Still Winter

Looking out my back door: the view two weeks ago, before the rains fell.

The Gym v. Yoga

For all the months since my hip surgery in August 2016, my friend Sherree has been nagging me (gently) to go to the Yoga Centre Toronto. 

They teach Iyengar yoga there, after BKS Iyengar, one of the greats in the yoga lineages.

For most of those months, fearing injury, I demurred.

I finally went three weeks ago for my first stand-on-your-feet yoga class in almost three years.  

The good news: I didn't break anything. 

Now that I am back at the yoga studio, I feel compelled to compare it with the gym. 

At the gym, people seek distraction from the boredom of exercise. In the "membership plus" workout room, there are seven TVs, two suspended from the ceiling, five mounted on the treadmills and elliptical machines. There's loud music. People wear headphones. In between sets on the exercise machines, people stare transfixed by their glowing handheld devices. 

I especially don't enjoy the oblivious conversations between people who have stopped their workout to have long, loud, personal chats right next to me. 

At the yoga studio, people having quiet conversations are softly shushed and told to enjoy the quiet before the class begins. There are no TVs. The class' focus is on the teacher's voice and whatever horrified signals they receive from their bodies.

The gym is full of giant pieces of machinery. The yoga studio has mats, bolsters and blankets. 

The gym is bustling, teeming with kids, old folks and everything in between plus a zillion staff, both paid and volunteer. The yoga studio is quiet, never crowded and while there's a good age range, there are no kids. There is usually only one teacher plus one person working the front desk.

The gym is a wet environment: the pool, the showers, the steam rooms. The yoga studio is dry. 

So they are different, but they serve their purpose. The gym has given me back the strength and stamina I lost after two years of osteoarthritis-induced immobility. The yoga studio, after exactly two classes, has almost completely resolved a chronic pain in my left shoulder that I thought I would carry to my grave.

Thanks for reading!

Have a great week!

Karen