|
|
| This thread has really got me thinking. (Thanks Larabear!) For one thing, when I started doing yoga in the late 80s, it wasn't cool and I just showed up for weekly class and went home. So I am grateful for those innocent (in my journey) days and I am grateful for the current state and scene too. I can find much to appreciate about the coolness of yoga. I enjoy the articles in Yoga Journal and I like to read about and learn about well known yogis and yoginis of today, yesterday and tomorrow. Mostly because I like to hear the stories of how they got started and what path they took. It is vicarious fun to hear about their trips to India and their colorful gurus and the self-discoveries made along the way. Their stories send me to the internet and the library and the bookstore/dvd store to experience different tastes of yoga I may not have tried before and research people like Krishnamacharya, Maharesi, Yogananda, Sivananda, Amma, etc. I still cling to my old belief that yoga is yoga so I personally don't see the various styles and lineages as competing but rather as complementing and completing the whole. Confession: I like that there are cool yoga clothes that people wear on a Saturday running errands. When I first started doing yoga we wore leotards and tights like we were kids in ballet class. I remember at one studio we wore gym shorts or leggings with turtlenecks because the teacher required that she could see our legs/knees and spine. Thank goodness they didn't have YouTube back then! Now, I personally like to keep my purchases under $15, but having comfy, pretty yoga togs can help me get 'into character' as they say in Hollywood. You have to wear something and as long as we're not competive or straining (just like in asana), why not? I do pause at some of the aspects of commercialism and the marketing of perfect-body, uber-zenness yoga idea. However if yoga and mediation are being offered to my friends and neighbors by Dr. Oz as health enhancing and anti-aging practices, this is a good thing. And if Oprah's book club is bringing people to read Eckhart Tolle, this a good thing. Maybe a lot of folks will miss the point, but a good percentage will get turned on to go deeper and learn more. |
|
| |
|
| When I first started doing yoga, I began with a great book which I studied at length. I eventually bought more books, and despite what others may believe I gave myself a great yoga education. I finally found something that clicked with me.
So fast forward several years, I graduated from a reputable teacher training program and began teaching. I managed to audition and teach at some 'popular' studios downtown. At first I was taken aback at the energy. The spriritual drivel felt like corny entertainment. Now, you might think, just focus on yourself and your relationship to yoga and tune it out.
But being such a part of this trendy community eventually began to wear on me. I noticed I didn't even want to practice yoga at home anymore. My relationship to yoga changed and I began to resent it because of what it [now] stood for. Presently, after having quit these well paying jobs I am mending my relationship with yoga. I will be more careful with whom I let teach me. I will be more careful with whom I teach.
I am reminded of my childhood in which I spent much of my time drawing and painting. I needed this outlet and intrinsically enjoyed it. But as I got older I met the 'pretentious' art students who lacked skill, but knew how to play the part of the cool artist. After some time I was actually turned off towards art and have only recently begun to explore it again.
Edited by shalamOM 2008-02-11 10:17 PM
|
|
| |
|
| i find that i'm not really disturbed by the pretensions of others.
the only time that it really bothers me is when it is used to manipulate me or shame me in some way. but then, i find myself more frustrated by their attempt to manipulate or shame than i am by their pretensions.
i have found that when i run into these sorts of people, i simply distance myself. i know the truth of my yoga experience--i've practiced my whole life with my mother and other family members, then with a variety of teachers over the years, and i've been teaching for many years as well.
i love what i do, and no one else's pretensions or insecurities or whatever else is going to inhibit me from doing what i love to do.
i just do it elsewhere, where i feel that i can be myself and am welcomed. |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 418
Location: New York | I don't instruct or practice yoga anywhere that it's a "scene" (I instruct at a gym) but I love my Lululemon workout outfits, love doing power yoga to loud music and love love love Starbucks not for soy or decaf but for high test coffee. Just took a class with Seane Corn at a (gasp!) fitness convention and loved it.
I don't know- I used to get a lot more upset about the "scene-i-ness" of stuff when I was younger (I'm 44). No way am I going to practice in ashes after hours of meditation (not that there's anything wrong with that!) in an effort to feel authentic- I do not feel the calling to do that. I do yoga because I think it's fun and because, even at the level at which I practice, I realize physical, mental and spiritual benefits. I learn as much as I can about the history and philosophy of yoga then try to live it as best I can without proselytizing. I don't claim to be a swami or even a teacher- I instruct what I know and hope that those who attend my classes feel a little better when they leave than when they arrived. |
|
| |
|
| hey, i buy prana pants because they last. i have three pair now, two are over 5 years old and look like they're in very good condition (not new, but good). any other brand i tend to destroy in a year. LOL
people might complain that my pants are expensive and that it indicates something about my spirituality, but it really just indicates that i would rather spend $65 for something that lasts 5 years than pay $15-30 for something i have to buy every year.  |
|
| |
|
Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
 
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | QUALITY. I know all about that too!! I have a drawer FULL of NON-Quality and then I have the very active drawer of QUALITY. There is nothing worse than not having the RIGHT yoga clothes. Today was a good example. I was wearing my $15 Old Navy Yoga pants that used to be made somewhere??? but are now made in Russia. The ones from Russia are perfect in length, no shrinkage....but the wasteband totally sucks, they kept falling down. That totally sucked.
This is why I loved Italy....the expresso's were totally DIVINE and CHEAP. Instant speed, better than Starbucks...no bitter after taste whatsoever and it lasted longer... I'm still having mediteranean withdrawals...it's not going away either,  |
|
| |
|
| I go once a week to a chain gym for my yoga class (I get in free because my sister teaches) and there are many "type A" people who when she is telling them to either stay in this pose or IF you feel comfortable or able to go to a more advanced pose STRAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN to get there because they "must". They grunt/groan breath deeply, etc and it used to be so hysterical to me that they weren't paying attention to their bodies. Now I am so concentrated on mine that I barely notice them.  |
|
| |
|
| I used to strain in class too (not excessively) even though we were instructed not to. It may have been about being type A personality. I also think in my case it was because I only did yoga 1x a week in class and felt like I wasn't seeing enough progress. Yeah...that's type A. Now that I do yoga 4 or more times per week, I don't push and I see and feel the progress sometimes, no so much other times. BTW - I bought a neti pot in Walmart today of all places. I wonder if that means yoga is beyond cool and just totally mainstream? hee-hee. |
|
| |
|
| that is so funny Asananow! I just saw a neti pot at the local pharmacy! Maybe they will run out during pollen season as opposed to the sudafeds, etc. |
|
| |
AN Industry of Cool
