Trail Yoga

Trail Yoga was something I have heard about and always thought sounded cool. My previous yoga experiences have been a little strange though so I wasn’t sure what to expect when I signed up for this trip.

The first time I ever did yoga was at the gym I belonged to at the time – the class was fine until the end. We were laying on our backs with our eyes closed, focusing on our breathing. I suddenly feel a presence standing over me – I open one eye to peak out and see what was going on and it was the yoga instructor standing over me. He steps over me which puts him in a position I can only describe as straddling me. ‘WTF IS GOING ON???’ I am thinking as he bends towards me – he then takes his thumb and presses REALLY hard on my forehead with a completely greasy hand – probably from the sweat of the other people in the class – who knows. I am thinking, ‘This dude just poked me in my “third eye” – what the HECK is happening?!? How is this relaxing??’

After this bizarre experience, I didn’t take a yoga class for a LOOONNNGGG time – I’m talking YEARS! I mean who wants to go to a class where you get mashed in the forehead at the end? So early this year I decided to give it another try. I went to the class that was offered at the gym I currently go to. I show up 10 minutes early and wait….and wait….and wait…5 minutes after the class was supposed to start I figured it must have been cancelled or something and I just didn’t know. I start to gather my stuff when 2 people stroll into the room. Ok…class is still on – just running late. The instructor takes her spot in the front of the class and the other girl grabs 2 blankets that were in a pile at the front of the class and hands one to me. I already had my yoga mat so I was confused as to what this blanket was for – and my germaphobe alarm starts going off ‘DO NOT USE THAT BLANKET!!’ I decided I was just being paranoid – so I took the blanket and decided I would at least see what they were going to do w/ it. She turned some music on and we began the class with a few moves – I told her I was new to yoga, but she seemed determined to see if I could bend into a pretzel anyway – FACT: I can not. The music that came on was the most random mix of songs ever – there was a Lauren Hill rap song, then onto Butterfly Kisses (which I can’t stand), next some religious Jesus song, then Taylor Swift – Shake It Off. This HAD to be a joke right?? I began counting the minutes until the class was over – There was NO WAY ANY of this was relaxing at all!! Between the music and the pretzeling I couldn’t wait to get the hell outa there. At one point in the class we were doing some stretch and I look over to see she was just doing her own thing and went into a headstand. ok….show off! hahaha! We used the blanket under our necks at one point and it smelled HORRIBLE – like it had been laying in that pile for years and dust just kept collecting on it. ICK! THEN at the end of the class they just threw the blankets back on top of the pile!! Then I was really disgusted – I just sweat all over that and it’s not gonna get washed?? Someone else will use it – and I used it after some other sweaty person, which is why it probably stank. Gross.

I REALLY want to like yoga – I mean isn’t it supposed to be about stretching and just relaxing – meditative? Either I have the wrong idea about it or I took the worst 2 yoga classes in the history of yoga.

So I decided to give it another shot today – trail yoga. I saw it come across my Facebook page and thought ‘ok, we will be hiking so there will probably not be crazy, annoying music and my friend Summer assured me no one would poke me in my 3rd eye at this class. It was a donation event so I figured what do I have to lose? Its a fairly nice day and I am always up for a hike – I only felt bad I couldn’t bring Jo along.

My sister, Summer, her boyfriend Rob and I all signed up and met in the parking area this morning. We gathered in a group and did a few stretches – it was honestly very relaxing being out in such a beautiful area while being so peaceful. The moves were not hard – everything was done from a standing position as it rained like crazy yesterday. We began our hike. The instructor told us it would be a 6 mile round trip hike with a little yoga mixed in, but we could turn around at any time if we needed to. The trail was one I have biked MANY times, so it was a little strange to actually walk along it, but it was great because there was plenty to look at that I don’t get to see when I am zooming along on my bike.

We hiked about a mile and a half and then stopped in a grassy area to do some more yoga poses – these were ones I was familiar with from Pilates and Piyo – a lot of the warrior poses. It felt so good to stretch I didn’t even care when people walked by.

We walked down to my happy spot – I LOVE to come here and just watch the water – it is so relaxing! After taking a group picture, we turned around and headed back to the cars. We hike almost 6 miles – I was hoping to do a bit more yoga, but it was such a great time and good conversation with my friends I didn’t mind!