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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