I went back to the South Loop studio last night in all it's stressful post-class walk glory and it was truly OK. I went with one of my girl friends, which is honestly not the way I like to do yoga. I really like to be in class alone, focused on purely myself for the entire hour, and I have always felt that taking yoga with friends detracted from that.
But after swallowing that supposition and hopping a cab South, I realized that sometimes that extra person can be more of a blessing than a curse. In my pre-class shivasana, I got a little too dreamlike and my friend tapped me on the arm when class started to bring my attention back to the class. Much less embarrassing than a jump start when the instructor walks by. And being in class with her wasn't distracting at all. It's amazing how focused your attention gets in class, like it's just you and the mirror. And when the class ended, we walked over the scary bridge together, turning a bout of paranoia into a fun conversation.
It always amazes me how wrong I can be about something. It's usually internal and hard, something I am not prepared to share with other people.
"Uh, sorry - I actually like to take class alone . . . " and then it happens and I realize that it was actually more enjoyable this way. There's definitely something to be said for alone time, but it's nice to change things up and stop myself from getting stuck in an unchanging routine. If I learned anything from yoga, it's that you can surprise yourself just as easily as anyone else can.
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