Nichole Smith
Yoga at Lesley
Lesley, in its remodeling of some buildings, has provided a large space for the practice of yoga, which also doubles as batting cages for the baseball teams. This large space is open with a wall of mirrors, looking again like the stereotypical yoga studio. It is provided with the bare necessities as any yoga class needs, a large flat space, and some yoga mats. The space at Lesley works well for the practice of yoga, especially for the size of the class that attends.
The history of yoga at Lesley has definitely had its ups and downs. When first attending the class years ago, it was never a sure thing that there would be a weekly class because of the lack of proper space. Most often the Alumni Hall was used as a large room, as the space currently used was the fitness center. After this Lesley did away with yoga, either because there was no proper studio space or because there was no teacher willing to do night sessions, as day sessions for students are not practical. Just recently the remodeling of buildings in Lesley’s Quad Campus has lead to a new and larger fitness center in another building, leaving the old space open. This space was modeled to be a yoga studio, and an area for batting cages. This space was newly floored, as to not be as hard as the cement it was, and to be a large comfortable yoga studio. With yoga being so popular, the studio was made to encompass the large amounts of students which would attend the yoga sessions. After this studio was created, Lesley found a teacher of yoga with years of practice, and weekly yoga sessions were reintroduced at Lesley.
Yoga at Lesley serves the entire Lesley University community. This includes undergraduates, graduates, and faculty. Most commonly, the people who attend yoga at Lesley classes are undergraduate females, including both non-athletes and athletes. During my first session of yoga, there were two male athletes practicing with the other twenty plus women in the room. The class was their first yoga session ever and they found it very difficult. It was definitely not the type of workout they were accustomed to doing, and even the poses were something their bodies were not accustomed to doing, so the short one hour class was a more strenuous workout for them, then it was for the ladies in the room, whether new to yoga or not it seemed.
Yoga at Lesley is greatly influenced by the culture of the people who attend the class, as well at the teacher herself. I found that the teacher focused a lot on poses that concentrated on the workout and strengthening of the core/abdomen muscles. I also noticed that the teacher geared these classes towards areas she felt she needed to work out on herself. She had commented several times on her need to work this area, the abdomen, and on after much thought about the class and poses we did, I found that we were definitely focusing on areas of the body she felt she needed to tone on herself.
I also found the teacher pushing her ideas on the class. Throughout the sessions, the class got lectures and talks about how to treat others, especially people who are not friendly toward us, in a nice manner and to surprise them by treating them like your friend rather than an enemy. Further, whilst doing a triangle pose, the instructor began talking about reading our auras and getting in touch with them, which at this point was a bit odd. She then continued to tell us how we are not our bodies, how we are one within the universe and we are just within our bodies for this time being. At this point I felt really odd about how she was trying to push her beliefs on the class, and was getting somewhat uncomfortable with what she was saying.
The class is also greatly influenced by the people who attend the class. Since the majority, about ninety-eight percent, of the class was female and only two attendees were male, the speed of the class and the poses were geared toward a female intermediate level workout rather than a novice class for a wide range of yoga practitioners. The classes mainly worked with the chair, plank, downward-dog, and warrior poses, repeating them continuously at a very fast pace. These poses can be quickly learned, but the English word for the pose is very different from the Indian, so when she began calling out the poses in Indian, some newcomers, including myself, and the men in the class found themselves falling behind because of confusion in language. It is definitely a yoga class which builds upon itself, so missing a week of class can throw off a practitioner and have them guessing what happened last time, which new pose or name of a pose was learned last time.
This class is also geared toward the culture of its surroundings- a university. So the class is meant to be a time to relax and take away some of the stresses of school. However, personally I found that to be a difficult thing to do. Though my mind was definitely off school, I generally do not want my yoga sessions to be over quickly, and both classes I felt like I just wanted the class to be over, or to get to the relaxation part at the end. However, I found it very difficult to attempt to relax any time in this class. I quickly found this to be less relaxation, getting in touch with your mind, and focusing on your breathing yoga, and more focusing on working out the muscles, toning the core, and not thinking about all the homework that needs to get done yoga.
Since the teacher is especially trained in the Iyengar method of yoga, this is the theory and method of practice for this class. However, I found the class to be lacking some of the three aspects of the Iyenger method. The first aspect, correct body alignment, which allows the body to develop in a way which the student will not suffer injury or pain when practicing, was partially focused on, however, the instructor did not focus on correcting the body for any mistakes in poses, which is a big point within this aspect. Injury or pain, especially for the beginners in the class was not as much a concern as trying to get the pose correct, and with no help or corrections, the pose could lead to injury.
The next aspect is correct sequencing so there is a cumulative effect of the body. This is an aspect which I think was actually achieved, as the sequences of the poses, thought done very fast, felt natural going from one to another, from downward dog to plank, and so on. Through this sequencing I did feel the effects on my body, both during the class and for some time afterwards. I think this aspect of the Iyenger method was met and was successful.
The third aspect was not as successful. The third aspect is the concept of timings, so poses are held for a considerable length of time so the effects of the pose are felt throughout the body. As I have stated, yoga at Lesley is a fast paced workout class, so I do not think this third aspect is taken into consideration. The poses are not held for long periods of time, other than the beginning of the class when first learning the sequence of the poses. During the most active time of the classes we were moving from pose to pose with mere seconds between the poses. I do not think this aspect of the Iyenger method was successfully done in these classes due to the pace of the class.
As a whole yoga at Lesley was definitely an interesting experience, both a learning one and a physical one. It is most definitely geared towards a female intermediate level, and not just a class you can easily jump into without experience. Though yoga at Lesley had a rocky start to it for the past few years, it has stayed very popular within the Lesley community for its great physical benefits as well as its stress reducing benefits. These benefits are influenced from the type of demographic the classes see which influences how the class is taught and which positions and poses are concentrated on, which gives specific benefits the practitioners are looking for. Overall yoga at Lesley is a great experience and good for anyone in the Lesley community looking to experience yoga as American’s view it: as a healthy workout.
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