Wednesday, October 10, 2012


Aqib Shah
10/10/12
Professor. Laura Douglass
Yoga: Theory, Culture and Practice.


Cornerstone Center for Wellness

Midterm Analysis Paper

I had the opportunity to further my understanding of Yoga by taking a classes at a studio located in Keene, New Hampshire. While visiting a friend in Keene, his mom (Liz Seamen) is a certified yoga instructor and she owned her own studio called Cornerstone Center for Wellness.  So I thought it would be a good idea to try it out. She is a Kripalu certified Yoga instructor and instructs a Kripalu (Hatha) style of Yoga. Not knowing how it would turn out because it was my friend’s mom teaching the class but I found her classes much more engaging and interesting. In this paper, I will focuses on a narrative description of the classes I took at her studio and then provide an analysis of the themes I discovered while taking part in the Yoga. The purpose of this paper is to further my understanding of the culture of Yoga and be able to compare different practices and styles that we practice in class.

Narrative Analysis
The first thing I noticed about the class I attended is how comfortable each of the participants was with one another. Each student appeared to know each other and when they entered class. This made me realize that this class and Yoga practice was more of a family or community rather than a random group of strangers. It appeared to me that each of the students attended this class regularly and had become comfortable practicing Yoga with one another. Another thing that I was able to determine is that how everyone was thrown off that I had come in “their class” and I felt like an outsider because everyone knew each other and I did not. All of these elements pointed to the fact that this was a tight knit community.
            As the class filed on, I noticed how much the students respected the practice space. Each student took of their shoes and seemed like they were surrendering themselves to the room. Each student appeared to be mentally prepared for their practice and was ready to begin at any moment. All students are either wearing shorts if they were a male or the proper yoga pants if they were a female. Another important aspect of this Yoga class was the demographics. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of males in the class and how the class was fairly young in age. This class was made up of students who were both men and women (about a 70 to 30 women to men ratio) and ranging in age from about 20 to 36 years old.
            As class began, students were asked to begin sitting on their mats and the instructor began with a casual discussion about what the class would entail for the next hour and a half. The instructor makes sure to be grateful for the practice and space and ability to be doing Yoga in that particular moment. In Kripalu Yoga, this would be considered “centering” of preparing yourself for the yoga class. Then, after we had centered ourselves and prepared for the Yoga class, Liz began with a breathing exercises or “Pranayama” which we also practice in our class. A lot of what Kripalu Yoga focuses on is the breathing and extending the breathing. In the beginning of class, the first things we started were the breathing exercises. I noticed how focused everybody appeared to the breathing techniques and also how well the instructor was able to describe how to instruct the breathing exercises. One example is how she uses colors to help illustrate your breath in your body. I feel like it really helps students get into the exercise and eliminate any distraction that may be going on in your mind.
            Next, the class began the postures. The different postures, or Asanas, were not too difficult but because the difficulty of this class is for beginner students like myself, but since I have been taking yoga class at Lesley I have gotten more use to it. The class began with poses such as the thunderbolt, cow face, to downward facing dog, ones we usually start with also. The students seem to be in control of these poses and did not struggle to intensely. I could tell that many students were focusing on their breaths while in the poses which really instills the practice of Pranayama. Other postures that took place following the first few Asanas were the tree, warrior II and standing forward bend. Students struggled a little bit more during these poses and you could hear some students grunting or moaning during standing forward bend. Students also struggled with balance during the tree pose, but overall each student had great form and posture while performing these Asanas. The class then ended with the corpse pose which was a deep and relaxing pose that allowed each student to finish their practice calmly and peacefully, just like the way we end the practice in our class.
            I personally believe that Liz’s approach to her instruction and practice is very traditional. She really strives to make her Yoga classes very educational as well as physically demanding. I spoke to her a little bit and she is well trained at Kripalu and is able to reiterate the practice to her students with great skill. She also has a background in teaching aerobics classes, but she approaches Yoga very differently, she is very calm and when you close your eyes, her voice is very soothing and helps you when you are practicing Pranayama. She is also very involved in the meditation and spiritual part of Yoga and incorporates that into her practice. She is not teaching Yoga just as a physical exercise but also as a spiritual and meditative journey.


Analysis of Themes
            I noticed that many themes appeared in the classes that I attended at this studio that often appear in our class. One of the first things that I noticed that has showed up in our class recently is Pranayama or breath work. I noticed how much emphasis was put into breath work, whether it was short breaths or long, drawn out breaths to help get deep into a pose, the purpose of these exercises was to connect us to our minds. As we discussed in our discussions, this is the point of Pranayama. This is a very important theme in Kripalu or a Hatha style of Yoga said Liz. The breath is the connection to our mind and if we extend our breath to our mind, we are closer to containing Prana within our bodies, making us more healthy and clear minded individuals.
            Another interesting theme I noticed in the classes I had taken was the use of Asanas or postures. In comparing them to the Asanas we use in our class, I found the postures used in Liz’s class more random. What I mean by this is that there was no set routine of postures and poses and it almost felt as if we were doing random poses at times. This made the flow of the class a little choppy as opposed to our class, which I feel has much more flow through the different types of Asanas we practice.
            As I talked to Liz a little bit it seemed that both Iyengar and Kripalu Yoga both embrace is the idea that both styles are designed for anyone and can be embraced by virtually anyone of any age group, fitness level, or gender. I noticed this immediately when I walked into studio and noticed the students who were taking the class, it reminded me of our class and how there are many different people all coming to embrace the practice of Yoga.
            The final important theme that I have found in both the Kripalu Yoga class I took with Liz and our Yoga class in the idea of living a good lifestyle and connecting to positivity outside of class, not just while you are on the Yoga mat. In Liz’s class, I feel that Liz is trying to connect the practice to actual life and encourages her students to stay healthy and active and essentially continue their practice of yoga in their everyday life. In our Yoga class, we discuss the same exact themes during our discussions and as well as the readings. We discuss how we essentially practice or can practice yoga in our everyday life. This does not mean doing postures in the middle of the sidewalk but rather connect to our body and minds more often instead of the hour and a half that you are on your yoga mat.
            Overall, I found this assignment very enlightening. The ability to observe another class and make connections to our class was a wonderful experience. I feel like I was able to learn much more about the practice and themes of yoga through this assignment. Through writing this assignment, I was able to understand my own personal practice of yoga and understand more about the culture of yoga. Overall, I feel as though I have broadened my understanding of yoga not just as a practice, but as a lifestyle and I was able to see how many different individuals embrace this lifestyle.


                                                                                             
Source

Cornerstone Center for Wellness
http://www.cornerstonecw.com/aboutUs.php

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