Mysore

For Christmas, my mom came through with a bunch of passes to a local yoga studio. One of my goals for the winter was to find a bit more balance to my physical routine, and try to fix the unhealthy hunchback thing I have going. Plus, my hands are turning into claws that won't fully open from all the climbing, so I felt that yoga would hopefully give me some opposition to the movements that were deforming my body.
Today, I used the first session on a class I'd never been to before, something called Mysore. I had no clue other than a brief website description, but the classes I'd taken at this studio before Christmas had been really rewarding, so I decided to jump into the deep end. Mysore turned out to be a class, fortunately for varied ability levels, that let's the students entirely do their own thing. An instructor is there to make subtle changes in posture, but essentially, the class is left to stretch itself. Think of it as Montessori Yoga for adults.
There is a general pattern that is the norm for the class, but really, anything goes. The teacher, Asha, was super friendly and helpful, and didn't laugh too hard at me when I asked some questions that immediately revealed me as a neophyte. I had done enough yoga to know basic postures, but when I saw the woman next to me bend completely in half, I knew I was surrounded by some serious yogis and yoginis. She was there with a guy who appeared to be her partner, because they were doing some couples yoga, and I don't think the guy was too psyched with me watching his lady friend in awe. Platonic voyeurism, just like you guys.
At first, I was a little nervous that I'd be making a fool out of myself, but I quickly came to the realization that if anyone was wasting their session looking at me and making judgements, they were badly missing the point of yoga, and could kiss my ass anyway. After I was free from that worry, I could really engage into the session, and ask for help with various poses. As a bonus, there was a cheat sheet that outlined the poses that are typically done in Mysore, so I had a guide from which to glean.
Not having someone verbally directing traffic took some getting used to, but after just a bit, I was totally inside of my own practice, and even got a bit more adventurous. I was able to call Asha over a bunch of times, and even though I was trying to keep things to a whisper to maintain a thin veil of respectability in front of the other students, I could ask for specifics and learned a ton of new poses. By the end of things, I was even doing a headstand.
The lesson: push those boundaries. If someone doesn't like it, bend in half (or at least try to) and let them pucker up. More than likely, you'll just find that everyone is in their own world, anyway.