Yoga on my mind

The last time I did yoga was nearly three years ago. My friend Sarah was going to go to one and I had come along. Since the class was literally on her property (she works and lives on a horse stable) and the class was cheaper for her because of it I tagged along, completely not dressed for doing yoga. I think I was wearing a low cut top and jeans.
At first, I just sat on the sidelines watching the class because I hadn't signed up for it. As I was watching my friend do all these moves, I thought to myself "oh that doesn't look hard, I could do that!"
So I got barefoot, and rolled out a mat next to my friend. She was very focused on doing the class. So I mentally snapped at myself to focus like she was.
The hour long class, about 45 for me, was probably the most humbling experiences of my life. Not that it was hard for me physically. It turns out I'm still very flexible despite my sturdy and rotund structure. Balancing was harder, but I managed to keep up with the class despite it being my first time.
I wasn't even unbearably sore the next day.

But what struck me most profoundly was that all the things, ideas, emotions, and mental conversations that normally run wild through my mind like a highway full of cars rushing at top speeds, were suddenly silenced.
Silenced completely and rather than thinking, I felt.

I felt my blood coursing, the sweat on my body, the muscles straining, my breath flowing in and out, and this feeling of raw internal strength enveloping me.
I felt like suddenly I was a wild tiger. Sheer strength, power, agility, and carnal intuition. If I could put a better description to what I felt, I would.
But when I think of wild tigers, I think that they are roughly 10 or more feet long including the tail, they are huge, massive, and sheer muscle. They have to be to survive, there is no room for unnecessary weight or sluggish movements. And to watch that kind of powerful grace in action, even on tv or the internet, it puts me in awe. And in those minutes, I was in awe of myself.
I had never come into contact with my, as cheesy as it sounds, inner tigress. And even to this day, I haven't forgotten what it feels like. The calm of knowing exactly what is inside of you and finally being at peace with it.

I was disappointed when I realized my budget would not enable me to continue with these lessons. And at that point, I put the notion out of my head. It wasn't feasible, so no use pining after it.

But my circumstances have changed and now it is feasible. And when looking for a way to find the calm I had as my life is growing more and more out of focus, I almost feel as though I'm being drawn back to yoga and that feeling.

I've meditated since, but it's not quite the same. It's the difference for me of shuffling papers reading and organizing them to discovering there's a glowing, purring tigress beneath the table I was shuffling papers on top of. That actually almost conveys the shock I felt when I discovered it during that yoga session.

If I believed in things such as spirits and souls and similar things as that, I would say I met my animal spirit guide. And it is definitely a tigress.

It's strange for someone who's always been a dog person. of course, I said the same thing when I was a tomboy and starting to willingly wear skirts.