With all the deserved criticism being leveled upon the yoga industry of late, it’s important to distinguish between the influence of corporate business and what is happening at the grassroots. There is no better example of the disparity between these two mores than the efforts of Yoga for NY, an organization of yoga centers and teachers that have banded together to see that their interests are represented in local government.

In 2009, faced with a decimated budget, the NY State Bureau of Proprietary Secondary Schools sought to re-interpret an old statute and fleece yoga teacher training programs by having them classified as vocational schools. The BPSS sent out 80 cease and desist letters to yoga centers throughout NY state threatening closure and heavy fines. The statute cited had an exemption clause for instruction in “dancing, music, painting, recreation and athletics.” Apparently, they didn’t think to include yoga when the statute was originally written in the 1940′s.

Had the BPSS been successful, the large majority of small independent yoga centers would have been forced to close. Fortunately, the NY yoga community rallied and formed Yoga for NY to challenge the BPSS assault. Yoga for NY was able to raise funds, hire lobbyists and ultimately solicit the support of then Senator and now, Attorney General Schneiderman, who ushered through new legislation that added yoga to the list of exemptions.

Recently, a new set of issues has arisen and, once again, Yoga for NY is being called to action. At a meeting last month, attended by representatives from 55 yoga centers and Senator Perkins, two topics of immediate concern were voiced:

1. Are yoga classes subject to a 4.5% sales tax?
2. Are yoga teachers employees or independent contractors?

When I opened a yoga center in 2007, I was informed by the Department of Taxation that yoga classes are a form of instruction, comparable to say a dance class, and are not subject to sales tax. However, several other centers who are currently under audit are being told something different. Upon further inquiry, the Department of Taxation referred to a vague notice on their website that includes the word yoga and is dated April 20, 2011. When pressed further on the lack of clarity in the notice, they returned that “the matter is under review.”

What I find particularly interesting here is that one of the reasons that yoga centers are being reevaluated for tax liability is the way that yoga is being advertised. There is a specific provision in existing law for taxation of “weight control salons.” So, those who have long lamented the superficialization of yoga in advertising have an even more legitimate gripe. Touting yoga as form of weight loss may well cause yoga classes to become newly taxed, which means that the cost of all yoga classes will go up. The added expense will most certainly be passed directly to the consumer. Smaller centers simply cannot afford to absorb the cost.

The second issue regarding the status of yoga teachers is even more alarming. If it were deemed that yoga teachers must be classified as employees, requiring yoga centers to abide by the corresponding regulations, most smaller centers would again be forced to close or operate illegally.

I made my living as a self-employed yoga instructor for over ten years before I opened a yoga center. In all that time, I never once received a W2. I was always an independent contractor with a stack of 1099′s. Many of the teachers working at my center have only one or two classes a week. Even those that do teach more still have classes at other centers. In order for a yoga teacher to make a living, they must teach at more than one center. Also, yoga teachers have their own websites and contract different pay scales and terms with different centers. Seems to me, yoga teachers are the very epitome of independent contractors.

Both of these issues are unresolved. Senator Perkins has made his office available to help Yoga for NY work through these matters. One important aspect that has become clear is that there is no official, government sanctioned, definition for what a yoga teacher does. From a yogic perspective, this is profoundly appropriate, but when it comes to the taxation of business, it is eminently problematic.

Whether or not a working definition for what a yoga teacher does can be formulated that will allow independent centers and teachers to do the small business of yoga in their local communities and still satisfy their civic obligations remains to be seen. However, these issues stem from the common misconception that yoga has become a lucrative career. In a recent study, yoga is listed as the 4th fastest-growing industry in America, just behind generic pharmaceuticals, solar panels and for-profit universities. From 2002 to 2012, the Pilates and Yoga industry grew an average of 12.1% per year and is projected to expand 5.1% in 2012. In the five years to 2017, industry revenue is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 4.8%.

What is lost in these statistics is the hard fact that little of this incredible growth has found its way into the pockets of independent yoga centers and teachers. In fact, the average pay for yoga teachers has not changed in the last fifteen years. These profits are being reaped by corporate entities who are capitalizing on the soul work being done by heart-felt practitioners who do it for love more than money.

I have often been highly critical of the NY yoga community. After attending the last Yoga for NY meeting, I felt proud to be a part of it. On the whole, the NY yoga community is not only earnest in its efforts to help people but is also doing its best to effect good governance. I sincerely hope that the state, and potentially federal, agencies charged with making the pertinent determinations will not simply play into the hands of corporate interests but do right by the constituents they are commissioned to serve.
 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Along these lines, I am also pleased to present the first in a series of short video blogs. In this clip, I discuss how independent centers need small enclaves of culture to thrive and how the changing landscape of yoga in Manhattan is what brought me to Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
 

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Apparently, yoga originates from Tantric sex cults. So says the senior science writer at the NY Times in a sequel to his debut about how yoga kills. In fairness, I’ve heard interviews with Mr. William J. Broad since his controversial foray into yoga and he seems like a thoughtful guy. He readily admits that he comes from a science background. In fact, before writing about yoga he was an expert on the global spread of nuclear weapons.

Scholars have long debated the origins of yoga, which existed as a purely oral tradition for thousands of years. I may not have any academic bona fides but I think it’s safe to say that just because there is a document, dating back to medieval India, stating that cobra pose has the specific purpose of sexual arousal doesn’t necessarily mean that yoga originated from Tantric sex cults.

I do question the merits of making a case that yoga originates from Tantric sex cults as some sort of roundabout justification for the Anusara yoga scandal. For those who may not know, there has been major trouble involving sex scandals and abuses of power in the Anusara yoga community. In his article, Mr. Broad suggests that indiscretions among yoga teachers are not surprising given the sexual underpinnings of yoga.

Mr. Broad’s attempt to shed light on the origins of yoga and the sex scandals that happen in the yoga world are an example of how yoga cannot be understood by empirical means alone. My understanding of Tantra, and the role that sex plays in Tantra, is not based on any text but rather my personal experience and intuition.

When I was 27 years old, I was asked to teach some workshops out of state. I had just come into my own as a teacher. The manager for the center was impressed after visiting my class. I was excited. This was the first time I had ever been invited to teach outside of my NY yoga scene and I saw it as the beginning of a star-studded career.

I arrived in the early evening. My host took me to dinner at a local spot with some other folks who were active at the center. Then, we returned to her home where I was staying for the weekend. As we parted to retire, my host made it clear that she was interested in having sexual relations with me. Ostensibly, an attractive older woman offering herself to me willingly was a dream come true scenario. I hesitated only because I was there to teach yoga and I really wanted to do a good job. So, I took a rain-check and left open the possibility that I might take her up on the offer another night.

The following morning, when her yet-to-be-divorced husband came in to grab a few things while I was sitting at the kitchen table with his daughter eating blue oatmeal, I sure was glad that I had deferred. At least, I could hold my head up.

The workshops went reasonably well but the more important learning happened in the conversations outside the allotted format. The demographic of student was primarily women in their latter thirties and early forties who felt trapped in unhappy marriages to wealthy men. The women were open about their sexual frustration and had read books about Tantric sex. Their impression was that Tantric sex involved men who can separate ejaculation from orgasm and have extended periods of sex that provide spiritual orgasmic pleasure beyond imagination.

In a rare and early stroke of honesty, I found myself using the experience of the night before and my host’s husband coming in the next morning as the basis for my conception of Tantric sex. Regardless of whatever prowess I may have in the sack, a real Tantra could never bring harm or dishonor. Partaking in sex as part of Tantra requires more than a casual relationship. The spirituality of sex is rooted in mutual respect and nurturing that is not possible among strangers or divorced from its life context.

The funny thing was that these woman were not much interested in mutual respect or nurturing, they just wanted to get laid. Perhaps to get back at their husbands, I don’t know. But when my last night came and my host, wanting to see if I was for real, asked to cash in on my rain-check, I didn’t hesitate to decline for obvious reasons.

I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that some small part of me regrets not indulging myself that last night. After all, everything was on the table and their was “no strings attached.” Fortunately, I knew in my heart that if I was to have authentic Tantra, meaning that my spiritual path is dictated by me alone and not by hierarchy or dogma, then I had to be an honorable man and hold myself to a high standard of behavior. Regardless of what you may read, yoga originates not from an ancient text or time but only from within living hearts and minds.
 

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The other day I was at Staples printing up some new student cards. A woman standing next to me noticed that I was doing something for a yoga center. She told me that she loved yoga and was curious if I worked there and asked what kind of yoga they practice. After learning I was the director and that we have a therapeutic orientation, she asked me if I could recommend some poses to help a situation with her lower back.

“I have this thing in my lower back.”
“A thing? You mean pain?”
“No. Not really pain.”
“OK. Well, do you feel this thing consistently or just during certain activities?”
“I feel it all the time. Last night it was really bad.”
“Really bad? That sounds like pain.”

Upon further inquiry, I learned that she attends power vinyasa yoga classes three times a week and runs avidly. She seemed confused that I was asking about her life. She just wanted to know some poses that would stretch out her back. The problem is that, in many instances, more stretching or strengthening does not make pain go away – especially if we’re not admitting to the pain we have until it reaches a critical mass that can no longer be avoided. When pain is chronic or enigmatic, a reevaluation of habitual activities and priorities is often the key to turning it around.

Recent statistics show the number of adults with chronic low back pain is on the rise. Doctors recommend three courses of action: (1) Lifestyle change, (2) Medication or (3) Surgery. When diagnostic testing reveals no definitive cause, treatment is based largely on the patient accurately describing the intensity of pain on a scale from 1 to 10.

If the pain is deemed manageable enough not to warrant surgery, then doctors will commonly prescribe medication to manage symptoms and recommend “staying active within the limits of your pain and avoiding activities that worsen pain.” The dilemma that many of us face is that we are not always so good at making an honest assessment of how we feel. Is my pain a 2 or 3 or an 8 or 9? I don’t know. It hurts. Staying within the limits of our pain is kind of hard if we don’t know what the limits are.

Last month, I asked: Is Your Yoga Safe? I suggested that the key to making yoga safe was not so much about alignment or anatomy but rather the responsiveness and adaptability of the teacher. It occurs to me that the sensitivity and awareness that a teacher employs to ensure safety in a yoga class is the same sensitivity and awareness that yoga practice is intended to teach the student.

Ultimately, every person has the capacity to know for themselves whether their pain is a 2 or an 8, if a particular yoga class is appropriate or not, and much more. The sensitivity and awareness with which we assess our pain, and make safe use of yoga practice, foster the facility by which we make good determinations for ourselves in a broader sense.

There are few models or vehicles available for developing the facility by which we know best for ourselves. Honestly, were not always getting it from our parents, churches, or doctors. And cultural mores tend in the exact opposite direction. Even yoga classes, despite their intended purpose, are often falling short.

One thing is for sure, if we just barrel through an overbearing work load with little attention to the subtleties of our experience, be it in a yoga class or life, there is simply no room to develop the capacity to know what we feel, much less chart our best course. And if we do not know for ourselves what we feel and what course to take, then by default these most important determinations will be made by something or someone else.

Recently, a friend confided in me about some personal upheaval in her life. She is questioning her religion, her marriage, and even her sexuality. She told me about a time earlier in her life where she might have previously asked these questions but instead deferred to others. Now that she has grown to recognize that her life does not reflect the inner truth she feels, some hard choices need to be made.

Certainly, there are many factors that shape the course of our pain and lives. But when our given capacity for self-determination is relinquished, whether by default or not, a most essential birthright has been forsaken. We must make every effort to forgo this tragedy.
 

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Infrequent visitors to the yoga blogosphere may not be aware of the recent kerfuffle surrounding a NY Times article about how yoga will hurt you, but there also has been some mainstream media coverage on the safety of yoga.

While the article seems to have broken a few glass jaws in the broader yoga community, practitioners with a therapeutic orientation have been sounding alarms about questionable practice for years and getting nothing but flak in return. Those with the courage to take a stand and level public criticism of overly aggressive and guitar-hero-like approaches are usually written off as haters who are just jealous of the cool kids with their feet on their heads.

I’m not going to address the article directly. This has been done well enough already by voices more qualified than mine (I recommend watching Leslie Kaminoff’s three-part video response.) But I am interested in people questioning what they are doing and whether or not it is safe, even if it is a byproduct of a sensationalistic and irresponsible ploy to sell books.

Unfortunately, the subsequent conversation has largely been dominated by a reach for easy answers that avoid deeper issues. More often than not, injuries in yoga are being attributed to a lack of proper alignment or understanding of anatomy. It is said either that practitioners are not doing the poses in a technically correct way or that their teachers are not educated enough about anatomy to instruct students how to do the poses in a technically correct way.

When it comes to alignment, I find it curious to notice teachers who are are usually quite rigid in their instruction are now bending over backwards to explain how they respond to the needs of students. Specifically, I was reading an excerpt from a new book, written by a senior teacher in a classical tradition, who was considering the instruction to “straighten your leg.”

Without referring to any particular poses, the author asserts that the instruction is a “very coarse truth [that] new students need to hear” and that the way to accommodate different capabilities is to offer different “levels of truth” in the form of more detailed directives (i.e. lift the quadriceps, resist with the calf muscle, root the three corners of the feet, etc.) The suggestion is that different students need different details as they develop the fully realized truth behind “straighten your leg.”

The problem is that finding different ways of articulating the same arbitrary configuration is not an example of how to adapt to the needs of students and certainly will not make the practice any safer for the large majority of people who benefit from bending their knees. The concept of “technically correct” is open to interpretation and much of what is considered proper alignment in the classical forms is contraindicated for huge portions of the population. Thus, it is possible to have perfect alignment and still hurt yourself.

For those who are inclined to rely on science, I have written a full length article for Yoga Therapy Today magazine entitled: Does Studying Anatomy Make Yoga Safer? In the piece, I ask several prominent anatomy for yoga teachers to weigh in on the role of studying anatomy and science in making yoga safe. What I think most people might find surprising is that even the experts in the field do not agree that anatomy is the key to ensuring safety in yoga.

As Neil Pearson, clinical assistant professor at the University of British Columbia and the chair of the Pain Science Division of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association, put it: “In the end, it is not Western scientific knowledge of the human body that will make Yoga safer. Changing the students approach to the discipline of yoga and the practice of asana will create the greatest shift.”

Instead of looking to alignment and anatomy as a panacea for what ails the yoga profession, perhaps we would do better to foster a different mentality around the physical work of yoga practice that minimizes any potential risks and encourages smarter choices.

Most of the professionals I have spoken to agree that the key to safe yoga boils down to the sensitivity and adaptability of the instructor, his or her capacity for dialogue with and responsiveness to a student, and the humble confidence of knowing what you know and what you don’t know.
 

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Despite the plausibility of good intentions, the yoga industry’s emphasis on transformation around the new year feels a bit too opportunistic. Personal transformation may come as a natural progression in the context of yoga practice but the process is greatly hindered when the concept is used as a dangling carrot to sell memberships.

Owners of yoga centers know that some welcome maximization of profits can be had by working the new years resolution angle, offering a special deal that counts on the fact that most people are not going to make good on it. But exploiting human insecurities for financial gain goes against my broader purpose. Such are the ways of a reluctant businessman.

I’m not nay-saying new years resolutions or transformation. If some change is warranted and the mental will to help bring it about can be summoned then, by all means, be bold and go forth with a true intention. However, in my experience, transformation rarely comes in a flash from some flamboyant push. Real and lasting change tends to occur in a gradual and subtle way as a result of persistent effort, often recognized only in retrospect.

Instead of touting transformation, I propose we celebrate survival.

Like the modern equivalent of a Shakespearean fool, Chris Rock astutely noted that little credit or praise is bestowed for simply “banging out the rent.” The notion of success has become so linked to an emaciated body and a bloated bank account that it becomes difficult to recognize or appreciate the many small and profoundly important feats we accomplish daily.

In last months’ consideration of The Daunting Work Before Us, I attempted to stare down life’s hardship with stark honesty and a whimsical tongue. While this may have made for some needed catharsis and empathetic reading, it did not provide much solace or inspiration.

Fortunately, I since had the pleasure of hosting a friend and fellow teacher from San Francisco named Chase Bossart. He is the co-founder of a not-for-profit organization called the Healing Yoga Foundation and a genuine scholar of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra. He proffered that we don’t actually have as much control over what happens to us as we might like to think. In many respects, we are just along for the ride.

The suggestion is not that life is predetermined or that we have no say in the matter, only that our ability to influence events is limited. Chase compared the way yoga practice affects change to a gardener growing a tomato plant (some may remember the theme from Mind-Body Connection Optional?.)

The gardener has no way of knowing if the plant will thrive or how many tomatoes it will produce but if the seed is planted in fertile soil and tended to carefully, providing the right mix of water, light and patience then, chances are, the plant will produce more tomatoes than otherwise.

Yoga does not transform anyone. Life does that all by itself.

All we can really do is tend to our gardens and hope for the best. Some years, unforeseen drought or swarms of parasitic bugs may wreak havoc and leave us with only roots. Other years, we have abundance. Regardless, we can always plant anew. Even a skeptic like myself can’t deny that the cycle of life carries on nonetheless.

This morning, for the first time, my two year old daughter said: “I love you Daddy.” Her sweet little words of unadulterated affection left me in awe at the actuality of how things are taking place. The work ahead may be daunting but there is no doubt that the rewards, when they come, are worth our efforts. Joy behooves us to survive.
 

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Is it just me or did 2011 feel like a complete wash? Nothing particularly horrible or great stands out. The small triumph of not letting daily mundane tribulations get the best of me may not rank high on a scorecard but I am nonetheless grateful for having managed to get through relatively unscathed.

An ever-increasing work load that has yet to yield exponential fruits has created an eerie sense of foreboding that makes it difficult to be optimistic. I simply can’t bear any more dashed hope.

This season usually brings with it a strange mix of good intentions, capitalistic undertones and some sort of promise for the future. January is always the biggest attendance month for yoga centers as everyone becomes resolute to do more. I too am usually inclined to take advantage of a turn in calendar to bolster a rosier-colored lens.

Not this year. Idealism has its limits and if the last year is any indication of the rate of change and prosperity going forward then I think we need to prepare ourselves for a long haul. I plan to keep expectations low and bide my time until pleasant surprises are forthcoming.

Recently, I had a dialogue with a fellow yoga teacher who questioned the wisdom of suggesting that we “not push ourselves.” She comes to yoga from a more structural anatomy standpoint and her contention was that this measured sentiment amounts to avoiding “hard” work that needs to be done.

The capacity for yoga practice to effect anatomical change is an interesting topic for another post, but what is relevant here is that attempts to impose anatomical restructuring on a body, divorced from the life situation that is its context, is largely a futile effort.

No amount of strong asana is going to bring in some more money or magically rework the family budget so that my wife and I can explore having a second child without feeling irresponsible. The careful refinement of alignment that I have cultivated for so much of my adult life doesn’t unclench my jaw while I sleep at night.

Right now, most of the folks I meet are working harder than ever before. They don’t need a kick in the ass. They just need to catch a break, which seems to be in awfully short supply these days.

So many of us are already totally over-extended. We keep unreasonable schedules and then blame ourselves when we are not able to do all we want. Something has got to give.

I am a proponent of consistent practice. Given all the experiences that we have no control over but that shape our lives, the benefits of a skillful means to affect our own system favorably are invaluable. I don’t know how I would be getting through without my breathing and moving exercises.

I just think it’s important to be clear about where the real work is, and keep the role of physical practice in perspective. If we make Yoga practice about poses instead of about people then we miss the whole point.

Of course we want to make every effort to encourage change and fashion things more to our liking; however, there is only so much effort that is actually useful. If our efforts are untimely or misdirected then we end up just banging our heads against a wall.

Maybe this year, instead of blowing whatever new years motivation we have in one desperate push that barely makes it to February, let’s keep that motivation close to the chest and dole it out incrementally.

At the intersection of innermost wishes and life’s stark hardship is where the daunting work before us lies. The “hard” work of yoga takes place wherever life is most pressing, when we are confronted by that enigmatic obstacle to a sense of harmony despite the uncertainty.
 

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Flipping through the catalog for a big name yoga and retreat center, I was shocked to notice that they advertised their yoga teacher training programs as “Yoga Alliance Approved.” Misrepresentations like this are the dirty little secret of the yoga industry. No one really wants to admit there is no accreditation for Yoga.

Anyone who claims to be “approved”, “certified” or “licensed” by the YA is either grossly uninformed or disingenuous. The YA maintains a registry of yoga teachers and training programs. In filling out the paperwork and paying the fees, yoga teachers and training programs purport to follow a vague set of curriculum guidelines that are posted on the YA website and assume a service mark of RYT (Registered Yoga Teacher) or RYS (Registered Yoga School.)

What no one ever seems to acknowledge or mention is that the YA provides no oversight whatsoever. No one checks to see if anyone is actually doing what they say. Everyone is on the “honor” system. Consequently, the registry amounts to a digital rubber stamp or paid advertising. Not to mention, the YA does not disclose what they do with the money they collect from the Yoga community.

Even if everyone is being true to their word, referring to the YA guidelines as “standards” is quite a stretch. For example, being registered at the 200 hr level is said to have 20 hours of yoga philosophy. Generally, this entails a cursory reading of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra’s and a written test, kind of like reading the chapter and answering the summary questions in my 9th grade social studies class.

Given the profound diversity of texts and interpretations that exist within Yoga philosophy, simply designating 20 hours of time means absolutely nothing.

Don’t get me wrong, I feel strongly about Yoga teachers and schools being held to high standards. My point is that Yoga is not an academic pursuit. Attempts to standardize Yoga training into a set of requisite hours completely undermines yoga pedagogy, which is not contingent on time.

“Standards” implies greater quality, not a specific quantity of time spent on who knows what. If we want to encourage more qualified yoga teachers, lets start talking about “competencies” instead of hours and, more importantly, lets be straightforward with the public so they can make informed choices.

Brian Castellani, founder of yoganomics.net, has been leading a personal crusade to hold the YA to account for its misgivings. Initially, he was hoping to bring integrity back to the YA but, as he has continued to dig into the YA’s activities and policies, his sentiments have changed. He recounts a conversation with Jeanine Frest, the longest standing employee of the YA up until she quit in 2010, where she said, “Maybe it would be better to scrap everything and start over.”

I can already hear my wife’s criticism of this post. When I mentioned to her the topic I was taking on, she said, “Oh really? I think its better when you stay ‘positive’ like last month’s thing on Nurturing.” She thinks I do myself a disservice by inviting controversy and she is probably right.

I almost heeded her call until a recent exchange with an editor at the megalith of yoga-related publishing. She told me that the credo for their bloggers is “What are you adding to the conversation?” I didn’t think it wise to speak my mind as freely as I might but what I really wanted to say was, “What conversation?”

As far as I can tell, there is not much of a real conversation happening. In risking the ire of others, I suppose I’m hoping to get one started. I don’t think holding the Yoga industry’s feet to the fire by shining a light on hypocrisies and inconsistencies is negative. In fact, Yoga encourages this sort of discernment.

Yoga also encourages truthfulness. The fact that the only trade organization offering a title to Yoga professionals is not an example of being truthful does not speak well to the profession of Yoga.

At the very least, any trade organization that wants to represent the yoga community must operate with complete transparency and accountability. Members of that organization must also do the same. Anything less is a discredit to Yoga and deserves scrutiny.
 

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Trolling yoga blogs and the comment threads that ensue reveals a prevailing sentiment of tough love. Sure, there are a few hold-outs from the sixties still hanging around but the new breed of yogi is way too savvy to be fooled by any fluff and seems more interested in what you can do than how what you do makes you think or behave.

A musician friend and student was telling me about his last tour. He was at a party after a show with some of the other bands that played on the bill. Apparently, a guy from another band was into Yoga and heard that my friend was also a practitioner. The conversation went something like:

“Hey, what’s up?”
“Hey.”
“I heard you do you Yoga.”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Can you do headstand to crow?”

In and of itself, two dudes hanging out at a party after a rock-n-roll show talking about Yoga is a testament to Yoga’s new status in our culture. Back in the day, I was consistently the only man in class and, if it ever came up at a party, my inclination for Yoga was usually met with little more than a blank stare. Few people, men or women, had any frame of reference for Yoga much less a knowledge of headstand to crow.

When I chose to make Yoga my life direction, it was a decidedly un-cool thing to do. In fact, Yoga represented letting go of a need for external approval or recognition in favor of a greater sense of personal well-being and fulfillment. Sometime in the last fifteen years, my decision to abandon cool kid status has backfired. Yoga is the new hip.

Yoga teachers are headlining Lolapalooza-like events and referring to variations of downdog as “rockstar pose.” There are talent agencies for yoga teachers, celebrity endorsements and reality TV shows in the works. Yoga is now an undeniable marketing demographic and has spawned a muti-billion dollar industry.

Unfortunately, what is selling yoga as cool is not really all that cool.

I suppose its understandable that the grander displays of physicality found in classical Yoga marry well with advertising exploits and western workout mentality. Certainly, yoga poses can be used to challenge people to do more than they think possible. However, suffering through rigorous, sometimes injurious, practice routines with the idea that we will potentially accomplish some unknown something at some unknown point or perpetuating a subtle form of body dysmorphia around ideas of alignment and perfection is patently not cool.

For me, the key to making my practice effective was cultivating a nurturing sentiment. Whenever I suggest the importance of a nurturing sentiment, even right now, there is a voice in the back of my head that says, “Really? A nurturing sentiment? That’s the best you can do?” Nurturing is not generally thought of as all that cool, it definitely doesn’t look as neat as a flying crow pose.

The case against nurturing always seems to get chalked up to discipline. Thus, the tough love model. Yoga requires discipline and some find this is best achieved by overbearing means. I cannot deny the proven efficiency of austere practice in imposing discipline. For those so inclined, this may be the best route to take.

However, for a whole lot of us, discipline achieved at the forceful hand of an outside suggestion is often short lived. Just as a caring parent might discipline their child in a different manner than a drill sergeant does a soldier, nurturing and discipline are not mutually exclusive.

My two year old daughter has recently begun to require some discipline. I can get her to do what I need her to do by being stern and forceful with her but it usually requires a great deal of effort, involves some considerable whining and is only so good as I am standing there and making sure it is so.

If I have my wits about me a bit more than I can often achieve the same ends by merely setting the proper conditions and allowing enough space for her to arrive at the decision to do what I need her to do herself. Then, the next time, she often will do the right thing because she is the one who decided to make it so.

Regardless of how we choose to bring about the discipline needed to be well, most of us could probably benefit from some nurturing. If nurturing is considered to be somehow weak, naive or cheesy then I think we are really in trouble. I contend that Yoga is best when it feels unconditional and nurturing. Nurturing is what makes Yoga cool.
 

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Ever heard the one about the Dalai Lama and the hotdog vendor? Make me one with everything. This has always been my favorite joke. Recently, I was made aware of how, like a lot of effective humor, the punchline is based on a not so funny premise.

As an astute Shakespearean scholar once pointed out: “As long as there is pain and suffering in the world, there will always be something to laugh at.”

A few weeks ago, my dear friend and teacher, Mark Whitwell, came to town. He always seems to get right to the heart of matters. He turned to a woman sitting in the front and asked:

“Are you one with Life?”
She hesitated, half rolled her eyes and responded:
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
When pressed for a yes or no answer to a simple question, she relented:
“Sure.”

I imagine that many of us would be equally reluctant to answer “yes” to the question of whether we are one with Life. Probably because it often seems otherwise.

When I came to yoga as a young man, I didn’t like myself much. I thought there must be something wrong with me because I had all this pain and confusion I was experiencing. I did not think of myself as a whole person and was striving to achieve or find an unknown something that I perceived to be obviously lacking.

Torturing my body made perfect sense. Seemed like the right thing to do and, frankly, there were approaches and philosophies in Yoga that certainly encouraged me to treat myself in a less than nurturing manner.

Fortunately, I’ve come to understand that my practice needs to be “actual, natural and non-obsessive.” By making my practice more measured and patient, less about pushing my physical boundaries and more about feeling and enjoying the immediacy of my breath and body, my thinking changed.

Ultimately, as I embrace the notion that there is nothing wrong with me, that the pain and confusion I feel is not an indication that I am somehow lacking but is simply part of being human, torturing my body no longer makes any sense. In fact, it seems like kind of a dumb thing to do.

There is a correlation between how I am with myself in doing breathing and moving exercises and how I am with myself in general. If there is a whole lot of struggling, straining and having a bad time in the practice, the same tends to be true in general. By cultivating a model of greater ease in my execution and pleasure in my efforts, the same translates out quite seamlessly.

When life starts to feel less like a story of existential longing and more like a grand blessing of experience, a sense of oneness in the universe becomes a perfectly rational determination.

The question is: Why are we not taught that we are one with Life in the same way that we are taught that 2+2=4? Both are facts. Yet, the math equation is a given and my sense of self worth and place in the universe is relegated to naivete.

We all started as a single cell that split and duplicated and formed into blood and bones and lungs and hearts and skin and eyes and it’s all quite fantastic really. The pain and difficulty that life presents does not make our existence any less miraculous. Shouldn’t this be taught and understood by everyone as a matter a fact as reading, writing and arithmetic?

If we were all taught, from an early age, that we are nothing but the extreme intelligence of the Universe and one with Life, the joke about the Dalai Lama and the hotdog vendor would cease to be funny. It would no longer make any sense. How can someone be made to be one with everything when it is already the case?
 

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Exploitation of yoga in advertising is nothing new. When a product wants to associate with a low-stress or healthy lifestyle, invariably, the commercial features people doing yoga poses. Increasing popularity of yoga makes the marketing demographic undeniable.

A recent Advil campaign has taken this phenomenon to another level. Instead of merely showing imagery of yoga practice, there is an actual yoga teacher addressing the camera directly as spokesperson. She says:

“If I have any soreness, I’m not going to be able to do my job. Once I take Advil, I’ll be able to finish my day and finish off strong. I always find myself going back to Advil. It really works.”

In a previous post, Mind-Body Connection Optional?, I expressed views regarding appropriate practice and drew some distinctions between physical fitness and Yoga. I want to acknowledge that, even in the course of an appropriate practice, there is sometimes an amount of soreness that is felt as a body is conditioned. Also, I don’t think there is anything fundamentally wrong with taking Advil. In fact, I’m sure there are occasions when two Advil might be quite a blessing.

However, if a yoga teacher’s work is making them sore to the point that it actually impedes their ability to do their job then I feel compelled to suggest that something is awry in that teachers yoga. I can’t escape the strong opinion that effective yoga practice would prevent a need for taking Advil, not create it.

In talking with some students about the commercial, the question of Tapas came up. The Sanskrit word, Tapas, is usually translated as “burning” or “fire” and is often associated with the heat that is generated in practice and the notion that this heat is burning away impurities in the system. The term is bandied around a lot in “hot” yoga classes and attributed to all the sweating. Some suggest that pain is Tapas.

In my experience, there is an amount of warmth that a practice produces but I don’t think that sweating means all the toxins are going out of a persons body and I question the wisdom of conflating pain with Tapas. I tend to think of Tapas in a broader sense. Like many Sanskrit words, Tapas is not just a literal meaning but a principle: “The removal of difficulty.”

Overworking a body to the extant that a healthy functioning is impeded, requiring Advil to get through the day, and referring to discomfort, that has been needlessly created, as Tapas is the kind of thing that makes me crazy.

Don’t we already have enough self-inflicted problems being utilized to exploit people these days?

In many respects, Yoga and Advil don’t make sense together. Masking pain may be warranted in some circumstances but, generally speaking, Yoga is a means of addressing pain. That’s going to be kinda hard to do if I’m popping Advil all the time.

If I treat myself with care and a nurturing sentiment, I tend not to be sore in the least. This may not sell many pain killers but is a much safer bet in the long run.
 

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