Adventures in Community Ed

Minneapolis has a great Community Ed program. Big brochures come out a couple of times a year offering classes on everything from canning to reupholstering and small engine repair. I browsed through and chose Power Yoga I. It's taught Tuesday nights at a high school about 10 minutes from the house.

I hadn't taken yoga through CE yet but my expectations were that it would be pretty much like every other yoga class I had taken. As soon as I walked in, I realized that was pretty unrealistic. We were on the school's gym floor, which was, if your high school was anything like mine, as filthy as you remember. And rather than soothing, dim light to help focus your practice, this class featured the glare of superfluorescent overhead gym lights. Also, there were approximately 40 people in the class. For reals. Okay, I can deal. And on the bright (fluorescently bright) side, all the dirt on the floor gives you plenty of potential focus points for keeping your balance!

Last night I walked into the school, checked in with the high school kid manning the door, and was promptly directed to the auditorium. Yep, the gym was being used for a basketball game and yoga had been moved to the stage in the school auditorium. Fold-down wooden seats were strewn with winter coats and Uggs, tote bags and SIGG bottles. Engage your uddiyana bandha and pay no attention to what appears to be the partially-constructed set of Camelot surrounding you.

Yep, totally signing up for next semester.