The next week, after the dance studio yoga class, I tried the free library yoga class. It was just what I wanted: relaxing, gentle and slow. The instructor, Michelle Collier, was in her mid-50s and fit, and took us nice and slow along the basics. There were two other people in the class, at various levels of yoga fitness/flexibility.

We were in the library before it opened (opens at noon, was an 11 am class), pushed the round tables and chairs from the floor, and rolled out our mats on the industrial carpet. Surrounded by stacks, but the lovely wood beamed ceiling was pretty to gaze at from the on-your-back poses.

We didn’t do any cobras, updogs, planks or chaturangas.

We *did* do cobblers, half lotus, tree, karate kid (I don’t know it’s real name), cat/cow, mountain, triangle, warrior 2, down dog, happy bear, bow, boat, sitting forward, some sitting twists, plow, and a tree-ish pose where you hold one foot behind you and lean forward with the other arm in front of you. Not in this order. I am just trying to jog my memory by thinking about what we did do.

At one point we were in down dog for so long that my body decided to move into plank. That was interesting. No conscious decision. It just went there; it felt right. My body is developing it’s own mind that has nothing to with my busy brain, i think.

Then we had a nice long savasana.

I liked that we held all the poses a good long time. Long enough to need to breathe into them and consciously relax into them to keep from trembling. I think that is the part I need the most. I am pretty flexible and strong already, so getting to relax into the poses is teaching me many life things that i need to learn.

Another person showed up for the class after it was over, so that would have made five of us, including the instructor.

The class was an hour and I will try to make it each week. There is no fee, but one can donate money or books to the library instead. I have a ton of books I can give them!

I also enjoyed the classmates. We all talked out in the parking lot later, about various things. A nice energy.

So this went well. I still would like to try Tara’s class at the studio, just for comparison.

I also saw there are classes at the gym in Lake Arrowhead (about 15 minutes away). There are several yoga classes but they are titled things like Power Yoga and Yogacize. I don’t really want an active class - I am trying to slow myself down. But I might try them at some point just to do it.

Stumble it!