From the article: Yoga Etiquette
We've all seen bad yoga etiquette disturb classes and fellow students. What breech of yoga etiquette most annoys you? Is it the ringing cell phone, students wearing shoes into the classroom, or that one yogi who always skips savasana? Here's your chance to vent about bad yoga behavior.
Readers Respond
not being ready
- I take the time to make sure I arrive and am on my mat ready to go. The people that tax my patience show up late, or don't prepare. So the blocks I thought to have next to my mat suddenly become their blocks. Or they ask me to scoot my mat over to make room for them. Or noisily setting up while the rest of the class is in meditation. Their cell phones are not off or - they are still chatting on them! Aaarrrgghhh! What, did your parents not say "I love you" enough? So it's up to the yoga class to give you tons of attention, even if it's negative? People stepping on my mat is bothersome too. It's my sacred space, please don't walk on it!
- —Guest jennifer
Doing your own routine
- Besides people stepping on my mat, the other thing that really bugs me is someone doing their own, completely different flow in class. Unless it is a mysore class, I think that person should stay at home...it is distracting when I am a student and when I am teaching.
- —Reggae_Yogi
Move your mat!
- What drives me the most nutty is when someone will not move their mat up or back to avoid colliding during sun salutations. More than once, I'll move my mat up, they'll move up. I'll move back, they'll move back. Or they'll keep lining up with me (where my body is), even if my mat is further back, when if they took one step forward on their mat, they wouldn't bump into me. Arg!
- —Guest Anne
Leaving at the worst time
- I take a very early yoga class once a week and there are always a couple of people who decide to leave during the relaxation portion of the workout. I understand that people sometimes need to leave early, but it's tough to truly relax when you're hearing the rustling of shoes, jackets being zipped, mats being rolled up, stomping and doors slamming. Very distracting.
- —Guest Paige
I get annoyed by the "look at me" person
- Yoga is supposed to be a pleasant, harmonic experience between you and your body. I find it very distracting when I am near someone in a yoga class who craves attention. They start talking, or grunting (my personal favorite - if you're grunting, you're pushing too much!) or make such a production out of each posture that everyone looks over at them. It's like trying to meditate with the television on at full volume. Distracting!
- —EKJacques
Moaner
- In addition to the over-exerting grunter, there is the moaner -- the one for whom the experience is so transcendent that they "mmm," "aaaah" and "ooo" like they are having an orgasm. Extremely distracting and annoying.
- —Guest Laura
Oxymoron Moron
- I get that as part of my yoga practice I should be focusing within, and tuning out distraction, but its hard to do when some people are extremely rude and distracting. I love my studio and teacher and have be attending his classes for over 5 years. A few months ago, a new student arrived - a very heavy man probably in his 60s. This man coughs and hacks and snorts and grunts and has LOUD SMELLY FLATULENCE and flails all over the room. He makes so much noise that I have a difficult time hearing the instructor's directions. At first I decided I needed to be the bigger person and understand that maybe he had health issues and that was why he was doing yoga, but I can't take it any more. He attends multiple classes all day, so there is no escaping him, and I can't understand why no teacher has said anything to him.
- —Guest peapod
Lex Lewis
- I went to a class where the instructor hired someone to amuse her pre-teen daughter in another room. This did not stop her daughter from, at least twice, interupting the class while we were holding poses. This was extremeley irritating. I didn't return.
- —Guest Lex Lewis
Time for a new studio perhaps?
- My gosh there are so many stories here. The yoga studio I attend in Wollongong Autsralia rarely or never has any of the problems mentioned. I just kept looking till I found a studio, teachers and other students who I felt compatible with. We have had the occasional mobile phone ring or someone needing to leave the class early and sometimes there can be a lot of participants or only a few, but we all manage to work cooperatively around such things.
- —Guest Christabelle
distraction reaction
- I use a portable oxygen tank. My instructors have assured me that the hiss it emits 3 out of 4 breaths is not a problem. Over the past 2 years I've never sensed any resentment on the part of my yoga classmates. After reading some of these comments though I'm beginning to wonder. And what about the occasional sigh that I thought was no louder than anyone else's?
- —nbsp
seen it all...
- People come to class stoned, late, phone on, talking to their neighbors, applying deodorant in class, misplacing their mat, making noise, getting up and whining, adjusting lights/fans/AC themselves, staying in bathroom on phone for 20 minutes, loudly drinking water every 30 seconds compulsively, shoplifting from yoga store, making a mess and not putting back borrowed pillows/mats, students standing in the middle of the room staring at the other students, getting up and adjusting other students, objecting to paying for class saying it is, used to be or should be free, leaving their stuff in the studio after they leave, storing their stuff in the studio without permission, opening back door and going outside to walk around during class, leaving class and coming back later, not signing in, not paying, marketing outside stuff during and after class, demanding to be let in even during the relaxation at beginning of class, student calling asking class to stop and wait for their arrival...
- —Guest yoga attracts all types...
Rude students
- As a relatively new Yoga Instructor {1.5 yrs.}, I recently had a student interrupt my class to suggest that I do adjustments. Not only before every class do I ask my students what they would like to do, etc. but I also request any/all feedback be given to me at the end of class not during the class. Her speaking up while other students were in child's pose was extremely rude, inconsiderate, disrespectful, distracting to not only myself but to the other 15 students. Ironic fact is that I do go around and adjust students, watch all of the students like a hawk, provide variations, etc., however, this particular individual looks for something to complain about yet practices yoga...go figure!!!
- —Guest Francine
pet peeves in yoga?
- the whole point is meditation isn't it? throughout the whole time you are supposed to be focusing on yourself and finding inner piece. i just find yoga pet peeves to be an oxymoron. if anything all these distractions should be looked upon as a chance to challenge oneself to stay centered. people are way too pushy about this whole yoga thing. seems counterproductive to me. and did anyone ever think maybe the person has an issue with the body odor? maybe they are embarassed about it but it is just how their body is. or what if the person rewears their yoga clothes because they don't have that many to go around? Just some things to think about.......... not all of us can be perfect all the time. a little less judgement might be required.
- —Guest melissa
Pet Peeve
- People who get easily annoyed by others actions-yoga is about eliminating distractions within yourself.
- —Guest nbetancourt
Taking friends to the wrong class
- My pet peeve is when I see experienced pratitioners bringing their not-so-experienced friends to advanced and open level classes. Please be considerate of your friend and join him/her in a beginning or basic class. This benefits everyone. The teacher doesn't have to worry about the beginning student hurting himself, the new student will be confident when leaving class, and the experienced practioner gets a refresher on the basics that we so often forget!
- —Guest Joan
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