Today, I am in Portland, OR, where I took a Hatha Yoga class at Roseway Yoga, in NE Portland. Yesterday, I was in Encinitas, CA, where I took a Yoga Sculpt class at Core Power Yoga. You will notice that both of these classes have the word "Yoga" in common. What you may also have guessed by now is that the word "Yoga" is just about the only thing those two classes did share. Roseway Yoga is a cute, homey little place nestled into a quirky little commercial real estate center in NE Portland. When I opened the door - I was early - there were two women there shepherding a few pre-teens around. One of them turned their back to me and I realized she had a baby on her back, but she was too young for it to be hers. They were having a conversation with the precocious preteen about whether the baby was too young to fit on the back of a bicycle. There was a pillow over on the handmade table that was covered in hand drawings of womens' breasts. Handmade curtains were tacked to the ceiling. The class was slow and upbeat. We had 5 minutes of Savasana. We sang Om. The Core Power Yoga is also in a commercial space; a strip mall with not quite enough parking. There were 20-25 students. The room was heated. The guy who led the class was in his early 20s and was obviously a bodybuilder. All the men had their shirts off. We used weights. I collapsed in a heap about 35 minutes in after they asked me to do jumping jacks for 60 seconds. I struggled out of class and into the men's bathroom, which was enormous and had lockers and showers and modern tile. (The bathroom at Roseway had a single home toilet, no showers, no lockers - I don't think they're needed).
Are these things both yoga? What is yoga? Who gets to do yoga? Who runs yoga, anyway?
Do I think these are both yoga? I do. Why? Because they both represent, to me, the yogic way. What is the yoga way? Well, it's tempting to say that you know it when you see it. But I think we can do better than that. Yoga is a state of mind. Much like you can be a Republican from Alaska or a Democrat from California and still say you're an American, Yoga is big enough to hold multitudes. Core Power may jump and spin, but they still start and end with silence. They still focus on the connection between mind and body. And Roseway may run by the skin of their teeth, but they still move through poses with control and poise. In both cases, I felt that my mind and body came closer together. Yesterday I needed that enthusiasm and strength; today I needed that sense of community and warmth.
