Water Aerobics Meets Pam
My first water aerobics class (in several years). It was me and about six really gigantic black women, one Hispanic woman, and an assortment of teenagers who were clearly the children who'd been dragged by their moms into coming along.
It felt GREAT. So much better than a tiny yoga room with no air circulation and nearly passing out. Not only am I going to HURT tomorrow, I'll have a tan!
The ripped lifeguard who led the class clearly reveled in drilling all these women, and a TEN, NINE EIGHT SEVEN SIX FIVE FOUR THREE TWO ONE, do it again, TEN NINE EIGHT, etc, till we all complained about our shoulders hurting. They all laughed at me because I didn't know what speed something-ing was. SOmething about that punching ball.
And at the end, completely to my surprise, we swim hopped into a circle and held hands. He asked us if anybody had any requests or announcements.....and then one lady did this really nice little prayer about, you know, just thank you God for this class, this opportunity to get healthy together, and our lives and etc., and of course, in Jesus Name We Pray. Praying in sunglasses and sunlight sparkling off cool water. I've never experienced anything like this before.
How many water aerobics classes end with a circle prayer? It was very cool.
Tasha was extremely mixed up at how I smelled when I got home.
I am such a complete outsider in this environment, and I don't want to be presumptuous or stupid about it. As I was driving up, two young teenage girls got out of their mom's car, clearly headed indoors for gymnastics class, wearing Justin F. Kimball t-shirts. I thought WAIT. I went to Kimball! Only when I went there it was completely segregated. A handful of Hispanic kids but no African-Americans at all. And my class? My class of 67? The last class where girls wore dresses. NEVER pants.
So after 15 years of living back in Oak Cliff, I'm finally getting a real taste of my home stomping grounds, or how they've evolved I should say.
Much more later.
It felt GREAT. So much better than a tiny yoga room with no air circulation and nearly passing out. Not only am I going to HURT tomorrow, I'll have a tan!
The ripped lifeguard who led the class clearly reveled in drilling all these women, and a TEN, NINE EIGHT SEVEN SIX FIVE FOUR THREE TWO ONE, do it again, TEN NINE EIGHT, etc, till we all complained about our shoulders hurting. They all laughed at me because I didn't know what speed something-ing was. SOmething about that punching ball.
And at the end, completely to my surprise, we swim hopped into a circle and held hands. He asked us if anybody had any requests or announcements.....and then one lady did this really nice little prayer about, you know, just thank you God for this class, this opportunity to get healthy together, and our lives and etc., and of course, in Jesus Name We Pray. Praying in sunglasses and sunlight sparkling off cool water. I've never experienced anything like this before.
How many water aerobics classes end with a circle prayer? It was very cool.
Tasha was extremely mixed up at how I smelled when I got home.
I am such a complete outsider in this environment, and I don't want to be presumptuous or stupid about it. As I was driving up, two young teenage girls got out of their mom's car, clearly headed indoors for gymnastics class, wearing Justin F. Kimball t-shirts. I thought WAIT. I went to Kimball! Only when I went there it was completely segregated. A handful of Hispanic kids but no African-Americans at all. And my class? My class of 67? The last class where girls wore dresses. NEVER pants.
So after 15 years of living back in Oak Cliff, I'm finally getting a real taste of my home stomping grounds, or how they've evolved I should say.
Much more later.
posted by pamdbigd | 6:07 PM
2 Comments:
I love reading your updates mom. Sorry the yoga didn't work out for you.
What's funny is that in my classes we regularly chant a prayer for peace and the teachers often talk to us about self acceptance, letting go of the weight of the day, not comparing yourself to others, being okay with wherever you are in your practice for that day, etc etc. Just a different form of a prayer. I'm glad you found something similar with these ladies. :)
xoxo
e
There's a "PiYo" class I'm going to try out NEXT week (not this week) which is a combination of Pilates, which I know a little about, and yoga, which surprisingly, I know a LOT about. Lately I've been googling "yoga for plus-sized women" It's one thing to know the poses, it's another thing to be able to do them without hurting yourself. Downward facing dog is not a good thing when your wrists are built for a 145 pound woman, not a 200 pound woman, you know? So there's some growth to be had here. Please keep the encouragement going. NAG me. I need it.
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