to pose or not to pose

This evening I went to the gym and decided to try a yoga class. I prefer to take a cardio or step class but none were available and it beats the stationary bike and treadmill. I have taken yoga classes before and they just seem too hippie-ish (even for me). I have my own mat and I set up camp towards the back of the room since I have never sat in with this particular instructor. The lights are dimmed and the room is quiet, as the music plays I can start my cynical side awakening. "Bring awareness to your breath" the lady softly says,..."what the crap does that mean"? I screamed in my head! This class is supposed to help me relax and forget the everyday worries of life, not piss me off further. As we get into "dog", "cat" and "child" pose, I gave my eyes a work out from rolling them everytime she said something like "feel the negative energy exit your finger tips". Some of these poses are nearly impossible to do, a few girls fell over just trying to do an "angry cow"..or something like that. I did enjoy the challenge of holding the difficult poses for several seconds and for a minute the class worked- I escaped the troubles of my day. I was hard at work trying to master the "pidgeon" pose; I saw possibilities for this pose in the bedroom and was determined to hold it for more than 5 seconds. After an hour of animal poses, a CD of "Sounds of Tibet" and countless whispers of what I find to be useless chants, I found myself wiping sweat from my brow. Overall I enjoyed the class and will go again next week.