I Tried (and Failed) to Practice Yoga Today

Yesterday, I had a wicked long volleyball tournament. Our region hosts these tournaments called fellowships, where you basically practice with your team, and try out new players who might want to join your team. You get “rated” as a scorekeeper or referee at these tournaments, so they don’t count for anyone, and you can’t get upset if there are scorekeeping errors or new refs who don’t necessarily know all of the rules. I think of it sort of as a preseason for the USA Volleyball season, or practice tournaments.

My volleyball team has actually expanded quite a bit over the last two seasons, so much so that we actually added a second team, and formed a club. We had several players who are new to our club who came out yesterday and played with us. We ended up playing in both the morning and afternoon sessions, which means that we played 5 volleyball matches yesterday. Fortunately, they were shorter-than-usual matches, so we weren’t as exhausted as you would normally be after a tournament; however, it’s been 7 months since my last tournament, and we played pretty much consecutively from 9:00 a.m. until about 3:00 p.m.. Needless to say, I’m a little out of practice with playing all day – even if it’s just for practice!

I spent yesterday evening with my family. I took a good, long shower before heading over to my parents’ place, poured Icy Hot all over my lower back, squeezed on my SLS3 compression sleeves, put on some comfy socks, put on my baggiest, shlumpiest bumping around clothes, put on my Uggs, and prepared to get my grub on. We ate, talked, laughed, and genuinely enjoyed each other’s company. After dinner, we watched The Walking Dead, and then I went home and passed out. 

This morning, I decided I wanted to go to yoga class in the evening, since I didn’t have a volleyball game tonight. I packed up one of my new Fabletics tops, some leggings, sneakers, and some warm clothes to throw on after class. Unfortunately, I did not pack my yoga mat. Strike one.

I got to the parking garage for my gym. I found a spot pretty easily, and hurried inside to check in at the front desk and grab a couple of towels. In the process, I broke the strap on my purse. Strike two.

At this point, I was cutting it pretty close to class time. Now, I must stop here briefly to say that my gym is pretty big. There are three floors, and a few different wings, and it can be pretty easy to get lost when you haven’t been spending as much time there are you probably should be. 😐 (I promise this is relevant to the story.) I hurried up to the second floor to the locker room. Should I have changed my clothes at my office at the end of the day? Probably. But you know what? I’m not counting this as strike three because changing into tight-fitting yoga clothes can be kind of a weird experience for me at my office! Anyway, all modesty went out the window as I shuffled around, flinging clothes all over my little area of the locker room as I changed. Finally, I was ready for class!

I made my way to where I thought the yoga studio was, and… foul ball. Wrong area! Heck, wrong floor. Dang it! Oh well.

I finally found the yoga and pilates wing. I took my shoes off and put them in a shoe cubby, and scooted to the glass door of the yoga studio. Like a sad puppy, watching her family leave for vacation, I watched everyone as they stretched out their calves in downward dog. They look so relaxed! So focused! Should I go in? I thought. Am I too late? At this point, the class had been going on for nine minutes. I looked at the various bulletins to see if there were any rules about showing up to class late. Finally, I found the sign that applied to my situation. Paraphrasing, it said something like, “Please do not enter the class after it has been in session for 10 minutes or longer.” Do I really want to be that person coming in at nine minutes?


I decided that I would just walk around the gym a little bit until I decided what to do next. I put on my shoes, and left the very zen yoga and pilates oasis. As I wandered around the gym, feeling super lame, I remembered that there was a sauna. Since I was still sore from yesterday, I figured it would be a nice way to clear my head and relax after a busy day.

With my two towels in hand, I set the timer on the sauna room to 10 minutes, and went inside. I laid out one towel for my body, and slightly unrolled the other to serve as my pillow. I set my sneakers down beside me on the floor, and laid face down on my towel. A few minutes went by, and I started to feel that peace that takes over you when you’re in yoga class. My mind started to clear, and I felt like I was really getting in my relaxation zone, despite missing yoga class. Then it happened.

This woman came in all panting, huffing, and puffing like she just ran a marathon. It was out of control! The first thought I had was, please make it stop. I really just wanted to stay relaxed and feel refreshed when it was all said and done. Unfortunately, this woman in desperate need of an oxygen tank was killing my vibe! If you are really that hot and sweaty, and can barely breathe after your workout, isn’t a sauna the last place you should be? I mean, really.

I tried using some of the cues you use when you’re in a quiet place like the library (or a sauna) and someone is being loud. I cleared my throat, I readjusted my body, I tried to send quiet energy her way. No dice. I finally looked at her, and she was standing in the middle of the sauna room stretching and panting like a Jack Russell who just completed an obstacle course. Strike three.

I got up in a huff, returned to the locker room, and changed. No longer feeling zen, I was disappointed. All I wanted was to achieve some relaxation, daggone it! Was it really too much to ask?

As I made my way out of the locker room about three minutes later, I see the Big Bad Wolf, no longer huffing and puffing, but instead blow drying her sweaty hair.

So… not the best yoga experience ever. Definitely not.

I called my best friend after all that foolishness was over and I was headed home. She laughed at me, of course, and told me that it all sounded like a hot mess.

“You should put this kind of stuff on your blog,” she told me.

It’s funny. I usually just try to keep everything light and positive here on Flecks of Lex, but sometimes we just have frustrating experiences. It’s perfectly normal! In the grand scheme of things, was it the end of the world that I couldn’t practice yoga or relax in the sauna today? Of course not! Was it annoying? Totally, and that’s okay!

At the end of the day, it’s okay to get annoyed by an experience. It happens to all of us! The important thing is that you don’t allow something annoying, like being a hot mess and missing your yoga class, ruin the rest of your day.

After the sauna experience, I had a good time chatting with my best friend, and we could laugh about how silly it all was. Later, I got to hang out a little bit with the ol’ boyfriend, and we even watched a little bit of The Walking Dead (I’m starting from the beginning, because he’s a newbie, and we’re watching it together).

I’m looking forward to some yoga later this week, and definitely a long run. My first ever half marathon is coming up in just a couple of weeks, and I haven’t really gone for a run in a few weeks. I’ve been trying to rest my body a little bit from all of the running I did last month, and I think it’s about time that I get a 10-mile run under my belt. I’m looking forward to running this week, and am excited to see what this week has in store for me.

I hope that all of you out there don’t let a case of the Mondays stop you from having an absolutely fantastic week!