Time lapse photography. That's what I was reminded of yesterday as the cardio class let out and the yogis flooded in. Within one minute, all real estate had pretty much been claimed. I thought if you plan to attend this class, you better be on time. Ha-ha. About ten minutes into class, this woman parallel parked her mat between mine and the woman in front of me. The latecomer was so close that she had to readjust her mat when we did a balancing pose of extending our right leg and left arm because she was about to have a foot in her face...
As I take more yoga classes, I become less and less annoyed by latecomers. There is also the fact that it is yoga class where we’re working on our minds and bodies. When I mentioned latecomers to Kristen as she prepared to ascend a route, she said that she would rather have someone come late rather than not come at all. In fact, she likes it when people come late because she thinks it’s a good lesson in detachment for other yogis. Ditto for Cindy – she prefers that people practice yoga than sit out because they can’t make it on time...
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| Cindy on the "Green Holds" Route |
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| Kristen |
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| Cindy Practices Slackline Yoga |
As we climbed, some men set up the slackline at the climbing gym. Kristen said that climbing and traversing a slackline was her idea of safe, healthy fun. Cindy and Kristen tried out the slackline and Kristen, unfortunately, sprained her ankle and it was very painful but, as Cindy said later on, you can get hurt having healthy fun but what’s important is that you get back up again.
Allowing people to come late to yoga class (or any class) seems extremely inconsiderate. As for it being "a good lesson in detachment", I'm skeptical. Perhaps if people stopped paying for classes it would be a good lesson in non-materialism for the instructor...
ReplyDeleteLovely post. I like the idea of detachment. There is also the hope that once someone practices yoga for awhile, they learn about the 8 limbs of yoga and asteya-not stealing other people's time or peace by coming in late. Having said that, I think everyone's run late once. It just hopefully doesn't become a habit.
ReplyDeleteThe person who trucks on into class late might just be the one who needs yoga the most. It's good to cultivate the practice of not judging others. Who knows what kind of day those folks may have had or when we might need them to be understanding of us.
ReplyDeleteYou are probably right Mich, I'm sure those instructors teach yoga for the money.
@Mich,
ReplyDeleteI go to what I like to call the Wal-mart or Starbucks of gyms; there are lots of locations and it’s pretty affordable. There are no locks on the classroom doors and the classes are included in the membership.
I’m actually glad that I’m less annoyed with latecomers because there’s pretty much nothing I can do about it anyway. I’ve also tried this approach with people who cut me off in traffic etc. In the past, I’ve gotten pretty upset and the offending driver is long gone and I’m still tussling with anger.
I’m a pretty low-key person, for the most part, but when I get angry, it’s ugly and I feel like the Hulk and it takes me forever to come off that anger high and, in the end, I feel like I’m doing more harm to myself.
On another note, when I practiced hot yoga at a studio, it was a completely different story. Per the rules, most people arrived 10 to 15 minutes before class and if you came when class was scheduled to start, you would find the door to the facility locked…
I've only been to one other bona fide yoga studio and they don't turn latecomers away either. On the other side of annoyance, I do find the calm of yoga teachers reassuring because it helps me to calm down and go with the flow too...
@Mary,
Thanks. I like the concept of asteya.
@Kini,
Touché...