Hot Yoga Cold Beer

I am often asked things like, “What did you do over the weekend?” “What are doing during the break?” And the ever popular, “how do you spend your free time?” For several years my answer has been, “Hot yoga and cold beer.” Announced in an amusing tone with a completely serious expression. In the unlikely event you are reading this, you may be wondering, what has he been doing since his last blog post? I’ll tell you. Hot yoga and cold beer.

For over a year now both of my kids have been out of the house. Granted, they weren’t always there to begin with, being divorced and all. They stayed at my house 14 -15 nights a month. They were half-way in the house, and now they are fully out of the house, save for holiday visits and the odd weekend. I have become what could be described as an empty next bachelor. What does any empty next bachelor do?  Let us examine a typical week, you can fill in the rest.

Work. There is work. Gotta have a job, right? Gotta contribute to the local economic matrix. I enjoy work the most when I don’t care about what is going on at work. The place isn’t run the way I would run it, and I don’t run it, so it is better if I mostly stay out of it. Mostly.

Weekdays. My norm is to hit a 6:30 yoga class. Well, half the classes are yoga. At one point the classes at the studio were pretty much all yoga. They have diversified. Half yoga and half fitness classes. Regardless, I still say I am going to "yoga” even if half the time it ain’t yoga. After a 6:30 class I get home around 8. This is decision time. Actually I have two decision points. The first is at 6PM, where I decide whether or not to make a left turn at Albuquerque, as I call it. If I do make a left turn at Albuquerque then I am skipping hot yoga and going straight to cold beer. It happens. After class I decide if I want to follow hot yoga with cold beer. That is 50/50. In any case, I am usually in bed by 11. It’s a school night, ya know.

The first big decision on weekends is one hot yoga class, or two hot yoga classes. The second big decision on weekends is when do I start drinking cold beer. The time of year is important, not because of how hot or cold it is outside, because of football. I enjoy watching college football, that’s on Saturdays. I don’t care much for the NFL, and care even less for the Dallas Cowboys. Even so, it is enjoyable to watch a game and care not about the outcome. I can appreciate any good play for what it is, people watch, drink cold beer (of course), and embrace the energy of the crowd as they cheer or groan.

During football season if I do do two hot yoga classes I will do them back-to-back in the morning. Thus beginning my imbibing of cold beer in the area of afternoon. Outside of football season I will more likely do a morning hot yoga and a late afternoon hot yoga, and probably not have any cold beer at all on Sundays.

That about covers my time spent as an empty nest bachelor. Now it is time for some hot yoga and some cold beer. Cheers!

Yoga

I used to go the local rec center and do the elliptical machine, some weights, and swim laps. My original perception of yoga was heavily influenced by movies and TV. It seemed to be all about flexibility. Women with their feet behind their heads, walking around on their hands. Inhuman stretching and contorting. I then began to understand that yoga was much more than that, I considered finding out how much more.

At about the same time a guy at work started talking about yoga. He is really into it. Said he liked to eat what he wanted and drink beer, and he found doing hot room yoga seemed the best at keeping off the pounds. He kept saying I should try it. Sunstone Yoga.

I already had the yoga idea floating in my head, and his prompting was the final straw. I checked it out. Hooked right off the bat.

Let me tell you what I like about yoga. There are no measurements. There are no numbers to log. Consequently , no appearance of bragging and grandstanding. Especially since Sunstone Yoga does not teach poses outside of most people’s normal range of motion. So, no feet behind the head and walking around on your hands. If you run, swim, or bike then you are measuring; how far and how long did it take. If you do weights then you are measuring; how much and how may reps and how many sets. It becomes a numbers game; a status symbol. There are no numbers in Yoga, and I like that. It’s just me and the poses.

I really like the hot room part. It has had a positive effect on my skin. I simply feel more healthy in a general way, and I feel stronger. There are muscles I use in yoga that never get used with weightlifting, running, or even swimming. I would say yoga is first and foremost about strength, then balance and flexibility.

I haven’t even scratched the surface on all that yoga can provide. It has begun to impact my diet, and that will only increase over time; what I want will begin to change. And I have yet to focus on the mental, intellectual, and emotional benefits.

I look forward to discovering so much more as I mature in my yoga practice.