My weight training class at the Y was canceled, so I decided to take a Yoga class instead. I was the only man in the class - no big deal, I've been the only guy or 1 of 2 in a class a few times now. This was a little different. This is a tale of being taken out of my comfort zone.
It was pretty familiar at first, even though it's been several years since I've done Yoga. Downward dog, cat stretch, warrior pose, breath in, breath out, etc. Near the end, the instructor had us all gather in a circle and link our arms across each other's shoulders. I could feel one woman flinch a little from my sweaty back. The instructor asked for someone to share some good news. The best news was someone was not going to be a grandma. We all laughed. Then she had us all lean to the right and lean to the left. She had us lower our hands to support the lower back. I was hyper conscious to not go anywhere near their asses, so my hands were more at the mid-back than lower back. Anyway, we all leaned back. Last we left one leg back, then leaned forward. We repeated all the leaning left right back and in on the other leg. All while still in a circle with our arms across the shoulders or back. By the end I could feel myself and the women on either side of me relax into it.
After circle time, we split in twos of roughly equal height and sat facing each other, cross-legged on a mat. I looked to the woman on my left who was close enough and shrugged. Thankfully she was Ok with being my partner. We were going to do pair-stretching. We stretched our right arms out and across, so the outside forearms were touching. Then we wrapped the left arm around our backs to the right waist. We dropped the right arm, grabbed our partners left hand and twisted left, away from our partners. Naturally we repeated on the other side. Finally, we put our toes together, with knees slightly bent and grabbed each other's hands. We took turns pulling our partners hands as they bent forward with head down. Finally we returned to our own mats for the last 10 minutes or so of class.
I normally take a while before I feel comfortable touching someone, so this was a little weird, but not too weird. Not as weird as what was working up i my head half the time. In a way it was kind of nice as a little low pressure, but genuine connection with a stranger.
