Spin Class is NOT Yoga....right?

I usually get up and go to the YMCA to work out on Monday and Wednesday mornings, typically arriving between 6:15-6:45am. This morning, thanks to the new puppy, I was up at 5am. There's a point during sleep where you know if you get up now, you're up. And if you go back to sleep, you'll sleep for longer than you had intended, and that choice was before me this morning. So, having a lot to do on this Monday morning a week before Christmas, I chose to get up. After finishing my grocery list, I decided to head to the Y to get my workout done. When I walk into my YMCA, there's a spin class room that's very near the entrance and I usually see them in there pedaling away to some good music. I've been tempted to join them to check it out but them I remember that I really don't like to bike all that much and I head upstairs to the eliptical machine and my DIY channel and end with a bit of yoga asana. It's a very effective, enjoyable and educational time of day for me. This morning, I walked in at 5:55 and decided that I would try out the Spin Class. Now, anyone who listens to anything about exercising or going to the gym has heard about the Spin Class. The people who spin are dedicated. They sweat. A lot. They're motivated people. I, on the other hand, don't really like to bike as it's not a comfortable situation. Nevertheless, I ask the ladies at the front desk about the class and they encourage me to try it. I tell them I don't really like to bike because it hurts my butt. Instead of saying something like, "Oh these seats are really comfortable. You'll be fine." They say something more like, "I KNOW! My butt hurts for days after this class." Ummm, not really the reassurance I was looking for but the decision has been made and I'm going to try it so I can at least say I've done it and know if I like it or not. Okay. Here we go. I recalled seeing that people always walked in carrying a water bottle and a towel. I luckily had a water bottle in my bag so I grabbed and filled that and, not wanting to dig all the way through my bag, decided to forgo the towel. How sweaty can you get, anyway? (I've done plenty of Hot Yoga so I actually do know the answer to that question. They make special towels to absorb all of the Hot Yoga sweat because the answer to "how sweaty can you get" is VERY sweaty. Gallons of sweat, sweaty. So, I KNOW sweaty and felt that this couldn't possibly compete). So, I walk into the room bidding the front desk ladies to wish me good luck, which they did. I see a bike that no one has yet claimed with their water bottle and hop on. I begin to pedal and notice that the tension is obviously on 0. Sweet! My next thought is, "Dang, this seat is NOT comfortable." Seriously, these seats are joke, right? It's hard as a rock and nestles up right between my sitz bones so that, with every turn of the pedal, it just nestles itself deeper into the edge of the bone which it is obviously wearing away like water running over rock for millions of years. So, I'm not comfortable. As I'm having this very obvious realization, the teacher comes over to introduce himself. Like I said, spinners are a dedicated bunch so when a new face walks into the room, it's like a spotlight is shining down on you with sirens that scream, "NEWBY, NEWBY, NEWBY!!" So, George comes over to say, "hi" and make sure I know how to use the bike (I was feeling just fine on tension level zero, thanks!). He was very nice and welcoming and he seemed to think I'd be just fine in class. Okay. So everyone saddles up, the music starts, and we're off. My butt hurts but the tension is okay even though I've started to crank it up past level zero to maybe a level 1/2. I'm good. We do a few minutes of warm up and then he tells us to really crank it up so that our pedaling matches the music. Okay, I have to increase the tension because I'm flyin' over here! So, I turn up the tension a bit more and look down at the floor and notice a few droplets there. Is the ceiling leaking? No, I'm starting to sweat. We're about 3 minutes in and it's happening already. As we progress through the 45 minute class, each song becomes a different focus. Sometimes it's a hill, sometimes you stand up, sometimes you get a drink (for a few seconds), but you're always pedaling and always adjusting the tension up and down. When a seemingly never ending Beatles song comes on through which I was really turning up the juice on that tension, I remembered that Beatles songs are only about 3 minutes long. This was going to be a long class! He finally tells us to stand up for the next song. So, we crank up the tension and stand up so we can stay with the beat of the music. As I stand up, I feel all of the blood flow back into the my bottom much like the flush you feel after Garudasana (Eagle Pose). Hmm, interesting. I've had yoga teachers say (and I'll admit to using it in my classes too) that we store our junk in our trunk. So, pairing the cleansing effect of the blood flush with the junk in my trunk, I'm thinking that I got rid of some stuff every time I stood up in class this morning. Yes! We get about 1/2 way through the class and George brings us into a seated hill sequence. He says to really get your glutes into it but I'm sorry George, my glutes are busy being masticated by the bike seat. I'll catch you later on that one. My quads are serving me just fine, thank you very much. By the next song, I'm starting to understand why Amanda Bynes got off her bike and started doing her makeup in the middle of class. I can sympathize with that. When there are 15 minutes left of class, George comes over to check in with me and give me a little pep talk to get me through to the end. "You doing okay?" "Yep" "Can you make it to the end?" "Yep" Okay, here we go. Last 15 minutes. I got this. I've been practicing Yoga for a lot of years now. I know what it's like to have days where you get on your mat and struggle through a practice and then finally reach a point where you just let go. Your breath comes easier,you feel yourself relax and, suddenly, the struggle is gone and you're just there, on your mat, with your breath, and it's just bliss. As we were working into that last 15 minutes and there's a pumping song on the stereo and my thighs are burning, I'm breathing hard and deep and then...it all just melted away. The discomfort, the sweat that was now dripping off of me in rivulets, the struggle...it just dropped away and it all felt good and right. It was that moment of bliss that I've felt time and time again on my mat and it was right there in Spin Class. I don't yet know if I'll do another Spin Class. Time will tell and I have to see how I'm feeling over the next day or two. In the end, I'm grateful to have the reminder that I can experience yoga - that coming together of breath, calm, and release - whether I'm on my mat, on a bike in Spin Class, or driving in my car. It's always with me and available to me and thank goodness for that!