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| How hard is it to find instructors who are interested in doing more than selling you all the yoga accesories they can? I live in dallas, and practice yoga without an instructor, namely because most of them seem to be equipment salesmen or outrageoulsy expensive. does anyone know of a good, reasonably priced instructor in dallas? |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
  
Location: A Blue State | What's really remarkable about yoga accessories is that
they are essentially all unnecessary...fancy mats, bags for
mats, special clothes, and so on and so on. Yoga can
be practiced on any large bath towel, or low-pile/no-pile carpet,
or simply on a blanket. Clothes only need to stay out of
the way and cover whatever bits of you need covering. Most of
the rest of it is fashion.
The people who run yoga studios, by and large, are working
from a business viewpoint. That's why they tend to couple retailing
to the classes they teach. You can't fault them for earning a living
(unless they are Bikram Chaudhury). 
If you want to cut the cost of classes, you might seek an instructor
who doesn't have a lot of overhead to support (no fancy studio, e.g.).
Some folks who teach out of YMCA's, Health Clubs, churches, etc
are only charging a reasonable compensation for their own time.
You might also look for an instructor who has another career and
teaches yoga simply because she/he enjoys teaching.
I can't help you with Dallas, however. |
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| That's too bad you've met primarily sales people Taylor. My experience in San Antonio has been just the reverse--the studios and teachers --including Bikram--pushing nothing. In the little town of Borne just north of San Antonio, there is a big yogawear store (Que Bella). The owner offers her store for practice insisting that teachers NOT charge high rates.
monkey - 2004-07-14 8:44 AM
How hard is it to find instructors who are interested in doing more than selling you all the yoga accesories they can? I live in dallas, and practice yoga without an instructor, namely because most of them seem to be equipment salesmen or outrageoulsy expensive. does anyone know of a good, reasonably priced instructor in dallas? |
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| thanks. I may look into the ymca's. The health club I belong do mostly offers power yoga and pilates classes, which i wasn't really interested in. (especially since they leave the room blasting a/c)
But, yes, I can't really blame the ones that own studios for trying to make a buck, it just makes my search for a good instructor a little more difficult. |
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| Look for a Sivananda (cert/trained) teacher. Generally speaking, this is the opposite of what you are talking about, at least the way they are trained. No props required. Go to http://sivananda.org and there's a teacher's directory on the site. or you can email the org and hopefully they'll get back to you. |
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| thanks. |
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| Strange - I've never had a teacher or studio try to sell me on anything. I've been to studios where they also have boutiques, but have never been approached about any products, even when we've used them in classes. Sounds frustrating - but don't give up. Have you found a good teacher that you enjoy learning from aside from this particualr issue? Maybe you could make it clear to them that you are not interested in the product but appreciate the knowledge they have...Then if they don't respect you it's a whole difffernt ballgame. Good luck! |
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| >> What's really remarkable about yoga accessories is that they are essentially all unnecessary <<
Do you really think so, Bay Guy? Well, most of them may be but as a beginner it's very nice (and recommended) to have a strap and or a mat that you can roll up to sit on it and that's not too slippery when doing the downdog and stuff. Also I'm still looking for a nice shirt that's not always slipping over my head during the inversions. On the other hand it mustn't be too tight coz I prefer to cover my giant beer belly. I've seen no commercial solution so far. If something would come my way I wouldn't wait a second to splash out  |
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| Stefan,
I really love that free your mind and your ass will follow. Is that one of your own things. I like that, because it hits the problem in the head.
I always try to get my ass smaller, but always fail because my mind doesn't seem to come along. Still wondering why, maybe it is just not necessary??
Love that and will keep it in mind furtheron.
Yours Babsi
UPS by the way, as my teacher only owns a very small studio and is for sure not making lots of money out of it, I support her with buying some stuff an her boutique (nice excuse for shopping  ) but I really mean it. Buying on the internet could be much cheaper, but I think its worth the effort.
Babs |
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| No Babsi, I found it somewhere laying around but forgot where so I made it mine Stealing offensively is like creating I guess. See, deep inside my mind I'm still the skinny teenager I used to be - and 20 odd years later my ass decided to follow, do some yoga and drop some weight. Doesn't matter if the motto was stolen - as long as it works |
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| hah - that's funny that someone made a remark about that - actually i interpreted your quote much differently and recently commented on it to my fiance. guess my mind was in my ass...i took it to mean that if you relax your mind, your ass will relax as well which is good for the bowels. i think i'm over obsessed with being regular. back to therapy i go. |
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deelited I'm laughing my ass off right now.
Take a hundred people to view the same picture, everybody will read something different into it.
I just love this sentence!!
Take care Babsi |
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| On the other hand it mustn't be too tight coz I prefer to cover my giant beer belly. I've seen no commercial solution so far<<
Afro, how about that tape that Jennifer Lopez uses to tape her clothes to her boobs? |
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| @ babsi & Groovemom: And the next comedians uncover themselves. Welcome to the club! |
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| She used tape?? I was fantisizing it was saliva. |
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| digression - soothing to the soul...or buttocks, depending on where your mind is today. bruce - dirty dirty dawg!! |
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| Afroyogi:
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:81u67ue0h0ja
Great album!
Monkey:
Please don't give up hope. Just be mindful that some teachers are trying to make a living and politely say "no thanks." Or perhaps they really are offering you something wonderful that you should consider purchasing. However, I tend to agree that most yoga related gear is unnecessary.
You'll find a teacher that is more interested in teaching you than selling you props. Don't despair.
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| Actually, I joined a privately owned gym that has some fantastic yoga classes - mostly based in ashtanga. Which is a little different (and more strenuous) than the hatha yoga I'd been practicing at home, but I feel a lot better |
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| As a supplement to your training at the gym, you may want to try a great site I found with yoga videos that you can download. It's http://www.AppliedZen.com/Videos and will let you train at home with Hatha yoga - it's really neat cuz the downloadable videos are accessible in minutes - and they're really small files, so it's easy too!
This is how I supplement my yoga practice at home, in addition to going to classes with my instructor. It's great, cuz I can do it conveniently whenever I want (as my instructor is away a lot).
Just a thought - let me know if you hear of any other innovative ways to learn and practice yoga!
Edited by DanaB 2004-12-07 10:00 PM
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how hard is it to find
