The Morning I Did Yoga with Martha Stewart

Well GOOD MORNING!

Most mornings start off with some some snoozing, some dog walking, and—on some days—a run. Those activities are then followed by a fast shower, more time than I’d like to spend drying my hair, some makeup and power-walking to work. I am not a morning person, and so mornings are not relaxed for me.

Breakfast is usually something stuffed into a reusable tote, or something grabbed from Starbucks.

This morning? I feel like I had a mini-vacation before work.

Tina and I were invited to a yoga class with Martha Stewart at Grand Central. At 7am.

The class was part of an event being held at Grand Central today and tomorrow to honor 10 American small-business owners. My dad owned a textile factory, so any initiatives honoring American small-business owners hits home for me. The event also included two days of panels—with other American entrepreneurs such as Tory Burch, Calvin Klein, Diane vonFurstenberg and J. Crew CEO Mickey Drexler—and hands-on workshops, like kitchen composting and gluten-free baking.

But we were there for the yoga.

.

Pretty sure I fell 2.5 seconds after this. I cannot laugh and tree pose.

Martha (because we’re totally on a first-name basis now) is apparently an avid yogi, and so she and her teacher James Murphy of the Iyengar Institute led the class. (In truth, he taught, and she practiced in front of all of us.)

THIS IS HOW CLOSE WE WERE TO HER. So close that Tina and I were able to see that we all have the same kind of camera. Tina and I have the Canon S95; Martha has the S100.

We overheard her give some last-minute directions, and then we were ushered in to begin class.

Although the class was taught by an instructor from the Iyengar Institute, it was fairly basic yoga, which was totally fine. It was much more about the experience than the workout.

Martha, of course, was very graceful. She didn’t bend into any pretzel-like shapes, but she did every move effortlessly.

Half-moon pose against a wall.

It should be noted that there were approximately a million cameras and reporters milling around. The first few minutes, I felt incredibly self-conscious (and yes, sucked in every time a camera seemed like it might be pointing in my general direction), but I got used to it pretty quickly.

I try really hard to be present in the moment but am not always successful. Yoga is one of the few times when I can quickly get into the moment, because it requires a lot of focus from me. You’d think it would be hard to relax while doing yoga in Grand Central with far more people watching than participating, but by savasana, I was all blissed out. (It was a little more relaxing than yoga in Times Square, but equally cool.)

The view from the mat just before savasana.

Is it weird that the first thing I thought when I saw her was “where does she get her hair done?” I love her shade of blonde. (Answer, according to Google: Eva Scrivo.)

It was a really cool experience, and I’m thankful I got to participate in this this morning with a good friend by my side.

These two girls went up to talk to her afterwards, and Tina and I stood nearby and gawked a bit and kicked ourselves for not going over to talk to her.

Afterwards, they served some pastries from Bouchon Bakery.

It was still early, and we were hungry, so Tina and I went to Penelope for breakfast.

I just had some gourds for breakfast.

Just kidding. I had an omelette with spinach, feta and tomato with some delicious pesto on the side and sourdough toast.

It was such a nice way to start the day, and I got to work so, so relaxed…and dressed in yoga clothes until I did a classy change of clothes in the bathroom.

Do you rush in the mornings, or are you one of those weird people who can relax in the mornings? One of my friends told me once how she took a bath and read before work sometimes…which sounds so lovely, but not nearly as lovely as sleep.