Living on Southern Time

I grew up in the North East where everything moves fast-people talk fast-people drive fast, everyone is always on the go. Supposedly, things move slower in the South. I have not found this to be true of Atlanta. I am always running here and there-the usual working mother stuff. My personality and life keep me on a schedule. I don’t like to be late and am not very good with “down” time. But it’s said that it’s good to stop and smell the roses once in awhile so I decided to try my hand at Yoga. I was thinking maybe it will help me to get my shoulders out of my ears and my teeth to stop grinding.

I showed up to an empty parking lot at 10am for my 10:15 class. After waiting 14minutes I had almost given up, but right as the clocked ticked 10:15 a woman pulled in and started lugging things out of her trunk. As we made our introductions I watched Barbara get the room ready for our experience.  Lights were off, incense and candles were lit. Am I on a date? Or is this what yoga is like???  As the zen like music flowed into the room we began our “practice.” I don’t know why I am always solo for these things but I tried to focus on my breathing and listen to what Barbara was saying to me. She is a very positive person and keeps negative words out of her speech patterns.  Eventually another client showed up.(she was stuck in traffic, but I really think yoga just goes at its own pace) I have to admit I was very happy to have another person there, I’m not very comfortable having the focus all on me. She came in quietly and blended right into our practice, no boisterous hellos, that is not the yoga way. Even her shirt was appropriate, it read- Living On Southern Time.

This class is held at Action Fitness where I put in a lot of hard work and sweat. My mind set when I walk through the door is “let’s move!” So at first I had a hard time moving so slowly. I was thankful for Barbara’s gentle reminders and soothing monologs throughout the class to keep me focused on yoga and not my usual losing weight.  In the beginning of class she had said “you don’t want to lose weight” that implies that you will “find weight” again.  It seems to me that yoga is more a lifestyle than just a class. I am looking forward to exploring this more……

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