Recently I took advantage of an introductory pass at a local yoga and pilates centre and was able to take a "pilates sculpt" class, a "yogilates" class, a "hatha flow yoga" class and a "candlelight yoga" class all within the span of 7 days and it only cost me $20. I thought this would be a good way for me to try out a few different disciplines and see what I liked the best.
After my little foray into each of those classes, I discovered that I liked the yogilates the best. It was a nice blend of strength training and stretching. I got a really good core work-out from the pilates portion and then was able to stretch everything out with some yoga postures/poses (asanas for all you yogis out there). There was a wee bit of meditation type stuff at the end of the class (imagine you're floating on the calm ocean, blah, blah, blah), but I liked to think of it more as "nap time" and treated it as such. After all, who doesn't love a good nap?
The straight up yoga was really not my cup of tea because I'm not really into dealing with my chakras or my "third eye"- I'm pretty sure I've only got 2 eyes anyway. Don't get me wrong...I found the stretching to be great and I can see how the benefits would build over time, but I'm just not a spiritual person and I really don't care about all that typical yogi stuff; you know, the "oms" and the "namastes".
My point here, I guess, is that my introductory pass was great and I strongly recommend it to anyone who has even remotely thought about doing yoga or pilates. It was a great way to try things out without having to fork over a bunch of money or make a huge time commitment.
I came away with some moves that I should be able to continue with on my own; assuming I can actually have the self-discipline to do it. I might have to write out a schedule to make it happen and perhaps wake up earlier each day. Who knows, maybe one day I'll have some abs that can do more than just the basics of holding my torso upright and I might even have the flexibility to touch my toes :)
