By Roya Nikkhah
Last Updated: 2:19AM GMT 14 Jan 2008
"For thousands of years, yoga has brought inner calm and spiritual peace to its adherents.
Now, however, its followers are becoming exercised over the intrusion of modern manners.
So-called "yoga rage" is on the rise as a surge of new year novices tread on toes both literally and metaphorically.
The
ringing of mobile phones, a rush to change before the chanting has
finished, feet in faces and elbows in stomachs are all fuelling bad
feeling.
Elizabeth Stanley, the director of the Life
Centre in west London, said: "Classes are probably around 10 per cent
fuller than usual at the moment and, as a result, we get a lot of
beginners who are not aware or considerate of those around them.
"That
means a higher incidence of mobile phones going off during classes,
which always angers the more considerate clients, or people rushing out
to the changing room before the session is over, which is deeply
unrelaxing, disruptive and annoying for those winding down."
Jane
Craggs, a teacher at the Yoga Shala centre in Manchester, said that
many of her regular clients were struggling to keep their tempers as an
influx of "new year beginners" joined their sessions.
"Classes
are absolutely packed at the beginning of the year, so yoga rage is
definitely more exaggerated," she said. "The beginners don't realise
that yoga is all about self-awareness, so they come into class late,
take off their shoes noisily, drop their loose change and step on hands
as they try to find a space for their mat which often prompts hard
stares and angry muttering.
"The more experienced
students can get very edgy about it, particularly if space is tight and
they end up with someone's foot in their mouth during a twist because
the beginners are not as spatially aware. That is when the elbows come
out and there can be a bit of pushing."
Union Yoga in Edinburgh asks all students to observe complete silence in the studio to avert yoga rage.
"It
is the only way to prevent classes being disrupted and annoying those
who may be deep in meditation," said Victoria Bosso, a teacher at the
centre.
With a cult celebrity following including
Madonna, who played the role of a yoga teacher in the film The Next
Best Thing, and Hollywood stars such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Julia
Roberts, yoga has soared in popularity in recent years.
Nearly
three million people in the UK are estimated to practise regularly, a
figure that has more than doubled in the past five years and tripled
since 1998.
Sarah Lassman, a barrister from south-west
London and yoga devotee, takes weekly classes at the Sivanada in Yoga
CentrePutney. In recent weeks, her class size has doubled from 15 to
30.
"At the moment the classes are so full that you
can't help but notice when your neighbour does something really
irritating," she said.
"When someone's mat is rammed
up against yours, it is impossible to do moves like the sun salutation
where you have to stretch out, and I have seen people giving each other
a few shoves to claim their space.
"What really grates
is when people leave the class during the chanting at the end so they
can be first in line for the changing cubicles. By the end of the
class, I am often fuming and less relaxed than when I went in. It
sometimes feels more like an anger management session than a yoga
class."
Pierre Bibby, the chief executive of the
British Wheel of Yoga, the UK's governing body, said "If phones go off
and mats are so close together that pupils cannot move properly, people
will undoubtedly get angry and teachers need to be strict about not
exceeding class capacities."
On the mat: Yoga etiquette
- Be punctual. Do not enter a class more than 10 minutes late if it has already started
- Switch off your mobile phone
- Remove your shoes and jewelery before the class and place out of the way of mats
- Don't bring water bottles into class - they get in the way
- Don't
place your mat too near your neighbour's. You should leave enough space
for both of you to stretch your arms out standing up without touching
anyone
- Don't talk or whisper in class. It is distracting to others. "
I think it is really hilarious that the Brits with their stiff upper lips are getting their knickers & more in a twist , when they should be unraveling themselves from a twist in asana during class. But all the above points are sadly true.
I used to chalk it up to the fact that there are too many "WANNABE" or "NEVERWILLBE" entertainment types who have too much free time at LA yoga studios; who are under the delusion that we , serious students, are truly interested in listening to their CHEESY & CRASS "chatter -ranga ".
Yup, you don't have a single monkey chattering away between your ears, you've got the entire Planet of the Apes in there -
That MOANING & GROANING in a heifer-ish tone is considered UJJAYI pranayam ; not sexy at all babe.
There are a lot more as covered by the Telegraph article. The water bottle thingy is absolutely ignorant. No explanation needed for that one.
There is this famous old school graffiti in Rio which states " GENTILEZA GERA GENTILEZA" , Gentility Begets Gentility. And there is a grass roots movement burgeoning there to start living again by those precepts. It's what you don't say or do that truly speaks volumes; how's that for a Zen Koan...
I am in Portland OR next week. Hare OM.
