2014 is kicking my ass.

in that very good way.

went to dark wave yoga last evening in the tempus gallery's new location in seminole heights.  i was worried i'd be freezing, as it was down in the 30s.  i didn't have to worry.

i got there just in time to sign the waiver and set up my mat (last open spot was right in the middle, of course!).  then lights out and it went dark, with faux flickering candles set up on the floor along the walls.  the space was concrete, white painted brick, with we "yogis and yoginis" (ugh?) facing a glass storefront reflecting the small yellow lights inside.  it was close, three to a row, each person's mat hardly a foot apart. 

i'd taken a "real" yoga class once before - at a friend's birthday party.  it was during the day at a yoga studio, and later we had cake.  i remember it as being enjoyable, and something to pursue at some point in the future.  years later came "work yoga" at the library, where we did modified chair poses, stretching, and standing work.  it was always refreshing to get away from the desk for an hour and just move.

but here was a new beast.  this was real yoga, with no pan flutes, or singing whales.  (twin peaks theme song, what what?)  it was strangely intimate to be so close to others, in the dark, on the floor, contorting one's body into arm and leg shaking positions, remembering to breathe through the exertion, keeping the neck relaxed.  by the 3rd pose, i was already entirely warm, shedding my cotton hoodie.  MAN was i out of shape.  the darkness truly underscored, for me at least, how much of a personal practice yoga can be, even in such a cozy space.  

basically, i'm utterly sold.  i only wish it were more than once a week.  my whole body is stretchy sore today, but my ache-y old crone lower back feels amazing.

yes.