Saturday, October 3, 2009

Chocolate, Beer, and YOGA?

Last night, I taught a great yoga class...we all worked really hard, and Bill Mead played some amazing percussive music for us during practice. We were all sweaty, and it was the beginning of the weekend for me. We had some beer left over from a party that was held at The Fierce Club a couple of nights before in the fridge; so I offered it, along with some post-yoga chocolate to my students.

The reaction was interesting.

"That seems so un-yogic. Chocolate and beer..." was the general response from some of the hardcore yogis. While this response was tongue-in-cheek, it spoke to me. I got it. Many people believe yoga means no fun. No life. Just rigorous exercise, sitting quietly in lotus position, and drinking kamboucha and wheat grass juice.

There are so many ideas about what yoga is, and isn't. Many Jivamukti yogis will tell you that if you aren't vegetarian, (they don't even use the word vegan--it's all or nothing with them), you aren't doing yoga; you're simply performing asanas (poses). The whole vegetarian controversy--and it's definitely a controversial subject in the yoga world--deserves, and will receive its own entry one of these days.

Other yoga teachers say that because most of the teachers I work with use English rather than Sanskrit names of the poses, we're not providing a true yogic experience. Sorry, but I'd rather my students know what I'm talking about. I don't speak in Sanskrit during my every day life, and neither do my students. We're not from India. I personally find it offensive when yoga teachers use the Indian origins of yoga to intimidate their students and shroud yoga in a cloak of mystery, so that they can persuade their students that they have the real "scoop" on yoga.

I worked around a lot people at my last job who were only attracted to the "mystical," "higher" aspects of yoga, but most of these people, (many of whom were long-time devotees of this or that swami,) were morally bankrupt--with little respect for their co-workers, students, or anyone outside of themselves. This isn't to say that sincere seekers are morally lacking...just that many of the ones who make a big show of how "spiritual" they are---it's just that--a show.

If your yoga teacher walks around with a big smile of mystical self-satisfaction on their face, and talks about life-changing trips to India, and how people in this country are not as spiritual, or other such nonsense, and don't practice yoga because they're not doing it the way it's done in India, well...I think I'd be on the lookout for a yoga teacher who can teach you how to bloom where you're planted. The last time I checked, most New York City yoga students live in New York City, not India, and it's my strong belief that the practices should be adapted to fit the demands of New York City. There is no one way. There is no one place that has a monopoly on yoga, and there are many teachers who will lead you down some interesting paths. Just make sure your teacher is interested in actually helping you, rather than promoting a personal agenda that ends up only gratifying the teacher.

In yoga, we strive for balance. So if you want to have a little beer once in a while, or enjoy a piece of chocolate, and you don't have a problem with it, I don't have a problem with it. I think we're given physical bodies in order to experience physical sensations, and to get a taste of paradise right where we are. The key is moderation, balance. I'm not training monks. I'm hoping to help you find joy and balance in your life, here and now, right where you are.

There are very few real yoga scholars in the world. The philosophy of yoga is so vast, so huge, that there are very few people who know anything about it. There are very few real "swamis."
One respected yoga scholar recently told a friend of mine that almost every yoga teacher is an "amateur" as far as the knowledge of of yogic philosophy goes. There's so much to absorb that it's practically impossible for most people to read it.

So don't come into yoga with a lot of preconceived notions about what it is. The best yoga teacher you can find is your own practice. You will learn what's right for you. You will go deeply into your self, and learn to shine brightly from the depth of your being. When you're shining like that, from a deep place of self-knowledge, you can make the world better just by being around.