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| I've been wondering about this for quite some time and would like to offer the topic for discussion. Why is it that so many yoga instructors dress in such a similar style? The majority of instructors where I live have tattoos, dredlocks/wild dyed hair, hippy interests and clothing. Of course there are exceptions, but the instructors who look less 'artsy' seem less popular and don't work at the 'hip' studios. I wanted to try an experiment so I colored my hair bright red and hippied out my clothes and suddenly people started treating me differently. I even auditioned and got the job at a top studio in town, I think because I had the same hair style as the girl who auditioned me. Anyway, I miss my old natural hair, but I like the extra benefits of being more 'hip'. Most of the students are so mainstream, but seem to prefer a cool and weird instructor to remove them from their mundane existences.
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| I believe the phenomenon you're talking about is probably regional; in the city where I used to live, it wasn't dyed hair and hippie clothes, it was young, stunningly beautiful, thin women outfitted in yoga pants that cost them $100, tops more suited to a night out on the town, and the sort of jewelry you might find in the ad section of yoga journal. Personally, I can't stand practicing with jewelry on, so I really don't understand that trend. But I do believe it's all part of the capitalistic spirit: make everything look good so it sells. It should go without saying that this is antithetical to my personal belief system, but just in case my tone is lost on anyone  |
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| The teachers and the studio where I practice dress pretty "normally", meaning basic yoga clothing (for both the male and female teachers), no jewelry, and while they are all fit, they're not of the ilk described with the $100 yoga pants. No dredlocks, either. |
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| it seems as though you have answered the question for yourself.
more importantly, though, how is the content of these "hippie" instructors classes?
i wouldn't care if my instructor wore a burlap bag and tissue boxes on the feet if they had "the goods"
maybe that is the target audience of yoga marketing, and thus, a crop of counter-culturally inclined yoga teachers have sprung up in your area.
perhaps a different experience speaks of a different life experience than dressing "normal."
how would you like yoga instructors to dress/look?
i would say it matters most that enough arm and leg is visible to demonstrate actions clearly.
its funny to me, that the things billed as "yoga pants" are such an impediment to effective teaching.
its impossible to see the knees in those black capri length pants.
additionally, how can you presume that these students are "so" "mainstream?"
people are surprised when they see me changed out of my yoga clothing (shorts, tank-top), and in my "normal" clothes (studded leather jacket, doc martens, skintight black jeans)
i would presume (a dangerous thing) that most yoga students come dressed for function, rather than to be seen.
i guess it runs both ways.
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| Hey libragirl, I had an instructor who fits your description to a tee...the 'nightclub' top, dangly and cool necklace, size O slim. She says her mentor is from LA so I was wondering if she has more of the LA yoga look rather than the neo-hippy yoga look. Either way, I just think these trends are so highschool for lack of a better word. The level of conformism is astouding. Some of these instructors could pass as twins. They have the spiritual lingo down and it almost hypnotizes you during class. After class they talk of their weight. It's weird! |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
    
| Most of the teachers I know look like the regular baby boomers you would meet in the supermarket. I would like to say middle aged, but we are mostly creeping toward 60, so I guess that is beyond middle aged now! Our hair dye is to perk up the not-brown, not-grey hair, our clothes are modest (tights rather than shorts to cover the spider veins) and jewelry limited to a nice pair of earrings or a couple of bracelets. If there are tattoos, they are either covered or discreet and tasteful in general. Needless to say, we tend to not attract the hip young crowd either in our suburban or urban studios, although they are not altogether absent... |
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| tourist - 2007-10-20 9:15 AM
Most of the teachers I know look like the regular baby boomers you would meet in the supermarket. I would like to say middle aged, but we are mostly creeping toward 60, so I guess that is beyond middle aged now!
its kinda funny, whenever i've taken a class or workshop from some senior teacher, they never look like i'm expecting, but, as you say, regular baby boomers you'd meet in the supermarket.
...
then they dazzle you with amazing insights and performance of asanas.
it seems that perhaps this is indicitive of Iyengar yoga culture in general.
...
where is our next generation of teachers going to come from?
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Our senior teacher is "senior". She is 76. She doesn't demo as much as she used to, but when she does - wow  |
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| And the reverse misperception seems to occur as well: Beard, piercings, tatoos, birkenstocks and flowy white garments do not the evolved (or evolving) make.
After so many years of hearing it, we still judge the book by the cover. Which is why marketing works in the first place. A shiny coat of paint goes a long way in a shallow civilization.
dhanurasana - 2007-10-20 3:15 PM
tourist - 2007-10-20 9:15 AM
Most of the teachers I know look like the regular baby boomers you would meet in the supermarket. I would like to say middle aged, but we are mostly creeping toward 60, so I guess that is beyond middle aged now!
its kinda funny, whenever i've taken a class or workshop from some senior teacher, they never look like i'm expecting, but, as you say, regular baby boomers you'd meet in the supermarket.
...
then they dazzle you with amazing insights and performance of asanas.
it seems that perhaps this is indicitive of Iyengar yoga culture in general.
...
where is our next generation of teachers going to come from?
Edited by purnayoga 2007-10-21 6:46 PM
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Expert Yogi
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| I confess to falling into a huge stereotypical attitude recently. We were having a yoga potluck and naturally discussing food as we ate when someone announced that organic broccoli was on sale nearby. The whole group (me included) responded with a level of enthusiasm that still makes me laugh when I think about it  |
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| organic broccoli sale!!?!???!!?!!
i'll be there in like half an hour
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Yeah - Saturday Night Live could not have done it better. |
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| Most of the teachers around here dress like the students, ready for a work out. So typically it's some sort of lyrica shorts or sweat pants, and a shirt for a top. No strange hair, tatoos, or jewelry. Us ashtangis really don't have the time for that sort of thing. |
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Extreme Veteran
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Location: canada | tourist - 2007-10-20 10:15 AM
Most of the teachers I know look like the regular baby boomers you would meet in the supermarket. I would like to say middle aged, but we are mostly creeping toward 60, so I guess that is beyond middle aged now! that seems to be an iyengar thing.. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 475
Location: canada | shalamOM - 2007-10-19 1:42 PM
I wanted to try an experiment so I colored my hair bright red and hippied out my clothes and suddenly people started treating me differently. I even auditioned and got the job at a top studio in town, I think because I had the same hair style as the girl who auditioned me. Anyway, I miss my old natural hair, but I like the extra benefits of being more 'hip'. Most of the students are so mainstream, but seem to prefer a cool and weird instructor to remove them from their mundane existences.
that doesn't surprise me. people like to associate with people they identify with and look most like. if you were your "old self" and auditioned at a studio where they looked like you, they too would have hired you most likely. don't think it had to do anything with yoga or "the studios in your area". |
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| yeah, i suppose this might be dependent upon the community. 
i've been 'both ways' and didn't notice a difference. if anything, looking 'unusual' might have hindered me. i don't think it did (i had dreads along with my piercings--for a year), but it might have.
around here, looking more mainstream is what is popular. a lot of teachers are not making money at it--only teaching a few classes a week, if that--and so they are reliant on another income for their support (husband, old money, etc). they tend to have very expensive, natural dye jobs, very expensive yoga clothing, and very expensive yoga vacations/training.
it's not my style. so, i don't do it. i'm happy as i am--i like to express myself through my "look." and i think i communicate who i am rather well through my clothing. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| The board is misbehaving again, so I had to post to get to page two  |
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| I think that some people start yoga because it is "in" and are mainly interested in how things look. Some of them will soon go on to the next thing that is "in" and some will start being interested in how things feel and make yoga part of their lifelong learning process. It is good that so many people are trying yoga because many of them start making a connection on a deeper level. My classes have everything from uptight fundamentalist "Christian" old people to atheletes to the very tatooed and pierced young people. The ones that keep coming all have one thing in common: they want to feel cool from the inside out (as opposed to just looking cool). I think that this has very little to do with how cool or uncool I am, but rather that everyone feels welcomed and once they feel the benefits of yoga, want more. Since I do not identify with any particular group (I, like Graucho Marx, would not want to belong to any group that would have me as a member) it is easy for me to teach everyone, as opposed to teaching to a particular group, age or type. |
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| Speaking of the appearance of teachers. . . .
What do you all think about teachers who have tattoos (tasteful) in general, related to landing a teaching gig, gaining and retaining students, etc.? I know I know, really broad question. . . sorry!  |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Has to be a broad answer - it depends Generally, I don't think it matters much, but I live on the west coast and we are pretty liberal here. |
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| i get a lot of comments on my awesome cherry pie tattoo, but i certainly wouldn't expect it to win me any sorts of students
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i rely on my wicked leopard print balloon shorts to do that.
seriously, i think it comes more down to teaching skills and good references than tattoos.
of course, a full facial tattoo might scare some people away.
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| I'm sure I'll be on the "road less traveled" on this one. And I know there is a fairly strong feeling about tatoos, acceptance, yoga, and liberalism. And I'm an advocate and practitioner of all of them. However....
It is fine for students to have tatoos (under the conditions I'm about to get to below). I don't advocate getting them for a variety of reasons but I also don't judge those who've chosen to get them. Once a student or teacher has them it becomes a moot point.
For me it is consistent to weigh this question as it relates to teachers in the same way I evaluate the other questions about teachers. What is the intention? Has the tattoo been chosen mindfully (the getting not the artwork), does this serve the teacher's movement TOWARD rather than AWAY from their purpose (svadharma), and finally is this thing with ink in the flesh overly and incontrovertably safe?
When all of those conditions are met, just as the asana student must meet conditions for Sirsasana before being taken up for the first time, then it is fine - though I would not do it as one who lives yoga for my students. By the same token I am not renouncing all my worldly possession, an act that might cause some to consider me as "not living yoga" at all.
majesticyoga - 2007-10-26 8:24 PM
Speaking of the appearance of teachers. . . .
What do you all think about teachers who have tattoos (tasteful ) in general, related to landing a teaching gig, gaining and retaining students, etc.? I know I know, really broad question. . . sorry!
Edited by purnayoga 2007-10-29 12:08 PM
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| ...what is wrong with $100.00 yoga pants?!?
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| inherently?
nothing. i feel that if you can afford them, and they're what you want, and they suit your purposes, then there's no problem with expensive yoga clothing.
but, if you can't afford them, or they're not what you want, or they do not suit your purposes, then it would be foolish to buy them to fit in, or because a studio owner demanded it, and so on. (btw, a local studio owner demands that all teachers wear specific brands of clothing--which she sells in her shop--and the pants cost $89 per pair and she requires that you buy 3 pair. that's a bit too much for me AND i don't like the way that the pants fit or function.) |
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| I bet you soon aprigraha would be a name of a yoga clothing company |
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Yoga instructor 'uniform'
