Graduation Day

Because of my lunch with the hollywood starlet, I missed my daily yoga class, and decided to take, for the first time, a level 2-3 class.

This is the highest difficulty level my yoga studio offers, and I was hesitant about taking it, but I was curious about what, exactly, all of my yoga practice was building towards.

So I waited in the lobby as my regular classmates exited the studio; one of the friendlier ones approached me and said, "You missed class! What happened?" I explained, and then my instructor emerged and the following conversation ensued:

Fav Instructor: Oh my god! Robert! What are you doing?
Me: I missed your class because I had lunch with one my relatives, so I figured --
Fav Instructor: (mock gasp) Wait! Are you taking the 2-3 class?
Me: Yes.
Fav Instructor: (mock squeal of delight) Oh, that's great. I wish I could be there.
Me: What, so you can see me in pain?
Fav Instructor: You're so strong. You'll be fine.
Me: I'm... excited about it.
Fav Instructor: Good.
Me: I'll see you tomorrow.
Fav Instructor: Bye!

What struck me about this conversation, besides the sheer number of exclamation points I have to use in order to convey some sense of my instructor's sheer exuberance, is how genuinely excited and happy she was that I was growing in my yoga competency. There was absolutely no sense on her part of feeling slighted by my brief defection to another instructor's class, even though we both know that I've hardly mastered my current class.

I haven't had a teacher be this proud of me since grade school.

Then the level 2-3 class begins.

There is not necessarily anything new about this class. But there are a handful of very difficult poses that are rarities in my regular class: Handstand. Camel. Virasana. Upward Facing Bow. Each of these poses is something we might attempt every once in a while in my regular class, as a topper to the day's practice.

In this class, WE DO THEM ALL. And no one in the class even bats an eye at the mention of their names. There's no warm-up, no extended instruction - we just go.

I manage to execute all of them, and capably at that - no stumbling or faltering. I acquit myself beautifully.

That's how good my favorite instructor is.