Nick Tuccinardi Tuccinardi 1 Dr. Laura Douglass CSOCS 3452 Yoga: Theory, Culture, and Practice October 22, 2012 Mid Term: Vinyasa/Hatha Yoga at the Lesley University Center of Yoga I attended the Lesley University Center of Yoga located in the basement of Stebbins Hall on the Doble Campus. The class was vinyasa flow yoga. In general vinyasa flow classes tend to have a lot of variety, personally I noticed some elements of hatha yoga. Hatha yoga has no flow between poses thus contradicting vinyasa’s more constant flow yet; elements of hatha like seated meditation and breathing exercises are present in vinyasa flow. I frequently attended this particular class offered by Lesley University last year nearly every Tuesday night; Tuesday nights at 7 o’clock pm is when the class is offered. In a whole semesters worth of class I never experienced a session as I had last Tuesday night. I arrived at the class only a minute or two before it was set to begin, later than I would have wanted to. As I arrived in the basement of Stebbins Hall there were about 25 to 30 participants already seated on their mats, some sitting quietly in thought while others chatted and giggled with friends. The teacher used her iPhone to softly fill the room with soothing meditative music. The Lesley University Center of Yoga is not the most welcoming environment although; the facility does provide mats for usage, which is a nice amenity. Otherwise the room is unintentionally poorly lit and the ground is dirty. All participants sit facing a long mirror, such as the one in our classroom. The instructor, Maria Hudson, sat at the front of the room and switched between demonstrating poses and walking around to correct our form. Tuccinardi 2 The Center for Yoga at Lesley University is not exclusively a yoga studio. It was formerly the fitness center, it changed over in 2010 and officially opened on Wednesday March 17th, 2010. The center, which can be more accurately described as a basement, is also home to a batting cage and weekly Zumba classes. The yoga class, which runs every Tuesday night at 7, is on a drop-in basis. It is open to Lesley students, faculty, and staff. It’s free for undergraduates and there is a $5 dollar fee for graduate students, faculty, and staff members. Each class runs for exactly one hour. As I mentioned in the first paragraph, this yoga class felt quite different for me, not only to previous classes I had taken at this center, but different from any experience I have ever had in a yoga class. I think the best way to describe the feelings I had would be to walk through various aspects of class and how I felt at particular times. My new experiences began as soon as I sat down and the instructor had us focus on or breathing. She instructed us to think about our day and why we were there. The latter really struck a chord with me. I was at this particular center because I was unable to attend the one I wanted to at City Sports in Porter Square. I am an athlete, I played football and lacrosse in high school, I play volleyball in college, and I run and lift regularly; needless to say, I am interested in sports and would have liked to try a sports/athletic approach. The Lesley University Center of Yoga was my back up plan and I began to feel guilty. I felt guilty that I would only be attending a single class, I felt guilty that I did not have to pay as some of my peers would, and I felt guilty that I had procrastinated. In those first few minutes of Tuccinardi 3 mediation I made a mental decision, I could wallow in my guilt or I could make up for it by having a meaningful session; I chose the latter. From that instant I began to really focus on my breathing and I eventually achieved a metronome like pattern, breathing in and out in perfect timing. I also attempted each pose to my fullest potential, or so I thought. The class followed the vinyasa flow, downward dog, plank, chatarunga, upward facing dog then a variation followed by another repetition. When I was in my downward facing dog the instructor came over and adjusted, what I thought was a pretty good downward dog. I did not protest her adjustment and quickly felt the improvement and also an increase in difficulty. She had lowered my feet closer to the floor. This was a quick reminder that even when I think I am focused and doing something well, there is room for improvement. There were a few moments in the class where I felt intense anger, to me these periods were the most interesting part of class and helped me to learn some things about myself. The first instance was about fifteen or so minutes into the class. I saw the teacher “playing” with her iPhone while we were in the middle of a pose. In the moment I was angry that we were working hard holding our high pushup while she was “sending a text”. The reality of the situation is the instructor was changing the music from a mellow meditative song to a more drum and percussion driven beat. I also realize that my anger was not even related to the teacher using her iPhone. The anger came from the pain that results from holding certain positions for an extended of time. I wanted to move on and was upset by the delay. I Tuccinardi 4 then internalized the anger, I was wrong for assuming the teacher was texting and was upset that I was looking for an excuse to pin my failure (inability to hold a pose) on someone else. Afterwards I thought, how often is that the case? In everyday life do I frequently blame others for my own faults? I appreciated the fact that something that occurred during yoga made me reflect on myself in a totally different way. I am big into self-reflection and self-evaluation on a regular basis, although I do not always show it, I am always judging myself. In this particular instance it was an external incident causing an internal thought and I thought that was a really interesting connection. My second instance of anger was due to the two participants sitting to my right. They were two females who would laugh when one fell out of a pose or make small joking remarks throughout the class. By the point I had noticed them I was really into the class mentally and physically. I felt almost personally insulted that, here I was trying so hard to focus and doing all that I could to get the most out of the class and they were not taking it as seriously as myself. I would love to say that I rose above their side conversations and laughter and was able block them out, but that was not the case. Although I could not completely escape into my mind, I was able to reason with myself. I recognized that they were not I and that I should not let them dictate how my class went. I found comfort in this and did my best to ignore them, although I was not perfect, it surely helped. I do not always get a chance to reflect on my experiences in yoga as I did in this class. I believe the reason why my class was successful, other than to overcome Tuccinardi 5 the feeling of guilt, was the ease of class. Due to the fact that I had taken the class many times in the past I was comfortable with the postures and pace and thus while in the past perhaps I would struggle with a pose this time I found my balance much quicker. Once in the pose I had more time to focus on my breathing as well as self reflect. I hope that I can keep this feeling of determination and focus as I move forward in other classes. I feel as if I perform better with a chip on my shoulder and unless I become perfect (which is impossible) I will always be able to find some sort of chip that I must improve upon. Although this class was not based in religion there are two aspects of religion that I noted. First, at the end of class the instructor said something to the effect of, “The light in me is the light in you, bring this light into the universe.” That is not at all verbatim, but it was something similar, the response to this, “prayer” is “Namaste”. There are many definitions but my interpretation is that we are equal, not just the instructor and I but us as humans, we all have a lot to offer to the universe and we should unite as one. It sounds corny, to me, but it’s a nice sentiment and one I would like to endorse. The other aspect comes from a more religious point of view. I am Roman Catholic and one sermon that sticks out in my mind was about, Dom Bosco and one of his pupils. The pupil asked what it meant to be holy to which Dom Bosco replied, “Being holy means to do everything you do to your absolute fullest potential”. This has resonated with me, I feel as if during this class I was “holy” and it felt good. I wish I could always operate at such a level; it truly does pay off. Tuccinardi 6 As good as this class was for me, I do have my doubts as to how legitimate a source of yoga this was in terms of practice. On the one hand, to my understanding yoga comes in all different levels and styles. Personally until this particular class, I found that my previous sessions were too slow and I treated them as a “glorified stretching” opposed to actual yoga. I am certainly not knocking this class; actually, as I write this paper I am having another self-realization. I am ignorant to many aspects of yoga; furthermore, I am just uninformed of lots of things. As a person I like to act like I know what is going on at all times and seem knowledgeable on a variety of maters but truth be told I am not, at least to the degree I would like. This revelation makes me think of the “serenity prayer”: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.” I feel like this is the epitome of self-realization. I really am astounded at all the various thinking that yoga as well as this paper has caused for me. All these self-realizations are great but I digressed from my point of legitimacy. I believe that class I attended was very westernized/ Americanized. I do not feel comfortable judging others motives for attending the class but I did get the feeling that some people were there to be social others for their daily exercise. To be honest other then the girls next to me I did not pay to close attention to others. Still, the culture of the class I attended seemed trivial to the practices discussed in our texts. I’m not sure if this is an accurate assessment, I feel like if I was truly engaged in a higher level of focus and intensity class, I would not be able to write this kind of Tuccinardi 7 paper on it. I would be too absorbed in myself to pay attention to others. Ultimately, I believe that Lesley’s yoga class while legitimate is far from what a genuine yoga experience is. One more contradiction, yoga can vary in so many aspects that while the class may have been westernized that does not mean it should be viewed as lesser. We are all equals although our practices may differ. Namaste. Tuccinardi 8 Citations Boyeau, Aaron. "Lesley University Center of Yoga." LU Yoga. Lesley University, n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2012. . Palkhivala, Aadil. "The Meaning of "Namaste"" The Meaning of Namaste. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. . Pizer, Anna. "Hatha Yoga." About.com Yoga. N.p., 17 June 2012. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. . Pizer, Anna. "Vinyasa Yoga - Flow Yoga." About.com Yoga. N.p., 17 June 2012. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. .