Are Yoga Centers Elitist?
Tuesday October 7, 2008
An interesting post in the yoga forum raised this question. I've been in many a yoga center in my day, and I've never thought of them as elitist, but some do feel more welcoming to newcomers, while others seem like a closed system that you're not a part of. After a few years of doing yoga, these distinctions are less keenly felt- I guess one gets in with the in crowd, or stops caring. I'm curious to know your experience with yoga centers.
Comments
I went to a studio in Greenwich, CT. The first time I went there was an air of snootiness that I had not experienced in any yoga studio. I didn’t feel welcome at all. I took one more class the next day because it was an astanga class that I was always interested in but never took. There was a different person at the desk and the teacher was very nice and friendly.
I agree with what you write in your post. Some centers are decidedly unwelcoming, like closed clubs. I don’t bother going back to those ones.
One of the fundamental elements of yoga that is most important to me is connection — besides the obvious yoga=yoke, the deeper aim of yoga is union with the universal spirit, of which we are all part, according to the original texts. So a yoga studio that is unwelcoming or exclusionary seems paradoxical, if nothing else.
I have been fortunate to find studios in both the towns I’ve lived in since I started doing yoga (one on the west coast, one on the east) that embody that spirit of connection and all-inclusive welcomeness. And they have great teachers!
I would say that indeed almost all centers are elitis. And unfriendly. With nice undercurrent of passive aggressiveness under the beatific smile, perfecly polished teeth and perfect body shaplinees. Who are all these blond people anyway? Try getting a gig teaching meditation in these places! (Sorry folks but the yoga sutras are not enlightenment or spirituality.)
A 20th century Indian Saint said that yoga was nothing. That you could accomplish so much more without it. I agree.
I recently attended a kirtan in Mahwah NJ where they actually had red wine. I was greeted by a guy smoking a joint. Go figure.
Yoga in and of itself is not a spiritual path.
The culture’s popular misconcetion is that it is. It is not. As a matter a fact it is being used, most frequently, as another excercise program. Which is fine. But the confusion reamins. The practice of yoga can be greatly enhanced by a solid practice of devotion, simple breath awareness and the compliment of mantra. By utalizing the path of devotion and working through obscurations the yoga practitioner not only benefits the individual self but opens one’s the path to a less self-centered vocation.
Many of these yoga centers are extremely toxic. I beleive that’s what many folks are picking up on. Out of control ego, self centered goals. The collecting of too much stuff - asanas, advanced breathing techniques and confused concepts perpetuated by the directors and instructors. We Need to bring it down to a less materialistic level.
Altruism is the key.
DharmaDas.com