Tuesday, September 15, 2009

All stretched out

So there's a dance school across the street from our apartment and Hiromi, the woman in charge of the agency, called this evening and told me there's a 7:30 power yoga class there we could go to for free if we wanted. I went myself since Tessa had just gotten back from a long day doing a show and Olivia was fast asleep.

There were only 5 others in attendance, and I was the only English-speaking American. There was another "white guy" there but he spoke Japanese well and I couldn't tell if he spoke English. When I got there I was waiting in a tiny cramped space before entering the studio with the others as the dance class was still finishing up. I had been eyeing the two guys there speaking Japanese- the one white guy and the other Japanese guy who had quite the muscular build. I am always a little taken aback, yet impressed, to see men do yoga or pilates.

Upon entering the studio after the little girls in their tights and leotards exited, I was handed a yoga mat by the attractive, muscular Japanese man. I took a place and sat on my mat stretching and waiting for the class to begin. One Japanese woman at the piano from dance class looked at me and asked something to which I responded unsure of myself, "oh uh Hiromi said I could come? Hiromi said it's ok?" Then one of the Japanese women in the class said something to her in Japanese and then turned to me and asked in Japanese if I was a model and I nodded and she explained to the woman I live in the apartment across the street. I guess this is an understood system as we get to come for free to the classes, though I'm not sure what they cost in general but it's quite small.

After that was cleared up, our instructor started putting music into the cd player- it turned out to be the Japanese man! He began our stretching at the front of the class and so began the 90 minutes of yoga that I have not done in quite some time. I was able to follow along quite easily in Japanese having done yoga before and knowing most of the basic moves, but it helped that he would say some things in English for me. Or I would just turn to my left or right to observe my neighbor. It felt great to get so stretched out and focus my energies and concentration on something so intense, because let me tell you it was intense! I definitely pushed my body and my flexibility farther than it's been in a while so I will probably be sore tomorrow.

But it's just that, I am doing yoga in Tokyo (for free!) and it's unreal! And the instructor is attractive enough to be part of my motivation to come back next week... ;) sorry no pictures for this post.

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