A Yoga Class in Siem Reap

Today was one of those great vacation days in which we had nowhere to be and no schedule to keep. We slept late, then spent most of the day drifting from pool chairs to pool to poolside dining, repeat. This cycle continued until about 6 pm when we took a tuk-tuk to the Peace Cafe, a vegetarian restaurant that also has a fair-trade gift shop and yoga classes. {Sidenote:  riding in the back of a tuk-tuk is exhilarating. It feels like you're floating on top of the street with motorcycles, cars, and bicycles swept along in a current with you, and that you might topple over and hit the pavement at any moment. What a rush.}

The Peace Cafe has a dirt floor and lush tropical trees and plants growing throughout the space. I had time for a green juice before my class started. The class was held in an upstairs loft with wooden floors and walls on three sides with the fourth side open air. The yoga blocks were wooden and looked like they were hand made. The teacher was a really good natured man with shaggy curly hair, an infectious laugh and an Elmo t-shirt. I think all of the other students were from the UK and Australia.

The instructor led us through an hour and 20 minutes of hatha yoga, which is a gentle but at times rigorous class.

Here's what I learned from this particular class and this particular teacher: Yoga doesn't have to be so serious. I think I speak for a lot of fellow yoga students when I say we try so hard to get just the right alignment, to push ourselves a little farther each time, to make sure we're doing everything as well as we possibly can, and as a result we hang on to tension unnecessarily. I've heard a dozen yoga teachers tell me it's ok to fall, it's ok to wobble, it's ok to not be able to bend all the way to the floor. But something about this particular class with this teacher really made that lesson hit home. Laughing is good! Falling is good. Learning how to not stress about getting the posture perfect is really good.

One of the reasons I love yoga so much is because the lessons I learn in yoga class carry over to my life off the mat. It took me many years to realize this was even happening. I hope that the next time I'm stressed because I'm trying to hard at something that doesn't need to be forced I'll remember that voice telling me to just relax, lift my head a little more and see if I spot a purple gecko.