My accidental private yoga class
Having tried many kinds of streaming workouts (both live and pre-recorded) I think that for me, yoga is the one that loses the most in that format. Maybe it's the ~ambiance~ or the fact that I almost never did yoga by myself before the pandemic, so it's harder for me to enter that space by myself. Maybe it's because I'm not good (this will come up later) so I appreciate the reinforcement of having a live teacher.
Months ago I signed up for a 4-class prenatal yoga series in person—a rarity for me but I knew it was going to be a small class and I thought the risk would be worth taking. I went to the 1st class in person, a mix of discussion and workout, and it was just two of us plus the teacher. Perfect!
A few days after that class, the teacher emails me that no one else signed up for the other 3 classes, so would I be averse to having a combined virtual class where we covered the material from the other 3 sessions, just me and the teacher? No problem. Disappointing, but what can you do.
Here's where things got awkward. We went through the non-workout stuff in about 40 minutes. Then the teacher started the yoga section and I immediately started falling behind. It wasn't totally out of reach for me—she was just moving a little fast for where I'm at. Again, I'm not good! It may not have bothered me in an in-person class, but knowing I was the only one on, I was like. Dude. Can you pay attention to me and give me some modifications please?
The hour mark came and went. I'm sweating and flailing in our messy 2nd bedroom feeling so, so self-conscious. I seriously consider leaving the Zoom and claiming connection failure. Eventually she pauses for questions and I just end the session with those magic words "Sorry, I really need to pee" (...was true though)
This class was the opposite of what I had always imagined a private yoga class to be. I suppose it's better that I didn't like it because I don't live that kind of lifestyle. I have since found a prenatal yoga studio I really like where I feel safe and seen. It's going to be a while before I try Zoom yoga again.
