Last semester, I made a decision to get my life together. Maybe it was the sophomore slump, maybe it was the I-just-turned-20 crisis.
Part of my plan included getting involved in yoga. I started going to weekly Hillel classes, and true to the implied promise, it was both calming and made my limbs ache (in an enjoyable way that made me feel like I’d actually done something physical) the day after.
Naturally, I dearly missed my weekly ritual during winter break. I could pay 40 dollars for an hour and a half long session at my local yoga studio. Or I could download a free app and do yoga in my room. Which is exactly what I did, because fuck capitalism.
Upon opening the app, there are choices for the length of the practice, what music you want to listen to, and how rigorous you want it to be. All laid against a backdrop of a blonde woman smiling with her hands in prayer pose.
Lovely.
I set my settings, and the app starting loading my sequence.
“Developing sequence…”
“Creating playlist…”
“Aligning Chakras…” Is this part supposed to be ironic? Serious? Unclear.
Of course, it’s laid against a backdrop of another white woman (but this time a brunette!!) because yoga celebrates diversity.
The sequence opens with Bon Iver as background music. So far, so good. A calming woman’s voice walks me through different positions, explaining what to do and what each one is called.
Somehow, I’m having more trouble focusing than I usually do at Hillel.
Is it that the lack of space forces me to contort my body in questionable ways? Or that there were no other people in the room to pressure me to perform well instead of escaping to my kitchen for snacks? Or that my cat kept trying to weave herself through my downward dog, thus shattering my inner peace?
All in all, I have to say that it wasn’t a regretful experience, but it just wasn’t the same. I’m eternally grateful to be back at the comfort of Hillel’s wonderfully spacious room, luxuriously high ceilings and all. I get to receive instructions from a real person who I can peek at for reference, should I forget what half-pigeon looks like. Which, of course, I never would.
Note: this post is not an advertisement for YAM, but they’re pretty awesome so you should check out their classes.
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I have wondered the same thing myself. I practice yoga in my home, occasionally dropping in on a class. Yoga is a wonderful thing but it is absolutely being capitalized. I had a roommate a few years back who is quick to follow trends. I rarely saw or heard of her practicing yoga but was well aware that she had not just a mat but also a full instructional dvd set, an instagram-perfect profile picture in the tree pose and a t-shirt that had some catchy phrase about yoga on it. Soooo that’s not neccessarily a bad thing, but yeah… capitalism. The same thing seems to have happened with the vegan lifestyle, etc. Thanks for the food for thought
I totally agree. I wouldn’t mind it so much if there was a bit more reverence for the rich history, culture and spirituality that yoga came out of.
Also, Yuri, I have been doing yoga for ten years and I still find I am more engaged when I am in a classroom full of people. Nevertheless, when I started developing a home practice, I found it much more fulfilling to put together my own yoga sequences (there are good books that help with this like Yoga Sequencing by Mark Stephens), and making a ritual out of lighting candles, turning on the right music, and meditating for 5-10 minutes beforehand. This makes yoga at home a lot more of a personally fulfilling practice than following yoga DVDs or apps.
Thanks for a great post! This topic needs to be discussed more often!