Partner Yoga needs a cooler name.

(Next time, I'm doing this one)

Last weekend I got the opportunity to participate in a partner yoga class down in Des Moines. I add the down in Des Moines part because Cedar Falls is barely smart enough to have a single yoga studio, so even the idea of them having a partner class is just totally out of the question. Plus, in going down early, I was able to catch a hot yoga class which always just leaves me sparkling. Well, dripping with sweat, but sparkling on the inside! I would have preferred a bit hotter in that particular class, I mean, I like it HOT. But still, coming out drenched is enough of a success I guess.

But the partner class later on was the most fun. We started off in sun salutations, and I know thats traditional and what not and thats not the part I mind. Its the fact that there were maybe 10 people in the class, and maybe half had done any type of yoga before at all. So these sun salutations were less than half the skill/intensity/whatever I am used to. There was quite a bit of eye rolling, I'll admit. But then started the fun part. And I mean super fun. Yoga is something that is usually done in the most serious of tomes, and I do really like that about it. In fact, when soccer moms get chatty in savasana, I generally want to go punch them in the throat. I mean, only to produce silence of course. But every once in awhile, its really fun to play around in poses and talk through them and just generally mess around and see how weird bendy you can get.

Then add in another person who is equally as into the yoga as you are, and someone you are totally comfortable and trusting of, and it gets almost even better. With a stranger, you have no idea if they are going to do something stupid or how far they can go in something, but when you know someone isn't going to sit on your sacrum and shatter it to pieces. Or pull your shoulder out of its socket. Or really just kick you in the face. Cause that would suck.


It's also crazy how physics plays a part in it too. You can go into something like double down dog thinking that a person who weighs a good chunk more than you do would feel like they were an anvil on your back, but in reality, its like they weigh ten pounds. So strange. Probably the reason that I don't get it was the same reason that I slacked and was in Physics B. Oh well. I still don't understand why if you drop a pencil in a car moving at 80 mph that it doesnt slam into the back window....*brainpain*

Anyways, it was a blast, and I highly suggest it for anyone. As I said, its more fun and playtime than it is serious. Its only serious in the fact that dont break your partner. Thats it. Plus, anyone can do it, yogis or non yogis alike. I promise!