A couple of weeks ago, a dear friend who also happens to teach me how to exercise properly, and I were stretching – which for me means sitting on a vibrating foam roller – and during our conversation I had a bit of a mini meltdown. Which is kind of impressive considering what I was sitting on.
On a scale of meltdowns, mine usually range from, “She shed a few tears but was cool for the most part” to, “I’ve never seen one person look so ugly crying. I hope she’s still breathing.”
Fortunately for both parties involved, I was able to keep this one to just a few tears.
After I’d finished, my friend who also happens to teach me how to exercise properly, suggested I download the app “Head Space” and use it to meditate for a few minutes in the morning before I start my day or at night before I go to bed. It was basically a nice way of telling me to relax.
I like to think I know myself pretty well, so as he was explaining this app to me, I listened but was also fairly certain I’d download the app and never use it. At that point, I didn’t consider myself the kind of girl that wakes up to meditate alone to an app.
Regardless, I trust this person emphatically and know that he wouldn’t offer advice if it weren’t genuine, so rather than pretend I was going to use an app, I researched places that I could go to take a meditation class instead. Similar to the vibrating foam rollers (and my affinity for StretchLab), I prefer the option where someone else does all of the work and I reap the benefits. Is that the definition of millennial?
Through this research, I discovered that Unplug Meditation offers a two week, unlimited trial for $35. If you live in LA, you understand that $35 usually gets you like half of a workout class without a water, so to have 14 days of as many sessions as I wanted felt too good to be true.
As someone who knows too well what it’s like to have a class ruined by the actions of someone else (like when a teenager comes into a certain workout after the doors are closed for example) I wanted to make sure that I approached this correctly and respectfully so I called the studio for answers to my questions. You know, the imporant things like, “What if I laugh? What if I cry? What do I wear?” The woman I spoke with was absolutely incredible and suggested my first class be the “rest and relax” meditation that Thursday night. I signed up and at 8pm, I attended my first class.
It was amazing. I know I say that about a lot of things, but this was truly special. It was a 45 minute class and I cried for at least 37 of those minutes. Probably 38. It sounds like I cry a lot, I know, but this was so incredibly moving and quite frankly exactly what I didn’t know I was missing from my life.
The next morning I received an email from the studios client relations manager and if you know me, you know I am a huge sucker for good customer service. Her email asked about my experience, what I was looking for, how she could help, etc. and we ended up speaking on the phone for a good thirty minutes.
I spent every day for the next two weeks trying different classes. Some I loved, others weren’t for me, but what remained consistent was how blissed out I felt after every single session. This is very “LA” of me to say, but I spend a lot of my life in the “yang” and very little in the “yin” so to have 45 minutes a day to “yin” was a powerful experience.
For my final class of the two week challenge, my friend that suggested I find meditation to chill the hell out, came with me. Legit, he’s the best person I know. It also happened to be the same night that I finished my 100th Barry’s Bootcamp class, so we were in a very “yang” state heading into the session.
We finished at Barry’s, showered and went to Unplug. Literally and figuratively. The studio welcomed us both with open arms and the meditation was beautiful. The first thing my friend asked when it was over was, “Wait, that was 45 minutes?” On the drive home, we agreed that the meditation left us feeling relaxed and gracious.
I am proud of myself for doing this every day for two weeks. I am also immensely grateful to have a friend that knows me well enough to suggest this as an outlet. It was exactly what I needed but never would have tried without being challenged.
I will definitely continue to practice meditation and Unplug is the perfect place for me to do so. I welcome any of you to join, just let me know when you’re interested!
