Your Focus needs more Focus!

I recently stated going to yoga classes.  This is not my first go at yoga, but it’s been awhile since I’ve been a regular.  Still, I walked into class thinking I was in pretty good shape and should get through the class in a breeze.  We started off sitting on our mats with our eyes closed.  The yoga teacher, who was a hipster with tattoos and a half-shaved head, spoke in a calm relaxing voice while encouraging us to focus on our breath.  My brain was ping ponging from thought to thought, none of which included my breath.  I thought about how I had work to do, how my back was uncomfortable, how I could get a better workout lifting weights….and so on.  Next she took us through a flow of poses that went a little like this… downward facing dog…blah, blah, blah….downward facing dog…downward facing dog.  My shoulders began to burn and I wondered if anyone has ever broken their nose by falling out of downward facing dog.  I picked my head up and looked around at all the focused people flowing through their downward facing dogs with no problem.  The older lady that looked like a teacher at my kid’s school, the guy with the ponytale, the…oh my gosh!  In front of me was a man in lose short shorts and a lot of baggage on display.  Now my thoughts were on how all participants in yoga class should be required to wear fitted yoga pants.  For the rest of the class my thoughts fluttered between how I can implement this rule and how much my muscles burned.  Occasionally I did bring my thoughts to my breath, but usually by the time I got to the exhale I was lost again.  I will continue going to yoga class because my focus needs a lot of work, but I’ll be careful not to look up during the downward facing dog!