Bret and Jermaine do Yoga
In a globalized world, it should come as no surprise that I attended a Yoga class with a bunch of other Whole Foods shopping gringos taught by a Kiwi who had done her ashram time in India on a jungle hilltop in Central America at the Nosara Yoga Institute.
Thinking about it today, I could imagine Bret and Jermaine from Flight of the Conchords on vacation here, assuming organic credentials and poses as they chat up the gumby babe after the class... Girl:So what is your favorite position? Bret:Yeah, mine is the flying rhymnoserous. Girl:I am here to align my chakras... Bret: Yeah, me too, they´re all crooked.
Postmodern reflection aside, the class was really hard and really fun. They got us sweating for the first 45 minutes or so, and the last 45 was spent on sitting poses for the back and hips. I learned a lot from the structure of the class, as well as the fact that one can clearly dedicate a whole lot of time to yoga. Here in Nosara, folks come to stay for a month and do four and a half hours of yoga a day in order to get their teacher´s certification. Some of those folks were ripping it up in our class, no doubt. There was an woman next to me who looked about seven months pregnant who was so nice and helpful, totally welcoming. Bret and Jermaine wouldnt have gone for her, perhpas explaining the openness.
Yoga is an interesting phenomena, no doubt. Circles of hidden knowledge, changes to the diet, retreats and trainings, elevation of status in the minds of others based on Ashram time, poses given their Indian names with a Kiwi accent. At the same time, it takes all bodies, created focus and clarity, and has clear export value.
It was very interesting to hear the teacher talk not just about the muscular benefits but also other physciological values, like this pose helps with the liver and digestive system, this with that. I do not disbelieve, that is for sure... I´d rather try those poses than do Lipitor twenty years from now!!
How to think of Yoga.. a practice? A religion? I see little in these classes that teaches others how to be more loving, how to deal with the question of sin and the suffering in the world... Not to get too heavy, but are a bunch of tan fit vegetarians going to send their loving vibes out into the world from their jungle institute? Additionally, what does the popularity of yoga in western culture speak to? We clearly had spearated the mind and spirit from the body in our medicine and also in many of the ways we excercise, and are encouraged to eat very high on the tree, with meats, cheeses, and such de rigeur. It cannot be a bad thing that people are seeking answers to these questions.
I don´t think Jesus dislikes Yoga. He would call it out on the urge it may create in others to erect purity barriers and be set apart from the world, but it is impossible to say that this is the only trajectory all of us in tree top our class are on. Do aligned chakras make me a more loving person?
