I kept thinking I was too old to start yoga. I thought this for years. During the time I thought I was too old for yoga, I ran a 5 k (and came in last) and took pilates for quite a while and tai chi for a couple of years. But yoga kept calling, so finally, after my friend who is ALMOST my age told me how much she liked it, at age 69 and almost 8 months I wandered into Luana's studio. It is a comfortable white space with some colorful 8x10 Mexican-type banners strung across the ceiling which is high, old, wooden and beamed. And I'm not too old. And I love it, even after just a couple of weeks. I had taken dancing lessons for years -- serious ones -- and I've never stopped missing them: the feeling that you and your body (to be corny) are one: the feeling of your muscles working and stretching and lifting you, the sweat pouring down your back as you push just a little harder and a little harder, the music coursing through you.There isn´t any piano music in yoga, though there are some chants, and it isn't as hard (or rather Luana won't permit old bones and muscles to push as hard), but it is still thrilling to be back making my body work in this way. In the classes, the movement alternates with meditative periods where you stay in a position (for me, mostly reclining positions) for extended periods of time. I've done breathing on and off for years, and in my years as a therapist with severely mentally ill patients I taught mindfulness which involves breathing, so I´m not new to it. In Luana's studio, it seems that my experiences are a bit different. Lying on my back, (I don't think I'm psychotic) it seems as if I am somehow a very thin shell, with the world flowing through me. Even better, I notice the sounds and smells of the neighborhood outside: roasting coffee, bus exhaust, garlic in oil, trucks with their home-made wooden sides rattling down the cobblestones, a light hint of piano music or the sound of a clarinet in the distance, women gossiping and laughing, a radio playing norteño.
Anyway, now a plug for Luana's classes. She is very flexible (mentally as well as physically) and adjusts the movements according to the level of the student. She is completely fluent in both English and Spanish. She follows the Lyengar method. Weekdays, she teaches Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9:00 am to 10:30 am and Monday and Thursday, from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm with a a class for children on Wednesdays from 5:00-6.00. Obviously I recommend her highly.
Classes are 50 pesos a piece.
The address is Hidalgo 100, Xico
The phone is cel 228 111 7647
And she is on facebook at Yogatlán.
Wear shorts or comfortable clothes.