Blindfolded yoga. Who knew?
So I met a lovely woman called Lauryn a couple of years ago queuing for theatre tickets, and we stayed in touch on Facebook. She's now qualified as a yoga teacher and always posts her class schedule on Facebook. I've wanted to go for a while but she's never had one I can make, so when she posted about a blindfolded yoga class she was running through The Private Yogi in aid of the RNIB that I was available for, I decided to go. It did mean I ended up doing four yoga classes last week (Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday), and I'm not going to lie, that was a bit much, my body was really feeling it by that point!
Blindfolded yoga is so hard! We put on blindfolds and started out with some lovely chilled out pranayama (breathing stuff) and then worked our way up into sun salutations. It turns out it's really, really hard to do those when you can't see where your feet or hands go. I remember my right foot being massively off the mat during a downward dog for no discernible reason, wobbling like a crazy person during a simple Warrior 1 and actually having to take the blindfold off for lunges, because I was falling over!
Doing yoga (or probably anything) blindfold requires the most intense concentration, because you can't rely on your visual sense. It's hard to tell if your feet are doing what they should be (particularly in poses like Warrior 2) and you're left mainly with your own mind, because you can't check in on what others are doing. It's a great leveller and it really focuses your brain.
Lauryn's a great teacher. I know it must have been really challenging to lead a room full of people who can't watch you, but she explained everything really well (though I did get massively confused about a seated pose at one point - when you can't see your legs somehow it becomes far more difficult to cross them properly...) and was really confident and soothing as a teacher. I also liked that Charlie from The Private Yogi was there to walk around and adjust you if necessary (my downward dog and half pigeon needed some slight amendments) although I did start when Charlie touched my back, simply because I (obviously) hadn't seen her coming...
We concluded the class with some savasana and back to back pranayama, and then we were all given bubbly and strawberries and got to hang out with the lady who was there doing aromatherapy, which is the way I think I'd like to end every yoga class I go to from now on...