Posh-Asana: Do You Have To Be Rich To Do Yoga?

So, you want to practice yoga. You'd like a nice "yoga butt," maybe a set of rock hard "yoga abs," and if you can somehow develop a calmer mind in the process, all the better. Well, get out your wallet, my friend. Maybe even mortage your house. This is going to cost you.

Yes, of course I realize that yoga originated in India and that the archetypal Indian yogi sits cross-legged in a cave, eating little, owning nothing. And the stereotypical "yoga person" in this country is not a corporate raider, but rather a bohemian type who wakes up at the crack of dawn in an East Village walk-up, grabs a well-worn mat out of the musty stairwell and bikes over to the yoga studio to do their daily bending before going to work as an artist or actress (or, if things aren't going so well, as a waitress or bartender). Someone who sports body art and piercings. Someone who shares their futon with a cat they rescued from behind a dumpster. Someone who'd sooner starve than eat or wear dead animal. Someone who might point out that "Mercury is in retrograde" as a way of explaining why they were late for a meeting.

While, granted, there are plenty of yogis out there who would seem to support "the stereotype," I know plenty more who do not.

Take myself, for instance.

I practice yoga every day of my life. And by yoga, I mean Ashtanga. Ashtanga is the same hardcore, physically demanding, legs-behind-the-head yoga system that gave Madonna those sinewy limbs and a reason to balance on her forearms in almost all of her concerts.

By virtue of its brisk flow from one pose ("asana") to the next, the progressively difficult set sequence of asanas and the style in which Ashtanga is traditionally taught ("Mysore style", which originated in Mysore, India, and in which the student is "given" the next asana in the sequence only when the teacher has determined that some level of proficiency has been attained in all of the poses already being practiced by the student), Ashtanga demands daily practice if a student wishes to progress within the system to more challenging asanas and, ideally, a quieter mind, which is what yoga is supposed to be about. Right?

Ahem.

So, here I am, a self-proclaimed "yoga person." I certainly don't live in a cave. And I am neither a struggling artist nor any other version of "the stereotype". Rather, I store my mat on the sun porch of a clapboard colonial in a sleepy Northern Westchester County hamlet not far from the Clintons (yeah, those Clintons, and boy, could they use a little yoga, but let's leave that for another post). I get around not via bike, but in a late model SUV, which I tell myself I need because, well, how else would I cart around my two pre-teen boys and all of their pre-teen boy gear? I have no piercings (well, not since the tummy tuck) or tats, and although I do have a rather obnoxious hound named Lewis, whom I rescued from a shelter in Harlem, I have been known to partake in the occasional sushi dinner. And in my opinion, "Mercury is in retrograde" is just another way of saying, "I have absolutely no control over my life."

It's not just me either. My "yoga friends" include a plastic surgeon, a hedge fund manager, a real estate mogul, a marketing executive, a systems analyst at a big investment bank, and too many affluent housewives to count. What we all have in common is the means to pay for our daily yoga practice at our respective "shalas," as traditional Ashtanga schools are often referred. And by "means," I'm talking about the ability to pay what in some cases runs upwards of 250 dollars per month.

That's at least double what it costs to work out at a typical health club or gym.

Granted, it's not nearly as much as it costs to board a horse, or to take up skiing, golf or tennis, as my Ashtanga buddy, S., points out to me. I should note that S is a stay-at-home mom with a child in private school and a horse in Bedford.

S. also points out that some yoga students pay for their yoga by mopping the floors at their yoga studios. Or they live in one-room apartments and exist on rice and mung beans in order to support their (yoga) habit. When they decide to ex-pat off to India for three to six months to study with their guru, (which serious students of yoga often do) they may sell off their belongings to help to defray the cost. And by cost, I don't just mean a seat in coach on Air India.

I'm talking startlingly exorbitant shala fees.

If a yoga student wishes to practice at the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore, India, which is the premiere venue on the planet for the study of Ashtanga and the only one at which a student can obtain valid authorization to earn a living teaching the Ashtanga system, the fee for the first month is...okay, are you sitting down?

The first month's fee is 27,530 Rupees. That's roughly $650. Subsequent months cost 17,416 Rupees. At about $400 per month, that's still no bargain.

All of this would appear to be strikingly at odds with one of yoga's principle tenets: the practice of non-acquisitiveness, particularly with regard to wealth and material objects, but also with regard to non-material things such as love, life and yoga poses ("aparigraha"). And consider this: the essence of yoga is the stilling of the chaos that otherwise comprises the mind (or as it is written in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, a sacred text that works as a sort of "user manual" for the practicing yogi, "yogas chitta vritti nirodiha"). When you're wondering how you're going to pay for your yoga classes and still have enough money left over to pay your rent and maintain your weight above 90 pounds, it's more than a little challenging to not allow the otherwise calm waters of the mind (ha) to become muddled with anxiety. Yogis are taught not to covet. But how not to covet a higher salary, a rich spouse or a trust fund when it costs so much just to get in the door of the yoga studio?

While you're figuring that one out, I'll be bending on my mat at the yoga shala, thanking my lucky stars (see, I really AM a yogi) that I can afford to become enlightened.

Comments

[vivela]

I keep trying to figure out why this blog touched such a nerve, since I do think the class aspects of yoga practice, particularly in N.Y., are worth considering. I think my sticking point is that I know some wealthy or type-A people who are genuinely trying to dissolve their egos and become more compassionate people through yoga and similar practices, but also some people who seem to transfer the same ego-driven behavior to these practices, so it becomes just a new way to put themselves above other people, this time by feeling more evolved, cool, hard-core, authentic, etc. To me, yoga is least attractive when it's used as a way to authorize or bolster one's relative privilege and dominance in the world, and most attractive when it's a way to question these things and move toward a more kind, open, and egalitarian way of being. I think Ms. Cahn's blog is aiming for the latter, but we're all creatures of ego and in-group/out-group thinking, me included. For me, it's easier to have compassion for hippies than for rich ladies from Westchester, but this article is helping me to look within a little bit more on that one and try to work on my own stereotyping ways - so thank you for that, and namaste.

[RPLinNYC]

Thanks for taking the time to sort this out, vivela.

I too have been unsettled by the negativity here, but I think it is in the post itself.

I agree with your read on how yoga can go either way -- but i believe that the poster is an example of the former (ego-driven) way. I was quite put off by this post and my reaction was only confirmed by the poster's cheerfully obtuse retorts to some of the comments when she might have taken the opportunity there to check herself in the mirror (provided by the comments). I'm dismayed to hear that she is an instructor, tho I also know that certification is no guarantee of an evolved attitude, just a start. With all due respect, this poster seems to fetishize the trappings of yoga and misses out on the spirit.

[singermuse]

Here's what it cost me (I started 5 years ago) to start my yoga practice:

Good Quality yoga mat: 30 dollars
3 classes locally taken: 30 dollars
a few yoga DVDs and books( I like Baptiste Vinyasa Yoga) 15 dollars (they were used but in almost new condition)
"special" yoga clothes, zero dollars. I wear comfy shorts or drawstring pants and a tee shirt or tank, that I already owned, since I'm not a fashion victim.
I've been practicing for 5 years now and it cost me less than 100 bucks.

[BurtR]

Does Pattabi Jois let low caste or muslims into his shala? I doubt it. Is that enlightened behavior? I doubt it.

He does make exceptions for meat eaters with American $.

[bushitler]

You doubt it? What evidence do you have? You draw a harsh conclusion that depends on the absence of information. Enlightened? Nope.

[BurtR]

Actually, I know because I asked my yoga teacher who has been there many times. When you see the sacred thread just substitute the confederate flag

[MrWampler]

$650/$400 per month for instruction in India does not seem like a lot of money to me, relatively speaking.

Tuition is much, much more expensive if you'd rather spend your life as a kindergarten teacher.

[EVposer]

Do you think it costs "at least double what it costs to work out at a typical health club or gym" at the NYC Ashtanga yoga shalas you write about (and the ones in India for that matter) because the owners are knowingly taking advantage of the fact that non-acquisitiveness with regard to wealth is one of yoga's principle tenets? Are they intentionally exploiting their clients with the message, "You should not be attached to your wealth, so you might as well give it to us" ? Or are they simply doing what they must do to survive and pay the rent?

[Lauren Cahn - Huffpost Blogger]

See Lauren Cahn's Profile

Hi EV Poser! My first real life friend to respond here! Welcome!

[tryharder2think]

sigh...

why perpetuate this idea?

studying yoga/meditation is done with and for oneself.

there are no obstacles - only ones you create in your mind.

you need money to do something? you can get that if you want it can't you?

your mind creates everything around you...

stop and breathe and think and then let it go.

try harder 2 be in the moment

[bushitler]

Please don't patronize others with your "teachings" of being in the moment. By the way, the 70s called and they want their hippies back.

[LordMoon]

There's something about this article that has a lot of negative energy. I think that's why people are responding like the do.

[LordMoon]

Maybe what your trying to say is that progress, takes investment, and effort. However that doesn't always equal money. Sometimes, people believe that they can't enjoy Yoga wihout money. Or that you must be wealthy to learn Yoga, and that's just not true.

[kellygrrrl]

as a Pilates instructor, I am constantly amazed how many people pay A LOT for Pilates sessions and rarely show up or just don't even try to learn

I am convinced many of them pay for it as a status symbol
nothing like telling everyone at the dinner party "I've been doing Pilates for years."

[Blurp]

Makes me want a cheeseburger.

[candyperfumegirl]

As a college student, anything more than $20.00 a month would be pushing it. However, I"ve been practicing Ashtanga for years, and do it on my own now. Once you know the sequence, there is no need to go to the studio every time you practice.

[geobushono]

Really kids...........this america and you gotta pay, or you'll be in the sweaty company of commoners.

In 1971, when I started my yoga practice/study, (it) was a community, and whereas that still continues, I get the feeling that affording the latest gadget / toy / sling, is about selling shit rather than controlling the breath.
How have practictioners survived all these millenia without closed cell foam?.......a fourfold blanket is so declasse'.

[Zhonni]

Gasp--the pic on story.

[expatsteve]

Well, if you do yoga in L.A. with a bunch of rich celebrities, sure it will be expensive. Come to our yoga studio on San Luis Obispo and it's $85 a month for all the yoga you want.

[stamper]

Come to albert lea mn and take 5 classes for $25 with a wonderful instructor in a beautiful art center or 10 classes for $40 with my mentor who has taught for 25+ years.Sometimes she teaches an advanced class on my patio overlooking the lake. Go to the library and rent yoga videos or dvd for free. where there is a will there is a way and there is life outside of nyc and la. took me 50 + years to figure that out. Namaste.

[Nardwilly]

85.00/month is expensive to me.

[BurtR]

I don't think 400 to 650 / month in Mysore with Jois is so out of line when you consider some American teachers who want thousands for 10 days in Sedona or Costa Rica.
One of my favorite celebrity ashtanga yogis is Willem Dafoe who is incredibly accomplished.
Also Vanda Scaravelli we are in it for the long haul.

[Lauren Cahn - Huffpost Blogger]

See Lauren Cahn's Profile

Out of line, schmout of line. Who knows? What is relevant to me is that many cannot afford it.

[miramesa]

And how is that relevant to you again?