Social Workout

Workout

Late Night Jivamukti with Nan

Deja vu: It's Thursday night, and it had been nearly a week since the last exercise. Travel got in the way, and work. At the company happy hour, I confessed that I was a miserable hypocrite. You can't run a site dedicated to wellness, and not take care of yourself. I was miles from Feralicious. So I finished my Guinness and bicycled to Jivamukti for the 8:30PM installment.

I was ready, as I've been carrying my yoga shorts and tank top buried at the bottom of my laptop bag for the last week. It reminds me of my friend A. who carries a pair of tiny short shorts in her purse at all times. She calls them her "Emergency Yoga Shorts." Her big sister is appalled by them. "They're incredibly skimpy," the sister says. I've never seen them, but I like the idea. You've got an hour free, and you throw on your skimpy shorts and sweat. It's kind of like being a superhero.

At Jiva, the class was reasonably full, with nearly as many men, I noticed, as women. Nan, a petite woman with auburn hair cut short like Liza Minnelli in Cabaret, announced she was subbing for Sangeeta. She wore black tights, with a matching black top that strapped asymmetrically across one shoulder, and she taught a long, hard, very good class. Nan is a pro: Un-preachy, tough, and hands on. She also has an interesting delivery, like maybe her day job involves doing voiceovers. Her intonation was theatrical, and there were definitely hints of an Indian accent. She said the word "body" very fast with emphsasis on the "y." If you've ever seen The Party, please recall how Peter Sellers says "Birdy Num Num." I don't begrudge her the dramatic delivery, even if her complexion suggests Northern Wisconsin rather than Mysore."Lift your pelvic floor she said, while were in a twisted squat. "Let length happen in the expansion." I love those sorts of existential commands.

Anyway, it was an excellent class, and I can report that standing balance poses are significantly more challenging post-Happy Hour Guinness. And one more thing: After a week of non-exercise, a long day at work, and a beer, it's very hard to understate the gratitude you feel lying in savasana when Nan comes around in the dark rubbing Eucalyptus oil into her palms, and when she stretches your spine by pulling gently on the nape of your neck, massages your temples, and then places her thumbs on your third eye. It's kind of feralicious in its own way.