48
Chapter 3 Yoga Students
Chapter three follows exactly the same structure as the previous chapter. Here, the
students‟ responses are discussed first considering their personal experience (A), then
their notions of benefits of yoga practice (B) and lastly, with relation to their relationship
with tradition (C).
Moksha Yoga Students
(A) Moksha Yoga students’ backgrounds and experience
All three of the Moksha students I interviewed have been practicing yoga for longer than
fifteen years and have a background in some form of performing arts. MS1 has a BFA in
modern dance. She is forty two years old and works as a massage and Reiki therapist. She
has been practicing yoga for fifteen years and is a Sivananda style trained yoga teacher.
MS1 has an athletic mentality as she also competes in triathlons and marathons. She said
that Madonna first helped to attract her to yoga. She had started with a home practice
VHS cassette. MS1 has been attending regularly at Moksha yoga for the past six months.
In the past she has tried all types of yoga. She liked Ashtanga but found it quite difficult.
She still attends classes at the Montreal Sivananda Centre. When it comes to hot yoga,
she liked Bikram‟s sequence but prefers Moksha‟s atmosphere. She said the studio has a
“chi-chi look, like walking into a spa”. On the positive side, she said that Moksha had
plenty of natural light through big windows in the practice hall. She also said the
environmental initiative at Moksha was nice and that the studio smelled great (a common
remark, on account of Moksha‟s cleaning products). The main negative point about
Moksha, according to her, is the full length mirror on the front wall in the practice hall.
49
She continues to attend classes at Moksha because she finds that with the heat, the after
effect of the class is a little more lasting. Additionally, the convenience of available
classes, the location and the five dollar “community class” ensure her return. Between the
Sivananda Centre and the Moksha studio, MS1 attends two or three classes every week.
MS2 has a BFA in painting and also works as a painter. She is forty-six years old
and has been practicing yoga consistently for six years. Her first introduction to yoga was
in a class in CEGEP at age nineteen; she has practiced off and on since then. She has
been attending classes at Moksha for the past four years. She also tried Bikram but
complained of the carpets in the practice hall and found it too rigid and always the same.
Moksha offered more freedom in their classes. She told me that Moksha was not
spiritually focused but she also felt that this was one of the reasons it was so popular;
students were not scared away by spirituality. She has tried Sivananda, Ashtanga and
Anusara yoga styles but only attends classes at Moksha at present. She likes the studio
and particularly the cork floor (as opposed to Bikram‟s carpets). If it were up to her she
would change two things about the studio: install more showers and remove the mirrors
in the practice hall. She appreciates Moksha‟s community involvement through
sustainability and the New Leaf charity. Again, Moksha‟s convenience in terms of
availability of classes, its location and the five dollar “community class” has MS2 taking
two or three classes per week. In addition to her class attendance, MS2 practices yoga
every morning for twenty minutes or so.
MS3 has a BA in Theatre and is thirty seven years old. She is a stay at home
mother but also works part-time as a yoga teacher. She claims to have always been active
with swimming and jogging since an early age. She has been practicing yoga regularly
50
for the past ten years and teaching for the past seven. She was introduced to yoga by one
of the teachers in her theatre program twenty years ago. She said it started as simple
stretching and warm-ups, which slowly brought her to yoga. She was first attracted by the
intensity of yoga; she said it could be equally intense “both in movement or to sit quiet on
the mat”. Before coming to Moksha, MS3 had tried pre-natal, Kripalu and Iyengar
classes. She found Iyengar teachers very knowledgeable but said it was no fun, “too
much like the army”, without any smiles or laughs. She discovered Moksha Yoga
because she regularly walked in front of the studio, however she resisted for some time
fearing the heat and intensity. She credits the heat for helping her finally overcome a hip
restriction after eight years. She likes the intensity of the sequence and finds it to be a
rather cardiovascular style of yoga. The strength of the workout, according to MS3,
accounts for there being more men in the classes than any other style she has seen. She
surprised herself at how much she enjoyed sweating! She also loves the smell of the
studio and even the soap in the shower. She appreciates the environmental philosophy but
she quickly pointed out the sustainability contradiction of overheating a room. She finds
the overall atmosphere a little rushed and she misses the little lounge area found in most
studios. She was also impressed with the concept of “karma classes”, but asked “where
does that money go?” She would also remove the mirrors from the practice hall. She
practices four or five times per week and two or three of those are classes at Moksha.
(B) Moksha Yoga students’ belief about yoga practice and its benefits
Moksha Yoga students continue to practice yoga because of its perceived benefits
on their lives. MS1 found that her practice helps her with flexibility, concentration, and
inner and outer strength. She also told me that it has helped her develop more patience
Dostları ilə paylaş: |