Why do all yoga nuts talk in the same way? I signed up for classes today and even though the girls were speaking French, they still had the same lilt in their speech that American yoga types have. What is that? Does yoga actually affect speech, or is it a lifestyle thing, or what?
The women were really nice, but sometimes I'm thrown by the creation of atmosphere in some of these yoga places. They had a mini rock formation with a mini waterfall in the corner, meditative music in the background, and mellow yellow walls. I felt like I had to whisper, or at least employ the yoga accent myself. The place fit the description of your typical yoga joint. Some day, I want to go to a yoga place that is in some huge-ass garage, with cement floors and rap music on in the background. In my dream yoga center, people do the poses in high top sneakers, and a 40oz serves as the after-class treat each session (instead of the vegan brownies available at my yoga joint). The instructors can say "motherfucker" every other sentence and they'll start of classes by saying, "Get on the floor and meditate, suckas!"
While I'm still waiting for my style of yoga center, I went ahead and bought my little purple mat that I will cart around with me on the metro. Gotta settle in somewhere, and I don't have the cash to start up my dream yoga land. You know, I didn't even know they fabricated special yoga-mat-carrying bags. The whole time I was in Santa Cruz, I sort of made fun of these yoga types, but I'm becoming one before my very eyes, because I actually caught myself considering investing in one. Then I said, "Slow down, tiger. No buying the bag until you can touch your toes." So I've got goals and the incentive to make them happen, yo.
One of the themes of this yoga center is vegetarianism, which sort of unnerves me. Not because I don't like vegetarians or vegetarianism, but because I actually wouldn't mind being vegetarian if I lived in a place at all conducive to such a lifestyle. When I came here, I had been vegetarian for a couple of years, but I gave it up because it was a pain in my ass. Yes, I know, if I had really wanted it to work, I would have found a way. But seriously, the lack of natural food stores and vegetarian alternatives in this city makes those that are available way pricier than they should be. The only place to get cheap tofu is in Chinatown, and I don't feel like riding the metro for half an hour every time I need some damn protein. Beans are also harder to come by, and forget the idea of Gardenburgers and the like. They're around, but not cheap. So I eat meat maybe twice a week for nutritional and financial reasons, and don't want to be harassed about it. I even agree with the whole idea behind vegetarianism (obviously, because I did the whole veggie-thing at one point), just not with the price of it. Find me some cheap Boca Burgers and we might have ourselves a deal.
In the meantime, I loves me some canned tuna.
I also went searching for a pilates class, because Lordy, that's entertaining and tricky stuff. Call me crazy, but I like sore muscles. I like to feel The Burn much in the same way I like staying up until 4 am studying from time to time; I believe that's called masochism. Righto. So I went online and looked for some pilates classes, and whoa nelly! That shit's expensive. We're talking 60 euros a course here, people. Who's got that kinda money? Rich, old American ladies who have lived in Paris for too long, that's who. Why do I think this? Because out of four pilates sites, two were in English only. I think they know who their target public is, and it's not the starving student. Seriously, man, where's my student discount? I'll just stick to jogging in the (free) park for now, thanks.
I'm always looking for cheap alternatives to walking- Kickboxing has been doing it for me for the last few months but my pass just ran out and the gym is far. I looked into Pilates (ALL the celebs are doing it, hrm) but they were asking 60 bucks for FOUR sessions. That's crap. So I'll just walk til I get more money for kickboxing near to me.