I've been going to a studio here in Nashville for a few weeks. And I visited another one in East Nashville a couple months ago. I'm not a Yogi or anything (I aspire to be, but I haven't been able to practice faithfully), but I've found something sort of disturbing in these Nashville studios….
Right before I moved from Chattanooga a few years ago, I had the opportunity to practice at North Shore Yoga for a couple months —What a lovely experience that was. I found the studio calming, respectful, and I also got an excellent workout. Then I moved to Winston Salem, North Carolina where I wanted to take Hip Hop Dance but never had the nerve to go through with it…at 30.
Now I'm in Nashville—and the hot studio I visited in the East part of the city as well as this power studio I'm visiting now both have one thing in common. No one has ever heard of yoga!
I mean, apparently. People walk in talking, throwing things around, yelling and carrying on about Thanksgiving recipes and what happened at work today and I'm in the back just trying to get my Shavasana on. Then, during the practice, people are laughing if they can't stick a pose, talking to their neighbor, and generally NOT "finding peace with the divine"…and neither am I because I'm so distracted by the social aspect as well as the intense physical/competitive nature of the classes.
I thought yoga was for hippies—people that don't shave, or bathe, or care what you think of them. This yoga is not like that. These people are busting a power pose, and I am struggling to keep up while trying to remain calm and cool and true to myself.
Now, let's be real, I know almost nothing about real yoga. But, I know this isn't it! And I want more meditation and silence and less Colbie Caillat and lululemon gear. I love a good workout—I am a bit addicted to the whole being drenched in sweat when I'm finished thing—but can't there be a happy place that is more true to the heart of yoga and less obsessed with our American version?
What is your experience with yoga? Do you find it peaceful and healing or stressful and overcrowded?
