International Yoga Day

...was yesterday. Chelsea found out about a free yoga class, so instead of church we left at 8:30am to go get a workout! It was AWESOME! The place was SUPER cute - not a typical scene from Maracaibo. The yoga school had a really beautiful courtyard with a fountain (turtle included!), pretty tiles, trees, and GRASS where we did the yoga class. Haha how sad is it when you are excited to see grass?? We just don't see a lot of it these days. It was a gorgeous day - when we got there the weather was perfect (warm with a cool breeze), and when I looked up I saw leafy green trees, some lanterns, and deep clear blue skies. It was very tranquil to hear the birdies chirping accompanying the guy playing the cymbols and didgeridoo. It was also really cool to be surrounded by lots of healthy Venezuelans working out. I don't know why, but it was really neat because it was a nicer place so it kind of felt like the US but I just kept thinking it was really cool that I was there doing that in Venezuela. I really enjoyed being a part of it.

I have never done yoga before, but it was INTENSE. I am pretty athletic and compared to most people I feel like I am really good at doing stuff like streching and working out, but I was really impressed with the people in our class. I think a lot of them were regulars who were taking advantage of a free class. There were tons of old people and dudes who were really good at even the advanced moves. I feel like I'm pretty flexible, but I had no idea how good of a workout yoga is. I would definitely recommend it. I sweated more than I ever have in my whole life though, because it was HOT! Chelsea and I got there near the beginning of the class, so all the good shady spots were taken, which we were fine with because we got to be near the front so we could see the instructor easily. But I had to take a lot of water breaks...and the worst part was that my hands were really swollen and itchy/tingly from the heat - that normally bothers me, but it was even worse because I had to put all my weight on my hands pretty often.

I'm really glad that I got to participate - I even got to use my yoga mat that I got for Christmas! Hopefully we'll start going to a yoga class there on Saturday mornings. :)