My introduction to studio yoga came around 2002-2003 when I joined a friend at Baptiste Power Yoga in Porter Square. Prior to this I had “introduced myself” to the practice via a Rodney Yee VHS tape. As someone who had taken gymnastics for a number of years as a child, I found I really enjoyed the physical practice of yoga, in particular the stretching and the postures that increased my flexibility. I enjoyed the atmosphere of the few classes I took at Baptiste but did not particularly like the heat, and as a poor twenty-something I couldn’t quite justify the ten-dollar fee for each class. I continued to practice yoga on my own, aided by a variety of tapes and DVDs, until I reentered the world of studio yoga about two years ago - having recently rededicated myself to being an active and (somewhat) fit person after a year of not exercising and a significant weight gain - and fell in love.
I loved that a ninety minute class with an instructor pushed me far further physically than I would ever push myself at home, and yet I also embraced the idea of going at my own pace which was so encouraged at the studios I frequented. It was the most non-intimidating thing I had done in a long time, and because I never felt shamed for resting on my mat or not being able to achieve a pose on my first (or tenth) try, I never felt discouraged from continuing to put in my best effort. Every week I learned poses I had never seen before, enjoying teachers who varied their classes according to the requests of the students or even the phases of the moon. I tried a few “hot” yoga classes, but found myself more drawn to the teachers who favored the theory that we create heat internally via our practice and didn’t need to be in a room heated to ninety degrees to do so. Too much sweat was a distraction, and no matter how much I hydrated I felt depleted after the hot classes.
I tried a variety of local studios, most frequently going to Bow Street Yoga in Somerville, but also to Soni or Karma in Cambridge or Samara (also in Somerville) on occasion. I took the occasional yoga class at Healthworks, since as a member I could go for free, and found a few instructors there that I liked. I tried Kundalini Yoga, and although I found the whole experience to be a bit odd I felt fantastic after my first class. I went to Restorative Yoga classes when I was injured or just wanted something restful. When it came time to select something for this midterm project, I knew almost immediately that I wanted to do something different than what I was familiar with, and since I had experienced a range of traditional, physical yoga classes in the area I decided to try Bikram Yoga.
I knew a few people who loved Bikram Yoga, but I initially didn’t know much about it other than that it was hot and that I didn’t like hot yoga. When taking the “Psychology of Yoga” class last spring we briefly discussed Bikram Choudury and the movie “Yoga Inc.” and I was interested enough to look up his website and read about him in Wikipedia. I was immediately turned off by the commercialism and the inflexibility of his style of teaching. In a few random discussions about yoga with others, when Bikram would come up it seemed most people I spoke with had mainly negative things to say. Stories about not being allowed to leave the room and instructors insulting students helped me root firmly in my belief that I hated Bikram Yoga – still, mind you, never having tried it. A small part of me did want to try a class, just to say I had, but I never seemed to want to pass up on a yoga class that I wanted to go to in favor of one that I was convinced I would dislike. So until this assignment came around I did not have a strong reason to go. I had briefly reconsidered my choice after having the flu and a bout of food poisoning over the start of the semester, but once recovered was feeling confidant that I could handle it… sort of. In actuality, I was terrified.
The teacher at the studio in Harvard Square was welcoming, and when I told him I had never done Bikram before but had done some hot yoga he smiled and said “you’ve been knocking at the door”, and assured me that I could go at my own pace and take as many breaks as I needed. The first few classes are all about getting used to the heat and staying in the room, I was told, which immediately made me fear that I would be locked in to this foul, carpeted sweatbox that so many people on Yelp had complained smelled like feet and body odor. The heat when I first entered the room was intense but didn’t feel more so than some other hot yoga classes I have taken, however the instructor fiddled with the thermostat a few times during the class, and while practicing I experienced heat on a level I never have before. Doing research after the class I discovered that the standard temperature in a Bikram Yoga studio is 105 degrees, compared to 90-95 degrees in other forms of hot (or “Power”) yoga. Although the pace of the practice was slow, with no flow or sun salutations, I was dizzy and nauseous at times, and felt my heart racing in a way that I was not comfortable with. I left the room once to cool off and use the bathroom (thankfully with no difficulties from the instructor), and a few other times was tempted to, but by taking a break, drinking water, or lucking into being near enough to the door that when it was opened for a few minutes I felt some cool air I was able to hang on.
I could write a great deal about the methods of the instructor, but I do not think that is the purpose of this reflection. Needless to say, it was immediately clear to me that he was following a script as he walked amongst the students with his microphone on calling out instructions as if he were announcing at a monster truck rally. He never did any physical adjustments on individuals who were not doing the postures correctly, rather called out their names and told them what to change. The students were encouraged to watch themselves in the mirror, and with every pose there was the sense that if you weren’t doing it in exactly the same manner as everyone else you were doing something wrong. The instructor did not demonstrate a single pose, only described them in detail and repeatedly prompted people to push each one to the extreme by doing things like locking their knees, or back-bending far enough to see the back wall.
What astounded me was how entirely rooted in the physical this practice was. Having studied some Yoga and read the Yoga Sutras, I have a little awareness regarding the multidimensional aspects of Yoga and how small a part the physical practice plays in the bigger picture. Even the Yoga studios I have frequented around Cambridge and Somerville have introduced the concepts of breath work, energy, meditation and spirituality, while still clearly teaching primarily postures. At Bikram, the two pranayama exercises we did were not presented as having anything to do with prana, or energy, but rather just as ways to increase lung capacity and allow us to better perform the poses. Likewise, when we were instructed to meditate we were told that meditating was the only way we would achieve perfection in the pose. It seemed as if the ultimate goal of Bikram Yoga had very little to do with the union of self with the universe, and everything to do with touching your head to you knee.
Bikram’s website advertises Yoga World Championship competitions and sells his many books and CDs. There are pictures of him everywhere wearing sunglasses and fancy suits and hanging out with showgirls. The healing benefits of his style of yoga are trumpeted as if he has discovered a cure for cancer. One cannot do an Internet search on his style of yoga without coming across lists of celebrities who swear that Bikram helps them stay lean, fit, and centered. According to one website, he owns over forty Rolls Royce and Bentley cars. I knew some of this prior to taking the class, and set myself up for disliking it for those reasons. I find the culture that Bikram promotes, which seems to me to be the epitome of “Westernized” yoga, to be lacking in so many of the areas that I enjoy about my yoga practice. And in a sense I did not disappoint myself by liking the class, it most definitely wasn’t for me. The sequence of poses was engaging and challenging, but I would be bored doing the same twenty-six postures over and over again. And as I have begun to study other types and aspects of yoga, I continue to want to seek out experiences that expand on my knowledge in many different areas of the practice. However, I am able to understand and appreciate that others may be drawn to it and stop short of dismissing it as worthless and shallow. I am quite all right with the fact that I did not enjoy Bikram Yoga, and I am quite all right with the fact that there are people who do.
No comments:
Post a Comment