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Surprising Body Affirmations
May. 6th, 2011 06:25 amMy apartment complex now has an on-site fitness trainer. CK is a resident who has worked out a deal with management whereby she can use the weight and exercise rooms to teach classes and do personal training, she gives other residents a nice discount off her usual prices, and the apartment can advertise having an on-site trainer. It's pretty much a win-win-win for all parties.
I went to my first class on Wednesday night with a lot of trepidation. I've almost never been involved in group classes, and I had grim visions of embarrassment and exhaustion. As it turned out, I was the only person there, the instructor is a gorgeous young woman with the same frame as I have who used to be as out of shape as I am, and who put me through a fitness assessment for which she usually charges $99 but I got for the $12 price of the class. Then she put me through a moderate workout that left me feeling pleasantly exerted and just a bit sore.
What was amazing to me was her affirmations of my body and my connection with it. I consider myself essentially out of touch with my body most of the time, but CK kept telling me how good my form was, and she was impressed by how I knew I'd do better if I did a particular sequence barefoot, was able to stay in touch with my center, and was more flexible than she expected. I mentioned that I've done yoga off and on over the years (although my only formal class was my freshman year of college), and she said that it was clear that I had. In fact, in a follow-up email she mentioned how "incredibly in touch with [my] body" I was.
It was definitely a paradigm-shifting experience on multiple levels -- and it felt so good to be "honestly" tired rather than simply ground down by the pressures of a day in the office. I'm actually looking forward to going back to class, and am optimistic about starting to develop some better habits and better physical health.
I went to my first class on Wednesday night with a lot of trepidation. I've almost never been involved in group classes, and I had grim visions of embarrassment and exhaustion. As it turned out, I was the only person there, the instructor is a gorgeous young woman with the same frame as I have who used to be as out of shape as I am, and who put me through a fitness assessment for which she usually charges $99 but I got for the $12 price of the class. Then she put me through a moderate workout that left me feeling pleasantly exerted and just a bit sore.
What was amazing to me was her affirmations of my body and my connection with it. I consider myself essentially out of touch with my body most of the time, but CK kept telling me how good my form was, and she was impressed by how I knew I'd do better if I did a particular sequence barefoot, was able to stay in touch with my center, and was more flexible than she expected. I mentioned that I've done yoga off and on over the years (although my only formal class was my freshman year of college), and she said that it was clear that I had. In fact, in a follow-up email she mentioned how "incredibly in touch with [my] body" I was.
It was definitely a paradigm-shifting experience on multiple levels -- and it felt so good to be "honestly" tired rather than simply ground down by the pressures of a day in the office. I'm actually looking forward to going back to class, and am optimistic about starting to develop some better habits and better physical health.
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