I interviewed a Yoga practitioner in Costa Rica and he doesn’t like the noisy environment very much…In my blog (can’t post links yet) you can find the video…
I love teaching in a gym. They are full of life and expression.
5000 years 10000 years of big Y Yoga. Numbers based upon a cross legged seated wall carving the size of a medalion. Because anyone sitting cross legged just has to have been doing Yoga. Well we could banter for just as long.
Well gyms celebrate small y yoga. They are the heartland of modern yoga. small y yoga may only be about a hundred years old and a gymnastics and gyms were crucial in its development.
Life is full of noise and distractions notice it embrace it if you have to wait for the perfect silent space well that luxury I’ll wager not all can afford or find.
I like teaching in the gym. It allows yoga to reach more people.
People who come to the gym yoga usually do not expect much from the class and are not seeking enlightenment or something like that from their yoga practice. Not like they keep their expectation low, but they just do not think that yoga can change their perception on some things or even their life…
I love when suddenly some of them find out that they breath like they have never breathed before, or they realize that there are some muscles in their bodies they have never used, but it is helpful to use them…ets.
I really like your perspective. And yes, the gym is a great way to practice Yoga in the “natural” environment of noise. But do you think it is something for a beginner (who is a yoga beginner and advanced would fill another topic), who’s mind is more likely the famous monkey mind?
[QUOTE=yogitobi;64804]I interviewed a Yoga practitioner in Costa Rica and he doesn’t like the noisy environment very much…In my blog (can’t post links yet) you can find the video…[/QUOTE]
I don’t mind the gym where I teach. The group exercise room is far enough away from the noisy part. I use yoga music in my classes that help to drown out the sounds from outside & my voice projects well in the room. Also others have commented that I have a relaxing voice to follow the cues from. I show a variety of poses from beginners to more challenging ones. Many like that.
Resurrecting this old thread, I just wanted to add that, yes, I am
grateful for gym yoga, yoga with a little ‘y’ (love that image), humble
yoga for the unwashed masses who come without expecting much. This, in
my humble opinion, is yoga at its best, a practice that is extended
outside its boundaries in search of new souls.
If not for gym yoga I would never have ventured out in yoga studios and
start an ashtanga practice that has done me so much good. I fondly
remember that young brasilian teacher whose ‘swasthya yoga’ classes were
accessible, enjoyable, calming and intrigued me enough to go look for
more outside the the gym once he was gone for the summer vacations.
I first started practicing yoga in a gym and loved it. As yoga has gotten more and more popular, I found it hard to get into the yoga class in my gym. It was always so crowded. I have started practicing at home and find for me it works the best.
I have attended yoga classes in a gym and taught yoga in a gym. it was usually no problem with noise. But in one gym there was just a glass wall between the studios and while my class was on there was a very violent fight class on the other side of the glass which could be a little off putting.
I have also taught in an art gallery for the staff, a nice peaceful space…but could not use the walls for handstands or headstands due to the art work.
Now I teach mostly in a yoga studio or on a roof terrace…I am also teaching in a cinema!!! very odd.
In a cinema…that must be challenging.
It is.
It is not a traditional cinema…it is a converted house there is a bar area and a movie room which has 3 different levels an projector and one wall painted white as a screen. At movie time there are low couches and cushions on the 3 levels…at yoga time the furniture is removed and replaced by yoga mats…2 on each level, facing each other with my mat on the lowest level 90’to the others (which is not always a good teaching spot)…tall people have to be on the lowest level because on the highest one the ceiling is low and fingers bash into the lights…
It does feel very odd standing behind a bar at 6am with wine and beer shelves behind me while I take payments for yoga class!!
Here in Phnom Penh things are different…no one seems surprised that in one small space it is possible to attend a yoga class, buy beer and pizza while watching a movie and also buy a bra!!! http://www.theflicks-cambodia.com/ (my partner usually teaches there I am just filling in while he is on vipasana)
[QUOTE=yogacambodia;68268]It is.
It does feel very odd standing behind a bar at 6am with wine and beer
shelves behind me while I take payments for yoga class!! Here in Phnom
Penh things are different…no one seems surprised that in one small
space it is possible to attend a yoga class, buy beer and pizza while
watching a movie and also buy a bra!!!
[/QUOTE]
Nice cinema (and well-done website).
Which leads me quite off-topic but I can’t resist… How is life in Phom
Penh for an expat? I’m looking for a change of scenery and am
considering moving my family from Paris (France) to southeast Asia, if
only for the kids to live among a different culture for a while. I’m not
immediately looking for work but yoga is a must and that seems covered
by your cinema 
Well, if you have a minute I’d be delighted to read your impressions on
day-to-day life in Cambodia’s capital.
Cheers,
Hi,
It is not my cinema…it belongs to Ramon I am just teaching the yoga classes there which are normally taught by my partner but he is away on Vipasana this month.
I am the principle teacher/ studio manager at http://yogacambodia.com/.
Life in PP can be great, it is a small city with many ex-pats mostly NGO workers, lawyers and development people.
The yoga community is small there is just the studio where I work and the Kundalini studio…then a few classes at the cinema and some in the gyms and hotels.
I do not have any kids but I understand from others that the ex-pat schools are very expensive. Health care here is also very limited so can be a big worry or people with kids, and insurance which includes air ambulance to Bangkok is extremely expensive.
The food here is great and can be very cheap, especially the street food. Vendors push carts around all day selling their dishes…rice porridge with meat, fried noodles, sweet stick rice, strange processed meat and fish balls which are deep fried and doused in chilli sauce, sweet doughnuts, coffee, and much more…each person will specialize in just one single dish.
There is a great deal of poverty here, there are usually a group of tiny kids at an intersection I pass every evening trying to sell flowers or beads…they do not go to school. You will see kids around the restaurants every night selling things.
There is now a the beginnings of a middle class…and there is a huge difference between them and the regular people…then there are the rich people with their massive cars and houses…and the fancy restaurants for them to go to.
The rich people often have body guards and guns. Most houses are surrounded by high fences and big gates…the richer you are the more razor wire you have…my cat keeps cutting himself on the neighbours razor wire…I do not know what is on the other side of the fence that is so enticing for him…
There are a few cinemas, several art galleries, thousands of places to eat and drink…endless tuktuks and motos to drive you around through the crazy traffic.
There are a couple of malls now…with escalators and lifts…some country folk are scared of them and do not know how to use them…it is very funny watching them daring each other to step onto the escalator for the first time.
The malls are super clean and have A/C etc…then just around the corner is a street market with live cat fish thrashing around in buckets and an open sewer.(the cat fish are in the buckets not the sewer)
Have a look at a map of PP…those blue lines are not canals…and they are definitely not blue…not sure if it is even water…stinky!!!
There are a couple of supermarkets also now which makes food shopping very easy but not as interesting as shopping at a street market.
Every evening there are exercise classes in the park areas…it looks like something between aerobics and line dancing to loud Khmer pop music.
The Olympic stadium is open to everyone to exercise everyday and there are some classes there too.
There is always something to do…gallery opening, live music, film, play or puppet show, and of course yoga classes.
There are various ex-pat forums online to find out more.
What kind of work would you do here?
There are plenty of NGOs and development organizations to check out for work…or school teaching…setting up yet another bar/restaurant…
Hope this helps.
Tobi,
For the chap in Costa Rica I think yoga in a gym is too noisy.
Beyond that, all I really think is that it is yoga in a gym. However it is fairly clear that most yoga in a gym is actually asana in a gym, due to the mission statement of gyms in general.
@yogacambodia: thanks for the colorful and informative depiction of PP.
It doesn’t sound like a very family friendly place (yet). My line of
work is IT consulting, so I can probably work anywhere there are
computers.
@InnerAthlete: (veering back on-topic) in my own experience gym yoga was
not only about asanas, well at least it seems to me. Our teacher made a
point of always starting the class with some pranayama and ending it
with meditation. He would say thoughtful things during savasana and
meditation and guide our intentions. During his classes the air in the
room would be different than that of the gym which we could see through
glass panes. My gaze would sometimes wander (bad drishti, I know)
towards people on treadmills and even though we were physically so close
it seemed like worlds apart. Also instead of thinking “what a pointless
exercise they are doing” like my old pre-yoga self would typically do, I
actually felt compassion and wished they could join us. In any case it
seems to me that it depends on the teacher whether a gym yoga class is
more than asanas.
I tried yoga for the first time about 8 years ago during my freshman year of college at the campus gym. I felt like I had no idea what I was doing and hated it, as I am naturally very inflexible. I came out of the class wondering how anyone got a good workout from it, as I barely broke a sweat and felt that the class had been a “waste of time.” My lasting impression was that yoga was for flexible people, and was something only people with at least an average level of flexibility could enjoy. Kind of life gymnastics.
How unfortunate that this was my first experience, because it caused me to wait an entire seven years to try yoga again (and I only went to help manage back pain). This second experience with yoga was an entirely different experience. It was at a small studio with fabulous teachers. I loved it, and have since practiced yoga regularly since. Yes, it has indeed changed my life. I am now a graduate student and often go to classes at the student rec center as well as the local studio where I started. The classes and teachers at this student rec center are wonderful, whereas they clearly were not at the rec center where I did my undergrad.
So to answer your question, I think it depends on the quality of instruction (which is true of yoga in studios too). From my experience, it seems that yoga in a gym may have a higher risk of alienating students who are new to yoga due to the less personal setting. And because it seems that gyms-- at least the cheap ones (e.g., LA Fitness)-- are less selective with their teachers and thus the instruction may be poorer. The classes I have gone to at my local LA Fitness have not been good, but I only pay $20 per month for my membership. From talking to friends, it seems that yoga classes in more expensive gyms are probably on par with yoga classes at a studio. This is very unfortunate, because many people complain that the costs of yoga restricts them from practicing or trying it out.
Also, I think the other disadvantage of yoga classes at a gym is that they are typically for all levels, and it is often hard to cater to the student who is trying yoga for the first time while also pleasing the student who has practiced for years.
That’s how I started, now after 10 months I’ve ventured out to actual yoga studios to learn new things. I think it can be just fine; at my gym there are some people with really strong practices.