Heart Full

Once the word gets out that you practice yoga, and that you practice regularly, people approach you with a myriad of reactions and questions. I tell people that I practice yoga, but I try to build a balanced practice, and make a concerted effort to not just practice asanas.  To my surprise, I’ve found that most people react negatively to that. One of my closest friends Deb who I’ve been going to some yoga classes recently, remarked she didn’t  want to do any meditation, instead she emphasized, “I like this kind of yoga” — referring to the class we had just done at Laughing Lotus, a class marked by it’s refreshing sequencing, and creativity, but also by it’s vigorous Vinayas Flow (level 2/3). And I wondered how many other yogis felt the same way as my friend, not really interested in exploring the subtle practices, more into the workout.

Interestingly enough, I ran into several others later that week. People who believed that yoga was pretty much only asanas, or a kind of aerobics. Some were yoga practitioners, many were people who just knew of yoga from a friend, or even a friend of a friend. It was an enlightening realization, though not entirely surprising. My vision of yoga until my first class was what I saw on Sesame Street, and the strange contortionists from India. I feel badly now, of my gross misconceptions, but I also feel like there should be a media of some kind that shows yoga’s wide spectrum of practices. After all, isn’t it more important to practice yoga off-the-mat? Frankly, not too many people care about how I do my downdog, they do notice how I treat them, and they’ll notice even more if suddenly take my broomstick out of its’ semi-retirement, and it is itching to get back to work.
(more…)