The Free Yoga Fallacy

For years now I've heard this very commonly held belief expressed in my yoga subculture that goes something like this: Isn't it too bad that we have to charge money for yoga and wouldn't it be great if yoga were free to everyone like it used to be in the ancient days.

How was it really in the ancient days?  You actually had to prove your passion and commitment to study with a particular teacher in very challenging ways.  Maybe no cash ever changed hands, but it was never like the student didn't "pay" or offer something of themselves, even sometimes to the point of cutting off the tip of a finger or an ear to express one's burning zeal to devote oneself to study.  When this point was raised once in a workshop with John Friend, he said, "Compared to offering a part of your body, I don't think asking for 12 bucks is too much!"

Students were expected to clean for the teacher, make food for the teacher, do errands for the teacher, without any promise of being taken on as a student.  Often a student would live with a teacher, like Anusara scholar Douglas Brooks did with his teacher in India, and be expected to be a combination executive assistant and gofer in exchange for teachings.

In the Buddhist tradition, renunciates lived in monasteries, and depended on the communities in which they lived to support them.  Buddhist monks and nuns would regularly walk out into the streets to ask for alms, and it was an accepted practice of those communities that the common people supported the religious life of the monks and nuns.  In fact, to have a monastery in your town gave your town prestige.  In this way, the town "paid for" the religious life of the monastery.  So, when we use the word "dana" in a modern context, which roughly means "pay what you can," we are assuming that the person who is paying takes under consideration that the teacher needs to make a living, and is not under the umbrella of a larger supporting organization, as monks traditionally were.

One of my teachers describes a "spiritual law," which basically states: there is never something for nothing.  (This is very different from the law of attraction currently popular in the land, where you get everything for nothing!)  When you are offered a teaching or a class, there must be an exchange of some kind to create a balance of energetic output on the teacher's part and appreciation for the teacher's many unpaid years of study, practice, dedication and commitment on the student's part. The offering you make to a teacher represents your own commitment.  And, it represents your recognition of how much a yoga teacher gives: it may look like an easy job, but it is daunting to place yourself up in front of a group of people and attempt to offer them physical challenge, emotional balance, heart inspiration, support and much more.  Yoga teachers attempt to teach from their souls, and to give you your soul.

Modern yoga teachers are severely underpaid, most without decent health insurance, many patching together a living with a multitude of part-time jobs, teaching at lots of places all over town or, if they're lucky, they are financially subsidized by a partner.  Or have hugely popular classes.  Let's just assume that pretty much everyone has issues with money, but the only way I see to remedy the plight of the modern yoga teacher is for yoga classes to cost a lot more, say $20 or $25 per class.  Who would pay that?  Would you? 

Of course, not everyone is in a position to pay the asking price for yoga.  At Seattle Yoga Arts, we always work with sincere students whose resources are limited.  I ask them: "Please take an honest look at your finances, consider how important yoga is to you, and make a proposal for what you can afford."  And together we come up with something that will work for both of us. 

Attending your local yoga center a few times a week is not like living in a monastery or devoting yourself to the feet of a spiritual teacher.  Yet I, for one, would love to see yoga teachers rise out of the ghetto of unworthiness that sometimes underlies our reluctance to ask for what our teaching is truly worth.

I Could Have Been a Boy Scout

Below is a piece by guest blogger, Mary Edwards.  Mary had been a long-time student of Seattle Yoga Arts when she had surgery for a rare brain tumor.  She wrote the following piece about yoga during her recovery from surgery.  You can read more of her excellent blog about life with brain tumors at http://cantduckit.blogspot.com/.

Yoga has been one of the constancies on either side of the semi-colon in the sentence that is my life (not like a prison sentence--like nouns and verbs and lots of parentheses). Before brain surgery, I did a sun salutation every morning. Right after surgery, when I was still in the hospital bed, I did hospital bed yoga: any posture or stretch I could think of that I could do lying down was my daily exercise.

Now that I'm home and walking but still uneasy with my balance, I do lying down and sitting up yoga every morning. Mostly, I do a sun salutation minus tree pose (where a person stands like a tree on one leg--the way all trees stand), and minus triangle pose or anything else that might make me fall and bump my head. I've added to the routine some poses that stretch my back and my neck, a kind of rehab yoga.

Not only does the yoga serve to stretch my body and to center me, but it also reminds of the calm within myself, a place that I can access when anxiety--about falling or about being unable to work or about dying--sets in.

I feel lucky to have found such a discipline before my brain tumors. So much was in place for me before brain tumors: a loving partner and family, a variety of experiences in my vocation, a supportive church community, an amazing group of friends, Storm allegiance and other past-times.

Of a paranoid imagination, I have always tried to prepare for hard times. Like the boy scouts, I have pledged to be prepared. Before surgery, I biked all over town, partly because I loved it, and partly because I knew a car battery would die in the event of a nuclear attack (I didn't go so far as to figure out the breathing part of nuclear fallout); I'd work to strengthen my upper body in case one day I couldn't use my legs; I've always saved as much as I can for retirement, in case Social Security runs out (this, I don't think, is paranoid); I hiked up rocky trails with my teeth clenched, so that if I fell I would not bite off my tongue.

I know some Christians talk about preparing for the afterlife, but if nothing's gone really wrong for you yet, I'd suggest you prepare for the unknowns of this life. Yoga's a good place to start, for now and for later.

Mood Morph

Rainy day, gray skies, low mood, laundry, email.  5:00 pm, almost pitch dark outside.  I light four candles, arrange them around my yoga mat.  Sit on my heels.  Wait.  Listen.  Wait.  Listen.  Hear something unspoken: Twist this way, put your right hand on the floor, lean to the left.  This shifts the whole universe.  Something bright flows up my spine, I sigh in relief.

Many more things are possible now, and the guidance comes clearly.  Dog pose, spinal roll-up, standing backbend.  How did I forget how delicious this is, and how fluid?  I follow something that clearly leads, now leg goes back, spine turns up, heart beats faster, the rust moves OUT, the light moves IN, I am danced.

A half hour ago the smallest thing seemed monumental, now I kick up into handstand, stay for an easy minute, float down, some kind of magic taking place in the heat and groove of movement, my spine glows, my heart prances, my muscles twinkle, my mind sings.  A woman, a mat, a rainy Seattle afternoon equals alchemy.  Now I float and float and float in plank pose, collapse on my belly, pant.  Happy.  Transformed.

Savasana.  It's raining hard, the dog is breathing softly, candles cast a gold circle of warm light.  I rise from practice, reorganized, redone, renewed.  Put my hands together, as I always do after a practice: this life ephemeral I clearly know.  For now, I touch my forehead to the floor, and say, "Thank you for this body.  I am grateful to be able to practice today."

My Yoga Heroes

This seems to be my month for witnessing the power of small town teachers in action.  Last week I went over to observe Amy Huggins, an Anusara teacher on Vashon Island, to give her feedback on her teaching.  Vashon is a gorgeous gem of a place, nestled in Puget Sound, and accessible only by ferry.  Amy's class was held at the Vashon Athletic Club, a modest establishment permeated by the not unpleasant scent of chlorine from the pool.  We walked through the weight room, where a few guys were pumping iron, and into a small side room that faced onto the street, with glass windows all around.  People began to gather, and gather, and gather, until the small room was packed mat to mat for Amy's class.  The class leaned toward older women (the largest demographic practicing yoga, by the way), but there were people of all ages.  Amy greeted and laughed with everyone, and the vibe in the room was relaxed and welcoming.

As the class began, the friendliness of the students became apparent.  They would often giggle and joke with each other when Amy announced the next pose, and this was clearly their way of supporting each other through the practice.  Their practice stunned me and brought tears to my eyes.  I've watched many uber capable yogis display their talents, but for some reason, sitting in this humble space, with these older women, and seeing the complete trust they had in Amy, and the way they did their very best with every pose, was one of the most touching things I've ever witnessed in a yoga class.

Quite a few of the students had challenging physical issues.  But they TRIED...they tried everything.  They were good-natured about their weaknesses.  They were heroes, facing their own limitations with grace and humor, and also amazing me with what they COULD do.

At the end of the class, one woman said, "Can I say something to Denise?" and Amy said of course.  This woman told me all the things she loved about Amy's teaching: she addresses everyone by name, she teaches a practice that is both challenging and accessible, she inspires us, she creates a space where everyone feels welcome and safe.

One woman, with ephysema, put her breathing apparatus back on, and walked, glowing, out into the drizzly day.