Thursday, July 26, 2007

GREAT BALLS OF FIRE!


now put your hands in the air...

This incident happened many years ago. As I looked back, I was chuckling away and when I told it to my friends, we all had a good time just hearing the antics that happened to me.

At that time, I had just joined the gym and like some eager beaver gym bunny, I decided to join most of the classes offered. Not wanting to lose out (typical Chinese culture) I wanted to experience all of it if possible since I’m paying good money for the membership, so in many ways, I guess, I’m entitled to some of the privileges offered by them.

There were a variety of classes offered from body jam to body pump; from cardio dance to cardio steps; it was an eye opener for me. However, one of the classes, which I will say is my final frontier to join, would be yoga.

Yoga always conjure up in my mind of how bodies can bend in the karmic sutra way or how you can stand up with one hand while the other leg is somewhere up there hanging, something to that effect. I’ll never guess nor will I ever imagine myself doing it. I’ve always been amazed by those joining the class and one of the activity that happens in there is meditation.

I’ve always seen the lights in the exercise room dimmed and you will see bodies lying side by side as if they were lying there motionless, having a good sleep. I thought that was pretty cool, cause in a way, you get to sleep in class?

One fine day, Da Queen (when we were still on talking terms) met me in the gym. After going our rounds using the machines, we overheard the PA system announced that the next class is Yoga. DQ quickly asked me to go with him to join Yoga and I believe I replied “Are you crazy?”

So, unknowingly, what came upon me, I actually joined the Yoga class with DQ. Not sure of what to expect, since this is a beginner’s level class, we all took our positions and stood at an angle that we could see the instructor.
In comes Mrs. Singh with her big huge turban (I’m not joking) and there was a fake ruby stuck right up in the middle of the turban. It was hilarious looking at that sight but our instructor was a very stern looking sort of lady. She was the no nonsense type who will not take no for an answer.

All in all, the class was well attended too, mainly a good mixture of guys and gals. I would have thought that perhaps in the first few lessons, we might venture to learn how to do the duck squats or even standing with our legs crossed at one angle and our hands perched up high in the sky?

What we expected was totally different from what I had anticipated in my mind. Mrs. Singh made us stand in a row with the tips of our toes touching and rocking up and down. As we did this, we were supposed to balance our bodies and move in tandem with the soft commanding voice of Mrs. Singh. While we were doing this motion, I remember distinctively what Mrs. Singh said.

“Now move along, let your senses fall free. Remove all of your stresses and fall freely" ordered Mrs. Singh.



In my mind, fall freely? You mean to say all of us fall down and prostrate on the floor? This is not making sense at all.


"Repeat the steps after me and you won't go wrong" commanded Mrs. Singh again in a manly voice.



I looked at DQ and he gave me a blank stare too, wondering what is next? I really felt like walking out as I was not learning anything except to tip toe and rock forward and backward. Outside, I noticed that there was a already a huge crowd gathered to watch our antics.



"Now, feel the warmth of the earth bursting out from the ground" said Mrs. Singh.



Feel the warmth? The room was already cold as it is and where is the warmness? From the other beings huddled together in the room? Oh, I get it, must be talking about body heat!



"As you feel the warmth rising, now picture them to be balls of fire permeating around you. Feel the balls of fire moving from the ground, up to your body and going around your head and then moving downwards to the back of your body" Mrs. Singh said in a rather excited voice.

feel the balls of fire...yet?




Feel the balls of fire? When that sentence came out, I wanted to burst out laughing and I looked at DQ and gave a very pathetic look. I know that DQ was also controlling himself and from afar, we could see two guys giggling at that mere mention of balls of fire. Those young queens did not mince their laughter as it grew louder as Mrs. Singh tried to exhort that belief in us!



Funny thing was, Mrs. Singh did not stop there. She went on and on about the balls of fire and a good 30 minutes, we were still at the same position doing the tip toe, rocking back and forth action. It was all mere nonsense.


I didn't stay long as I walked out of the class half-way. Never do I such a thing but this was one exception that I did. Anyway, after that class, I have never attended another Yoga class anymore...balls of fire, any other words to describe it?

2 comments:

adrien said...

seems interesting to me though. seeing how its the beginner's class, u never know what balls of fire could develop into! hmm now i'm thinking of taking yoga classes myself. the irony. lol.

Ryan said...

Fire balls? Hmmm... still don't get it.

Anyway, wanted to join Yoga class but the stretching and weird posture just ... weird!

Better hit the gym and enjoy cute guys working (flexing) their muscle. Yummm.....