Yoga Signature Assignment.

Im going to be truthful here, I was going to take a rock climbing class instead of yoga. I
wanted to take something exciting, but I also wanted to take a class that would make me sweat a
little. I had taken some yoga classes before at the recreation center and I liked those classes, but I
felt that I didnt really do much physically. I was wrong, yoga requires you to do physical,
spiritual, and mental exercise. It focuses on mindfulness, and in asking for help from a higher
being. I wasnt expecting yoga to be this physically demanding, there were some muscles that
were sore that I never knew existed.
At first I was reluctant, yoga just seemed like the easiest class to take, and one that
wouldnt require a final exam. I also just wanted a class to just relax, and dont have to worry
about homework. But I also wanted a class that would challenge me, and I didnt think that this
class would do that. I was wrong about that too. Some of the poses seemed impossible to do, I
didnt think I could keep my balance with the crow position!
Some days, I could come home from school just to wake up and find out that there were
some sore muscles I didnt know existed. Most of them were in the back of my quads, and would
hurt whenever I moved, or tried to sit down. Another thing I noticed that changed throughout the
semester was my flexibility; before I wasnt able to get my head to my knees, I could touch my
toes, but was never able to put my head to my knees.
One of my concerns about taking yoga was stretching my abdomen to the point that my
stiches would open up in the middle of the class and bleed all over. It might sound a bit
exaggerated, but before class started out this summer, I had my gall bladder taken out. It was
only a laparoscopic cholecystectomy, which roughly translates to little tiny stiches.

Besides that, there wasnt much restraining me from doing poses, except my inflexibility,
my unbalance, or not being strong enough. I did find myself comparing myself to others,
sometimes I just did it to make sure I was doing the pose right, but other times I just did it to
make sure I wasnt being a slacker, and not doing enough, or over doing things, and doing too
much. But other times I didnt care, I just wanted to see how far I could get into a pose, even if it
hurt a little, theres no pain without gain right?
Another thing that surprised me about yoga were the times when we would wake up after
the meditation. It felt so different from the way I would wake up in the mornings, as if I was
coming out from this trance; I have never been on a trance, but I had never experience that
feeling before, it was so odd, and a bit weird, but I would feel so relaxed after it. It would kind of
change the rest of my day, I would feel so centered, and calm. I like meditating, it was an eye
opener for me.
But my one favorite thing about yoga was learning about Chakra. I had learned about
chakra from this Japanese series. I knew it was energy that flowed through the body, but I never
knew that it had different colors, and different purposes around the body. It was interesting to
learn about them, and how different positions stimulated each chakra. I really enjoyed taking
yoga this semester, I know this seems farfetched, but maybe, one day I would like to become a
yoga instructor. It just seems like a fun thing to do.