Missing Monday's OM

I never thought I would miss down dog or plank or lunges or sun salutations as much as I do. It was Monday night and I was supposed to be at yoga, but my yoga studio is no longer. So I sat in Deborah’s kitchen twirling spaghetti on my fork when I would otherwise have been settling into my 6:15 class.

Capitol Hill Yoga, which was once Dancing Heart Yoga, had been in existence for probably a decade when it closed earlier this month. It is going to reopen in a different location in a couple of months, but right now we are in a hiatus of no yoga.

I tried another class last week. But it just wasn’t the same. Many poses went beyond the level 1 that I am most comfortable with and I started watching how good everyone else was instead of concentrating on my own practice.

I am such a creature of habit. I love my teacher’s approach to yoga. She’s soft-spoken and can lead a fairly strenuous class, but she has a touch of playfulness that makes it fun to stretch and hold and even do lots and lots of down dogs.

I’m comfortable with the routine of my usual class. I’ve actually come a long way in the 5 years I have been practicing yoga. But there are always poses I need to work on.

I’m trying to decide how to continue my yoga practice during this in-between time. I might take a few private lessons with my usual teacher. I may shop around just to see what else is out there. I may even try a daily practice on my own down in the basement.

But I will definitely come back to Capitol Hill Yoga when it reopens in 2009 at 641 Pennsylvania Avenue SE. Meanwhile I am missing my teacher and the group of friends I have made over the years as we OM’ed together on Monday nights.