This post is part of my 2017 New Year’s Resolution to try every group fitness class offered at my gym, The Equinox in Chestnut Hill. See the full list of reviews here.
Progress: 44 Classes Down, Approximately 2 To Go (class offerings sometimes change)
Ahhh, restorative yoga. I was so excited to take this class. The only reason I’m taking it close to last is that it overlaps with school pick-up and required a little scheduling magic for me to get there. (Magic = Greg in this equation… and most equations.)
Thanks to this goal, I’ve taken quite a few classes at times I wouldn’t normally and it’s been fun. It’s liberating to stop thinking “I can’t take that class because it’s at X time…” and start thinking “how am I going to take this class?”
I’ve had magical rainy afternoons with the kids building forts in the playspace while I took Barre, mornings where I was already in the studio while Greg dropped the kids at school, evenings where a babysitter put the kids to bed while I took a strength and cardio class and then met Greg for dinner. Do you know how crazy (GOOD crazy) it feels to be driving around past sundown on my way from the gym to dinner while someone else puts the kids to bed? Words can’t describe.
It’s helped me realize that maybe it’s easier to get a workout in than I thought. The kids are fine with the occasional babysitter at bedtime so I can have gym & date night. If I make the lunches and help pack backpacks, it’s not a huge inconvenience for Greg to do school drop-off because I wanted to take early morning yoga.
I don’t know if I’d do it every week, but before this, I never would have done it all.
Class: Restorative Flow Yoga with Renu Shukla
Class length: 60 minutes
Description from the Equinox: Restore the body and renew the spirit. Postures are held longer and blend with mindful transitions, breath and deep awareness.
What Class Was Like
Restorative!
Calmness. Flexibility work. Breathing into long stretches. Some work and flowing sequences, but much gentler and more relaxing than a traditional Vinyasa class. I was out of downward dog and into child’s pose well before my arms felt sore.
I would love to take this every week. It would pair well with a cardio workout beforehand. It’d be great on a rest day, recovering from a race, or during a busy week when slowing down for an hour and making time to stretch and breathe could improve your efficiency.
I started this journey in part because I’d been taking Renu’s Sweat & Surrender classes on Saturdays in late December 2016 and early January 2017… a class that is rumored to be returning. (Right now Sweat & Surrender is offered Mondays at 9:30.) So it’s nice to start coming full circle back into her yoga class that I enjoyed so much when I first started taking classes at the Equinox, way back when Yoga and Indoor Cycling and the occasional Barre class were all I’d ever done.
I don’t really know what will happen when I’m done… which may be as soon as the end of this week.
I have a half marathon I’ve signed up for in May, and another Sprint Triathlon in June. So it’s definitely time to start running. Again.
And swim. And cycle.
And take classes for…. fun?
Wherever I go from here, I hope yoga will be a part of what comes next. Which means it will be.
