Yogahhhhhh!

I went to a yoga class tonight.  Anusara yoga, my favorite kind.  There were only 2 of us in the class, and we ended up helping each other into handstands.  It was fun, it was challenging, and it was EXACTLY what I needed!
After spending the morning running errands with LG (who was very helpful, placing an eggplant and a single avocado in the grocery cart, asking to go ice skating, and pointing at "Armadillo Willy's" repeatedly and asking to go, probably because he probably thought it was a place like Chuck E. Cheese.  Unfortunately it's just an adequate BBQ chain), we came home and got WG off the bus, then I spent the next couple of hours keeping her from playing in the toilet.  Yup.  It's as disgusting as it sounds.  I thought we'd finished with that a couple of years ago, but it's summer, and apparently any body of water will do when she want to play.  And now she can climb over the baby gate.
Joy.
So as soon as Hubby came home, off I went.  And it was glorious!  It reminded me why I prefer to do yoga in a class, rather than by myself.  And why I like Anusara more than other types: it's all about focusing on the anatomy of the pose, rather than the "burn."  Maybe I don't shed quite as many calories as I do during Bikram, but I worked up a good sweat, got a great workout, and felt about a billion times better after the class.
And the teacher said something at the beginning that, frankly, I really needed to hear: she talked about a big decision she recently felt she had to make, and two options.  The more she thought about it, the more anxious she became.  She talked about feeling "contracted," curled up in a tight little ball of anxiety, until she realized she not only didn't have to make the decision right away, but there were more than 2 choices. And suddenly she felt herself expanding again, kinda like the Big Bang. That out of something painful, something beautiful was created.  She said "I am a free being."  And it was a HUGE reminder that I get myself tied into knots and feeling trapped, and I have the power to free myself all along.

Just like Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz," lol!

It's easy, in times like these, to see people as "other."  To demonize, or dehumanize them.  But I was reminded tonight that we're all just people, living in frightening, unsure times, and that while, yes there are a few who are truly evil (Anders Behring Breivik being one), the majority of us are really, basically, good.  And we are connected, whether we want to thin so or not.

We all sat and chatted for a bit after class, and it was so nice!  This is a brand new studio, run by a woman who also teaches at the JCC. She even told me I could pay for the class next time, since I didn't have the cash on me!
i will definitely be going back, and maybe (hopefully) bringing some friends.

Oh, and I'll be doing a lot more handstands against the wall at home!