Journal no. 3

Lululemon hosted this mass yoga event at Orchard Road on 1 Nov.


My friend asked me along - all I had to do was register on the website and bring my own mat.
Easy.

So Lululemon is a lifestyle / yoga gear shop from the US that opened its first store here.
It was pretty cool of them to organize this free yoga class on the most famous road in Singapore.
By the way, as my friend pointed out, they didn't shut down Orchard road for the event, it's scheduled to be closed to vehicles on the first Saturday of every month.

We waited around for the road to be cordoned off and while in the queue to get into the space, there was some drama involving a ridiculously petty passerby and one of the girls in the queue. The big older guy made a big fuss with a young girl who apparently said something when his wife bumped into her. He harangued her for a few minutes even after the wife came to accept her apology/apologise for crazy husband. It was totally wtf.

 Anyway, we were finally allowed on the road, which was pretty amazing. I never thought I would walk on the vehicle-less Orchard road, much less do yoga on it.
Lululemon gave us freebies like a frigging yoga mat and a bottle of juice.
It was orderly and everyone was excited, especially the ladies in front of us, who showed off their flexibility by stacking themselves on top of each other.

The main stage was far away, where they had some performances.
We sat there in the middle of the road, bored, surrounded by curious pedestrians armed with cameras, and Lululemon staff armed with cameras, and media people armed with cameras.
I did my best to ignore them.

When it was finally time to do yoga, that was when you really had to concentrate on not caring that you look like a fool.
And having not done yoga for eons, it was quite brutal. I couldn't quite hear what the instructors were saying, but luckily I could count on looking at my friends to know the right movements to do.

My hair was stuck to my face from all the fluid pouring out of my pores, and sometimes the crowd cheered when they thought we did something cool.
Once it was time for the 'corpse pose' / final cool down, where you lay on the mat and let the humid air evaporate the sweat off your broken body, I was glad.
The drone camera flew over us, taking photos for Lululemon.

It was an interesting and unique experience to say the least.
And I have been doing my version of yoga at home ever since.