My Yoga Experience- Katelyn Smyth

I attended yoga today at the same place as last week, the lodge at Stockton. The class consisted mostly of simple Yin yoga poses, making it very similar to last week's class. I focused more on maintaining awareness of my breath than perfecting the poses, because many of the postures involved little effort. My mind wandered throughout the class and made it difficult to continue focusing on my breath. The practice space, the lodge, definitely contributed to this because it is not what I would consider an ideal space to practice yoga. The large room has a hard, cold tile floor that also appears dirty, making me afraid to let any part of myself touch it. While irritating, this is a minor issue compared to the music, yelling, and arguing echoing from the adjacent kitchen. At times, I couldn't here what my instructor was saying because of the music. This also made it difficult to relax and to keep my mind from wandering. Throughout the class, I had to constantly remind myself to igno...

My first yoga experience was a free yoga class offered by Stockton at the lodge on Tuesday, January 23rd. Having attended this yoga class a few times before, I knew what to expect when I attended. The instructor of the class was the same women who I had taken classes with before, Stevie. Upon walking into the lodge, I was not surprised that most of the people there were female, with a few males scattered among them. Most people were dressed in athletic clothing and had their hair pulled up away from their faces. Most people had their own yoga mats, but had to borrow yoga blocks from Stevie. People set up their mats in rows and left a foot or two of space between one another. I notived that the atmosphere didn't seem very suitable for a yoga class due to the distracting noises coming from the kitchen in the lodge. While waiting for the class to begin, most people were sitting cross legged on their mats facing Stevie. Because it was the first class offered at Stockton t...