptitious begining when we started in a position that made me want to puke, and prevented me from drawing more than half a breath... (Even worse the instructor started talking about these big relaxing breaths I was supposed to be able to take) Within 10 minutes I was breathing heavy. By 20 I was sweating. After 30 minutes sweat was pouring off my face and my shirt was completely soaked through. In short, it was nothing like I expected, and was in fact a real kick in the shorts.

As I sit down to write about this experience my muscles ache, I can't seem to drink enough water, and I just finished satiating an intense craving for a salad. How can stretching have had such an intense effect on my body?

On the flip side, after our Yoga class, Amber and I ran into Ryan Shuppe of Ryan Shuppe and the Rubber Band. Apparently he has a membership at the same gym and when I said hi to him and used his name he came over and talked to us for a while. Nice guy.

Go try it.