Say “Namaste” to Yoga
The atmosphere at Wakefield’s holistic Mecca All That Matters is simply divine, the aura as soothing as soft South County sand on bare feet. But one of the first things yoga instructor Coral Brown tells me is that “anyone that can breathe can do yoga.”
Having just put out a cigarette, this may not be true. Yet despite the whole breathing thing – Brown’s soft, calming voice, the wafting incense, mellow music and candlelit ambience in the practice room – have put me at ease, and I am ready to say “Namaste,” a traditional greeting, to yoga.
The class consists of men and women of all different ages. We bow hands at heart to begin and I soon find myself moving on the mat, my legs, arms, back and body transforming in and out of poses like the appropriately named downward-facing dog to the Power Ranger-like Warrior II. The tingling inhales and the relaxing exhales of my breath ebb and flow as I work my way, somewhat awkwardly, from pose to pose. I stumble. I get up. I balance. I contort. I sweat. I adjust. I breathe. I am relaxed, yet I am working out.
Yoga, it turns out, is quite individualistic. There is no rush to keep up with the group, no sense that my inexperience is a hindrance. My workout is what I make it; I define my own pace. At the end, the class is given ample time to explore poses on their own. Some stand on their heads, others practice stretching in ways I could only achieve by accident and with great personal injury resulting. I enter into Savasana, the corpse pose, which allows you to lay still, eyes closed, your body in total relaxation. Now this is a pose I can master.
Having never stepped barefoot into a yoga class before, I am told I fared pretty well. And despite some loudly creaking bones, a pound or two of sweat and the occasional stumble, my body, Brown tells me, is actually quite balanced. “Yoga is the union of opposites,” Brown explains. “The body wants to be in balanced. Yoga brings us back to balance.”
And it is the balance that Brown says keeps all types of people coming back to yoga – the liberating union of physical health and the mental state of realizing that all that usually matters – if only for a brief and fading hour – does not.
The atmosphere at Wakefield’s holistic Mecca All That Matters is simply divine, the aura as soothing as soft South County sand on bare feet. But one of the first things yoga instructor Coral Brown tells me is that “anyone that can breathe can do yoga.”
Having just put out a cigarette, this may not be true. Yet despite the whole breathing thing – Brown’s soft, calming voice, the wafting incense, mellow music and candlelit ambience in the practice room – have put me at ease, and I am ready to say “Namaste,” a traditional greeting, to yoga.
The class consists of men and women of all different ages. We bow hands at heart to begin and I soon find myself moving on the mat, my legs, arms, back and body transforming in and out of poses like the appropriately named downward-facing dog to the Power Ranger-like Warrior II. The tingling inhales and the relaxing exhales of my breath ebb and flow as I work my way, somewhat awkwardly, from pose to pose. I stumble. I get up. I balance. I contort. I sweat. I adjust. I breathe. I am relaxed, yet I am working out.
Yoga, it turns out, is quite individualistic. There is no rush to keep up with the group, no sense that my inexperience is a hindrance. My workout is what I make it; I define my own pace. At the end, the class is given ample time to explore poses on their own. Some stand on their heads, others practice stretching in ways I could only achieve by accident and with great personal injury resulting. I enter into Savasana, the corpse pose, which allows you to lay still, eyes closed, your body in total relaxation. Now this is a pose I can master.
Having never stepped barefoot into a yoga class before, I am told I fared pretty well. And despite some loudly creaking bones, a pound or two of sweat and the occasional stumble, my body, Brown tells me, is actually quite balanced. “Yoga is the union of opposites,” Brown explains. “The body wants to be in balanced. Yoga brings us back to balance.”
And it is the balance that Brown says keeps all types of people coming back to yoga – the liberating union of physical health and the mental state of realizing that all that usually matters – if only for a brief and fading hour – does not.
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