We are one, but don’t take my spot.

We are one, but don’t take my spot.

So, there was no Yogini Emily Post, but there has always been a atmosphere of respect within ashrams and yoga studios. People take of their shoes to keep the space pure, they part with a word of mutual respect, “Namaste,” and they always listen with beginners mind.

Yet, in many yoga studios and gyms I have attended recently I noticed an unpleasant trend.

I have seen yogis walk into the studio and place their mat to save a spot before taking off their shoes. I have witnessed yogis who bring their phones to their mat and I have heard cell phones go off during savasana. I see students in class who don’t follow the sequence being taught and just do their own thing. I have seen students begin to clean up their area and leave before the teacher is finished speaking. I have smelled stinky unwashed yoga mats and wished that anyone who used this mat before me had bothered to respect the next user and clean it.

When we hold our personal needs, desires and impulses above others we have forgotten the essential and humbling lesson of yoga: We are one.

How we treat each other and our shared space matters. While yoga is a journey to the Self, it involves an entire sanga, or yoga community to share the journey. We cannot connect to our Self or anyone else’s Self if we are glued to our phones and then rushing out the door after class.

If you are choosing to do yoga you already know that it will help you heal in some way, thats why we are all on our mat. But if we judge and compete with each other while disrespecting the sacred space the teacher is holding for us, we are totally missing the point.

It is great in touch with your body’s needs and make your practice your own. However, we also have to remember that being a yogi means you not only do cool poses you also have the desire to learn about the world and study your self, called Svadhyaya.

In yoga class we should be in beginners mind, open to the gifts that this particular teacher is sharing. When we do this we always end up learning a little about ourselves (even if we learn that we really don’t like that kind of yoga).

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