- February 23, 2025
Finding my balance is difficult enough on dry land, so let's add some danger and boat waves and see what happens.
I was standing on the shore of the Halifax River at Fortunato Park when I first realized that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.
At the end of a line of five beautiful, fit, and obviously experienced yoga ladies, I was half listening to instructor Jodi Ascherman explain how to anchor our boards, and half thinking of excuses to run back to the safety of my car. It was on land and had air conditioning; why did I ever leave?
Ascherman infectious smile and contagious attitude had blindly convinced me to sign up for her 8:30 a.m. Saturday paddle board yoga class. Not only am I extremely limited when it comes stretching and most types of exercise, I had also spent the previous evening trying to live up the years of my youth. Instead of awesome memories and embarrassing photos, I was left with a bruised knee and a stolen cell phone. Begging the question: why do I ever leave my house after 7 p.m.?
Still, it was not the ideal way to begin a new practice, but Ascherman’s sunshine face kept flashing through my mind and I didn't want to disappoint a new friend. Also she kind of a held a spot for me in a very small class, so I was pretty much locked in. So with little confidence and a lot of clumsiness, I paddle my way out into the middle of the river.
Things were simple at first, and the board was a lot sturdier than I expected it to be. After some deep breathing, taking in the sights around us and trying to keep my eyes peeled for any sea creature with the ability to bite or sting me, we started the poses. I have no recollection of what the poses were called because all of my concentration was on not falling, which I eventually did. Sadly it wasn’t during a cool, body morphing stretch. We were on all fours, and I simply slipped in my sweat.
Thankfully, that was my only hiccup. Throughout the hour and half long class, I attempted (and failed) at many stretches that I had always considered out of my league for a lot of reasonable reasons. Still, I got a lot farther than I thought I could, with only Jodi Ascherman to thank.
My favorite part of the class was then end, and not because I missed my air conditioned car. We laid down on our boards for a five minute meditation that was close to during into sleep. Something about the soft rocking of the waves below me and the slight breeze in the air above me, made me extremely grateful for the world around me.
Thank you again, Jodi.
