(Before I start I want to give a shout out to Davey's Uptown Ramblers Club for getting a shout out in Esquire's Best Bars in America list for being the best dive bar in the Kansas City area. I spent many a night there thanks to the owner's great taste in booking bands and the ambience provided by a bar that dates to Prohibition that also just happened to be across the street from an adult bookstore. It was like music, alcohol and porn all on one corner. They also named Harry's Country Club as one of the best bars and though I drank there several times I am so loyal to Harry's Bar and Tables that I am using this only to bring up the fact that Kansas City is the type of town that has two different bars named Harry's. Creativity was never a strong suit in the heartland.)
Anyway, so a few years ago back when I was posting regularly I listed my New Year's resolutions and crowdsourced one of the resolutions. The winner was that I would try yoga that year. And I did, if Wii yoga technically counts as yoga. I did a tree pose on several occasions so that should count as yoga. But while that is a start to yoga it really isn't a full experience.
After Kim and I got married we started to go to yoga classes together. This was a really good experience as working out for an hour together was a good way to work out the stress at the end of a week. It also helped to show how poor my flexibility is and the fact that I can't balance on one leg to save my life. But I have to admit that I had three significant problems with my yoga classes.
1) I was the only guy in the room. For years I would not consider that to be a problem. Hell, it isn't even the first time I was in that situation. I've been in writers' groups where I am the only guy (and the only person not writing cat mysteries) and while it is a weird experience it can be rewarding. Plus, I was with Kim so at least I wasn't truly on my own. However, there is no way to be the only guy in a room of women working out without coming off like a bit of a creep. Especially when you are the out of shape guy in the back who keeps on falling down. Plus, when the teacher said "This move will really help you look good in a bikini" my response of "Hey!" was not really appreciated.
2) Yoga classes start with the expectation that you know what you are doing: Everything in yoga has a name and for the life of me I have no idea what any of them are. I had a great teacher for the class but they are always referring to their left when they are using their right and would then say things like "now walk the dog" and "go into crocodile and then push up into down dog" and I am trying to simultaneously look up at the teacher to see what am I supposed to be doing, look down because by looking at the teacher it looks like I am staring at the women in the room, and falling over because apparently I am supposed to be able to lift my leg over my head backwards. The learning curve for me was something fierce.
3) There was always a spiritual element that I was never comfortable with: The class that Kim and I took was a really cardio focused yoga so it was much more a workout than anything else. That said, at the end you still found yourself lying on a mat with your eyes closed being told to find your center and let yourself melt into your mat. This at a moment when I would really appreciate toweling off, having some water and getting on with the rest of my day. I appreciate the idea of meditation and I have done it in the past. I just like my workouts to be my workouts.
But for the past eight weeks I have been trying a different type of yoga and I have been loving every minute of it. This is the best exercise program that I have come across in years. So tomorrow I will provide my review of DDP Yoga. Because if you are going to do yoga why not do one promoted by an aging, slightly well known retired professional wrestler?
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