Lynn has been taking yoga for years longer than I have. But I started participating in her Zoom class lately. Today the teacher invited us to a face-to-face breakfast with her. It was fun to meet people that I have only seen online. The class is normally once a week. The part of the class that got me interested was when the teacher says while we are standing, "Let's make our way to our backs." When I am standing, and I look way down on the floor where she wants us to be, I realize I have to bend and move and twist and turn and use my arms, hands, legs and body to move from a standing position to lying on my back. Forget "warrior one" and "downward dog" - just get down there without hurting myself. And, of course, she is later going to want us to get all the way back up into a standing position. Talk about effort! Rigor! I do realize that sort of re-locating myself is precisely why the class is good for me.
I am often the only male in that yoga class. I was the only male in the Friday afternoon drama class in junior high but the teacher thought that inappropriate and invited me to pick some other class. I did. My high school was all male but I became the drum sergeant, a position that included the responsibility for training the drum majorettes and flag twirlers. In my college, only 20% of the students were male. I joined the modern dance class after learning that the wrestlers in the main state university were taking modern dance to improve their balance and agility. Other wrestlers on my team sat in the bleachers to watch me strew imaginary rose petals along with the other dancers, all female. It is quite possible that they watched other dancers more intently than me.
