Yoga: Can You Survive It?

By carolinianweb on February 6, 2019 • ( 0 )

Brittney Bailey
Staff Writer

Imagine waking up Sunday morning feeling refreshed and content. The birds are chirping and the skies are blue. You walk outside and realize that it finally feels like spring after a long, hard winter. You have a yoga class to attend this morning and you feel ready to take on anything.

You drive up to the Boxcar Bar + Arcade prepared and excited until you notice something. Several of the people walking up to the building are much more fit than you, which makes you wonder if this is really something you’re in good enough shape for. You shake off that idea, persist onwards, and walk inside the building.

Laying your mat on the floor, you look around and laugh at how odd it is to have a yoga class inside an arcade. It is certainly different but kind of fun and kitch. You stretch, getting your body warmed up. Then, when everyone is ready, the class begins.

It doesn’t take long before you realize that you’ve made a grand mistake.

Thirty minutes in and your body aches, you’re sweating profusely, and you’re looking around like, “God! Is it just me who’s struggling?” It’s when you take your 5,000th plank that your arms turn to jelly, and your abs start to yell at you. Your arms are so tired that you can barely stretch them anymore. You start modifying the poses to make them easier on yourself, just hoping that no one behind you is laughing. On top of it all, you look up and see the yoga experts doing the advanced versions of all the poses and you feel all that much weaker for it.

You pray for it to end and then finally, after much sweat, tears, and more sweat, it comes to an end and you rest there on your back heaving in and out like an idiot. It’s over, you’ve made it, and you’re happy that you’re done. Except, after everything you’ve just gone through, you feel more limber than you can ever remember feeling. Somehow, you feel lighter than you’re used to. The pizza you were planning on getting after class now turns into a desire for salad. You find yourself thankful that you went and contemplate going again, but why?

For someone who is a beginner at yoga and a novice to this class, this is how it can feel. The Boxcar Bar + Arcade hosts a weekly, Sunday yoga class that offers cheap $1 mimosas. This is not a beginner yoga course but a course for those who are already reasonably fit and have at least some experience with yoga. Do not go there thinking this will be gentle stretching because you will be woefully unprepared. Instead, consider this a test to what your body is currently capable of. If you have any weaknesses in your strength, flexibility, or agility, this course will expose them within the first half hour.

So why does it feel good in the end? Well, yoga tends to have that effect on people. It stretches your joints and relaxes your mind. By the end of it, you’re so pumped full of endorphins with a body so nimble that you instantly forget the pain you went through just to get to that point. It’s hard, grueling work but almost certainly worth it.

So, if you’re down for a fun challenge that will test your body’s limits, check out The Boxcar Bar + Arcade’s yoga sessions every Sunday morning at 11:00am. Work your mind, body, and stamina and reward yourself with a mimosa when you’re done.