When I first started this semester, we were and still are in the midst of a pandemic. This limited the ability for me to maintain the physical yoga practice that I had before the pandemic. While I was used to attending classes in person, I now had to adapt and learn online through videos. Furthermore, throughout this course I have learned more than I have ever expected about the yoga practice. Yoga with its many origins and definitions was looked at through the lens of meditation, lifestyle, culture, medicine, ritual, community, and many more niches. This course led me to understand the fundamental differences between yoga in the East and West and the surrounding beliefs, marketing, and commercialization of yoga as I adjusted to a remote physical practice.
Yoga today has changed drastically from the practice twenty years ago. Once seen as taboo and cultish, yoga has transitioned to the forefront of the wellness and fitness community. Physical culture has grown in the west with the wellness and yoga community at the forefront. Instead of a fully spiritual practice, there is the idea of yoga solely for physical practice. It was interesting to learn that this allowed yoga to transition in to pop culture, where the spirituality was taken out of the picture and health and fitness remained. One class that was interesting to me was the Bikram class lead by Diane Polli. She had practiced yoga many years ago, when it was still taboo. There was so much discipline, harshness, and physical pride in the class, which is different than what we see today. From studios to gyms to even social media platforms such as YouTube and Instagram, yoga is accessible everywhere. Goat yoga, puppy yoga, and even wine and yoga have been advertised as new, trendy classes. However, this transition is not without controversy. We have found throughout the semester how yoga has turned into a matter of aesthetics. Instagram posts are not without a competitive undertone, expressed through challenging asanas, unattainable lifestyles, and the perfect “yoga body.” However, it is the accessibility of a multitude of online yoga classes, especially during a pandemic, that has reignited my yoga practice.
Before this class, I never thought about the “wellness community” found online. Instead, I saw myself as a part of the little community in Highbridge where I took my in-person classes the past few years. This sense of community was amplified when I recently went home for Thanksgiving break. Though the class was small because of Covid, I recognized nearly every face, and saw their progress that I have not been able to see for the past nine months. Leaving class, we all said our goodbyes and felt at peace for being in the environment we’ve associated with our practice. This is why I had become so involved with yoga in the first place- the sense of community and purpose with the wonderful people in my classes and my teachers. Though I haven’t received the same sense of community online due to mainly watching YouTube videos, I can understand how tightly knit the online wellness community can become. However, I still prefer in person classes to online due to the community feeling, the space in which I practice yoga, and the rituals that I preform before and during class.
This semester we learned about how yoga is a ritual and is influenced by the practice space. I viewed the ritual aspect as the steps I took to get into my practice. At home, I would light a candle, play calm music, and get ready to do yoga by taking deep breaths to “settle into” my body. This helped me forget all outside distractions, homework assignments, and to-do lists. I also did yoga in the mornings in order to get a calm, clear start to my day. I noticed the rituals that I missed from practicing in person. Arriving to the studio, listing to music, and the overall ambiance helped me focus on solely the yoga practice. Furthermore, showing up to a studio knowing I designated an hour to the yoga practice was very helpful. The space in which I practiced in person was designated only to yoga, unlike my bedroom where I did homework, attended zoom classes, and slept. I found that I am much more focused when I attend classes in person and have set steps to do yoga.
Learning about other yoga practices this semester has been a very wonderful, eye opening experience. In the past, I only really practiced Ashtanga yoga. Learning about the origins of other yoga practices as well as the differences in teaching and philosophy was very interesting. Bikram yoga was interesting in the fact of how rigid and quickly the instructions were given. Furthermore, learning the science that is preached during yoga, such as the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems, was informative yet seemed not completely factual. Another class, Iyengar yoga lead by Amita, showed the dedication to certain gurus and practices. We were met with an introduction about how accessible this yoga is, and how Iyengar sacrificed his life to grace us with the yoga practice. This was not my favorite practice, but I enjoyed the teacher herself. These practices opened up the discussion of gurus and claims of legitimacy and authenticity. I did draw the conclusion through these practices that I like Ashtanga yoga best, as the teacher did not tell you what or how to feel and left it up to the practitioner’s interpretation.
I have been working towards a 200 YTT certification throughout this semester, not necessarily to teach but to learn more about yoga. And while I know 200 hours is usually not enough to become a teacher, especially online, both courses taken together has helped me learn more about the body and yoga philosophy. In a more pessimistic view, I learned about the path of naivety in the online wellness and yoga community. This has made me gain perspective on the different aspects of yoga culture. However, one thing that really stuck with me was hearing Andrew, our Ashtanga teacher, talk about why he wanted to become a teacher. He said how he had been doing yoga most of his life, and that not everyone is meant to teach. It is such a disciplined practice, where one *should* do yoga every day if they wish to teach. However, he said how gratifying it is to help others experience the joy of yoga and creating a community to do so. I really enjoyed how he put this into words, and it made me reconsider maybe learning more about yoga and becoming a teacher one day.
Ultimately, this class dove into so many topics of yoga that I never fully considered before. It made me look at Western yoga differently, as well as the commercialization of the practice. I was able to compare and contrast the aspects of my yoga practice for in person and online classes. Before the pandemic, I was in my own bubble of the yoga world, only experiencing one studio and one discipline. I did not even know about yogic philosophy such as the eight branches of yoga or any path to enlightenment. This class has opened my eyes to the world of yoga, and I am so grateful to now practice yoga with more knowledge and understanding.
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