Partner left after 9 years - He's 'confused' now

[Dawn of Hope]

Hi, Ali,
Just a quick (ha!) note--on the email, I'd say wait a bit to respond, then do your usual light, funny response.

I think it's great that you are involved in so many GAL activities! I particularly wanted to respond to your questions about yoga. Yes, it's normal to find it difficult and be sore afterward! I've been studying yoga for about 15 years (and was a gymnast before that), and I think the reason that yoga classes have so few men is that there is this widespread misconception that yoga is a wimpy, non-demanding exercise...HA!! (And some think that yoga classes involve religious stuff that may not be to one's taste...that *can* be true sometimes, but usually isn't in classes in the Western world.) Anyway, on the difficulty thing...I'd like to see some of those "yoga is for weaklings" guys go through a vinyasa sun salutation series a couple of times and see if they can stand up without trembling! Even with as flexible as I am, and as long as I've been doing this, and all the other exercise that I do (weightlifting, bicycling, swimming...), I'm *still* nearly always sore the day after a yoga class!

It has to do with how hard you push yourself relative to what you're used to...like any form of exercise. If you are a runner, you can take a nice leisurely stroll, and you probably won't be sore the next day. If you run a marathon...you'll probably be hurting later. Yoga is the same way.

By the way, there are lots of different styles of yoga. Which are you studying? Iyengar, hatha, vinyasa, kripalu, anusara, Bikram ("hot yoga")...?

Take care of yourself, Ali. Hopefully all this GAL will help lift you up emotionally. Be well.

Peace,
Dawn