My first thoughts in yoga class were not of the lofty types that make for great meditation.  They were not on the state of the world or even the conditions of my life.  Instead, most of my first thoughts upon starting yoga were along the lines of 'I wonder if I should have worn a sports bra,' 'when was the last time they cleaned this mat?,' and 'I hope the guy behind me isn't staring at my butt'.  My primary thought, however, as I stood barefoot on that purple rubber mat, was "What on earth am I doing here?".

I might as well start out with a few confessions about myself.  I'm 5'9" and a complete, absolute klutz.  My posture is bad to the point where it's uncomfortable to straighten my back completely.  My flexibility?  It is essentially nonexistant.  

It should come as no surprise that I never figured yoga would be my "thing".  To me, yoga has always connoted some amount of gracefulness, and gracefulness is simply not my strong point.  In fact, I'm still not sure why I signed up for yoga class in the first place.  Perhaps because I was bored with my daily workout routine, perhaps because my boyfriend said yoga sounded sexy, perhaps because it was free through my university and hey, I was up for something new.  All I know is that one Friday morning I found myself awake at an ungodly hour for Friday mornings, standing on rubber mat with bare feet in a class of about 30 people, wondering if there was any graceful way to sneak out.

My yoga instructor entered.  She was a young (maybe mid-20s) woman of apparently Korean descent who went by the name of Jooryun.  She was tiny but obviously strong, with toned arms and legs and abs that I would kill for.  Her demeanor as she entered the class was friendly.  She seemed completely comfortable and at peace as she started to explain her vision of yoga and what we would be learning in her class over the course of the 10 weeks we would be going there.  I don't know why, but I felt calm around her, and I decided to at least stick it out through today's class. 

There are a few valuable lessons I learned during this first fateful yoga class.  First, I cannot sit with legs crossed.  And along that same vein, one should be careful when untangling ones legs from a crossed position for the first time, lest one should rip their bum knee to shreds.  Secondly, one should always ALWAYS wear a sports bra to yoga class. I wore a regular bra under the assumption that yoga wasn't a "real" sport anyway so there was no need to wear a sports bra that would only, ahem, flatten the girls.  Take it from me, some of those poses go a lot better with a supportive bra.  Thirdly, yoga is, in fact, a sport.  Granted its focus is on the mind and heart as well as the body, but that doesn't mean you won't "feel the burn". Yoga stretches and tones in places you didn't even know could be stretched and toned.

I believe my most valuable lesson from this first yoga class, however, was getting a glimpse of what it could do for my mind.  I signed up for the class thinking of what it could do for my body- I wanted toned arms, lean abs, and a less-saggy rear view- but I never in the course of considering yoga class thought about what it could do for my mind and soul.  Still, after trying to meditate in class for 5 simple minutes and failing miserably, I realized something needed to be done.  My mind couldn't focus, I couldn't help but fidget, and thoughts of all the things I needed to get done kept flooding my awareness.  Just sitting still stressed me out to the point where I became very upset- my heart pounded, my thoughts raced, my hands clenched.  It was the repeated "relax" of the yoga teacher and the utter calm of the room that brought me down again, to a point of focus and relaxation that I had never felt before.  Though I still wasn't perfect, I was more at peace than I had been since...since I could remember.  "This" I thought, "is something I could work on".

Yoga had revealed to me one of the most important facts about leading a healthy life: it isn't all about your body.  Your body, though important, is only one factor in your overall well-being, and your mind and soul should not be forgotten.  It is just as important to have a strong mind and a peaceful soul- to have true balance- as it is to have muscular legs and toned arms.  This was my first real lesson in yoga class- and the adventure had just begun.