We honored the pants

Molly and I have always loved yoga…pants.  As flexible as frosty panes of glass ourselves, we’ve never even considered actually participating in the sport that inspired them. We’ve cheerfully pranced around in yoga pants for years and the only sun salutation we ever executed has been a squint.
If for no other reason than to honor a style of trouser that consistently offered us both the extra length and the drawstring waist we so appreciate, we wandered into an actual yoga studio yesterday. We figured it was the least we could do.
We inhaled as we unrolled our borrowed mats. Molly and I normally work out in stinky gyms or musty basements. This studio smelled of potpourri. And the people spoke gently. And wore no shoes.
We assumed the child pose and felt at one with our fellow yogis. Downward dog. Check. Upward dog. Double check.Warrior One. Cool.
And then the movements became a little more challenging.
“Now take your left leg and raise it in the air. Raise your left arm and look toward the ceiling. Now flip over. Don’t even think about it.”
Somehow, the others gracefully segued into perfectly arched backbends. Meanwhile, our downward dogs became mutts and they were barking.
Our instructor walked over and gently suggested we move our mats.
“A lot of our beginners prefer the back of the classroom,” she said as she kindly helped me drag my mat into a corner.
The class continued and Molly and I both worked hard, gamely holding positions I can’t even describe.
Chaturanga became a position of refuge for us.
We wrapped up the hour-long class as the sun set through the studio windows. I can’t say either one of us experienced an epiphany as we breathed through our noses and opened our spines to new experiences. But our muscles felt nice and loose and our minds felt warm and free.
We’re taking our yoga pants back to the studio next week.

Molly wouldn’t let me take pictures of our little yoga adventure. She actually was quite firm about it. So, I’m including a few of my favorite shots from the archives. Here she is with her brothers on a family vacation in 2005.

Awww. Molly and her big sister Katherine in 2007.

And here they all are last year at Katherine’s graduation from the University of Wisconsin. Go Badgers!!