Happy Hallowe'en

I'm sitting at the computer researching how I could write a little mobile yoga application for the iPod Touch and the iPhone and it is definitely going to take me a lot longer than I thought. There's a lot involved and I don't have any Mac buddies sitting near me or even at the end of a phone. I'll keep at it though.

It's Hallowe'en and I'm not sure if I'm going to teach yoga tonight in a costume or not. Probably not I guess, eh? I remember teaching in costume quite a few years ago, but that was a night that my sister and I were leading Partner Yoga too. I had put on fake nails before my 5:15 class and by about 5:30 my fingers were killing as the glue dried and the nails began to pinch each finger. To get them off without ripping off my own nails would take a 5-15 minute soak in warm water. So I put up with that feeling for the first class and got a few off before the Partner Yoga class began. A night I'll never forget.

Speaking of warm water, I don't have any today - neither hot nor cold. The City turned off the water at 8 - in time for my daughter to brush her teeth and get off to school and for John to have a shower and get off to work - but not in enough time for me to do my thing this morning. So it's 11 am and I haven't had a shower and it's not the end of the world, but it's getting close. I'm thinking about where I could go to take one. The Champagne Bath is across the street but chances are their water is off too seeing as how this is King Edward construction-related. It makes me aware of my normal routine and how comfortable I am in that. I like a shower first thing you know? And if I can't have it and I still have to teach and be with people, it's a bit, ah, it makes me feel a bit off. If I had no shower but I was camping or hiking or something, that would be even normal, right?

I'm sure I'll find a shower before I have to teach at 2. And I may even wear a costume to teach my class at 5:15.

Yoga on the go

I am typing on my latest gadget. It's going to be short because this is a bit laborious to be honest. I love the touch (itouch), but I'm more excited by the possibility of coming up with a little mobile yoga app. Meditation app too. I'll let you know of I ever come up with something worth mentioning. If you can help me, let me know!

In the meantime the itouch is pretty cool. I couldn't do this with my Blackberry :)

Yoga in the Dark

Tonight while I was leading the Hatha Intermediate class at Rama Lotus, there was a black out. The lights went out, the music stopped, and it got very quiet. And that was kind of cool. The Crystal room was pretty packed and we all just sort of stopped for a sec and noticed that it was dark and then kept going. I could hear in the halls that it was quiet and that the other classes were continuing too.

Doing yoga in the dark gave us the opportunity to totally let go of performance and competition and it was pretty neat. A class to remember for sure.

It was fun that something different and out of the ordinary happened.

It's a Good YTT

The weekend is over. We had the first weekend of the Yoga Teacher Training at Rama Lotus this past weekend. I was nervous for a few reasons but I'm all better now. I think it was a hit, like it always is, and we're on the right track.

I honestly believe yoga will teach itself if you let it. You point people in the direction of the teachings, give them the space to practice, and I maintain it doesn't matter who your teacher is, you'll learn yoga. My sister thinks I'm not giving myself enough credit as a teacher when I say that, but I think it's true. The yoga will come out if you just put a group of people together and have them focus on it.

So even though it's intense and a lot of work and takes my time and I don't see my kid or my man and all of that, it is so much fun to be with people when they're "getting it" that it's so worth it. Don't get me wrong, I'm paid as a teacher to do this, but it's a big job to hold the space for 38 people and make sure it's all running smoothly. Even when my phone rings in class. Yep, my phone rang AGAIN (it happened last YTT too) during class. I've requested a key to the office and if I can leave my stuff in there it would make a difference...

Anyways, it's a good Yoga Teacher Training and it's off to a good start.

Yoga and the Other Person

The Yoga Teacher Training at Rama Lotus has begun and there's lots of stuff happening already and it's great. One of the things that came up is about how sometimes when you start something like yoga it can be challenging if you're in a relationship where the other person isn't as into it (if at all) as you are. For some people it can feel like there's distance created and it can become rather alienating - for the person doing yoga because they want to share their new passion and connect about it, and for the person having to hear about it, it can seem weird and they just don't want to hear about it.

I maintain that practicing yoga can bring you closer to everybody, not just to other yogis, and that it really shouldn't cause alienation at all, rather the opposite. But sometimes along the way that doesn't happen and there can be tension and things can be tough as it seems like you're going one way and your partner is either going the other way or just staying put, leaving you alone on your journey.

This morning it feels like I'm heading off in another direction. I'm working weekends, I'm up early and my partner is working late so he's sleeping now. I feel like I never see him. He's stressed about work and I think he should meditate to get relief but do you think he wants to hear about that from me? "Uh-uh" is right. Am I stressed? You bet. I have this fantasy that he'll get up with me early to share a coffee before I head off to teach my class. But he was out 'til 2 volunteering at the old church at some late night event.

I guess I'll just have to stick to my own meditation practice, hold on for this part of the bumpy ride as the first weekend of the teacher training comes to a close later on today.

Voting Pose 2

I'm a dual citizen of Canada and the United States. So I get to vote in two elections. But for the American election, I have to vote by mail because I live up here. I got my ballot yesterday in the mail and I actually cried. I was so moved by the fact that I get to participate in something so huge, something that is going to make such difference in the world, I expect. But it's not even that. It's more like being star-struck. It brings me in a closer relationship those guys I see on TV everyday. Like I'm somehow involved. And I guess I am. Clearly I am. I think it's neat that I get to vote in that election. And here you can see who I voted for - I don't mind.

On another note, the Yoga Teacher Training at Rama Lotus begins tonight. I'm excited and nervous. In the past I was hardly nervous because I was just a teacher. Tonight I'm the "lead teacher" and I guess it means there's more pressure on me, more responsibility to make it an awesome training. It has definitely meant more paperwork so far...

Santosha is also having a teacher training starting. How I know this is because I bumped into David Jewitt at The Table when I stopped in for lunch. (I also bumped into my mom and brother, which is totally random. My mom is never out for lunch and I would never bump into her on the street.)

Sorry, Hans

Hans brought me a watch from Switzerland and it's a bit too big. So I haven't worn it and he said the next time he was going, he'd take it back with him and have them adjust it for free. He called me this morning to remind me that he's leaving soon and if I don't get him the watch today, I'm out of luck. And I know I put the watch in a special place but I can't find it!

I live in a small house. There really aren't that many places to hide things. But it happens. For instance, this morning while I was hunting for the watch, I came across the charger for my camera battery - the one I was looking for back in August before going to Omega! I haven't taken many pictures these past couple of months because I couldn't locate the charger. I found the case the watch came in but not the watch.

Hans might think this is a sign of disrespect and make it mean that he shouldn't give me presents anymore. It doesn't mean that. The truth is, it's not personal and I am equally confused about where a wide variety of things are, some meaningful, some not. I'm an equal-opportunity mis-placer.

What I'd like to have is this: a place for everything and everything in its place. That would be so awesome. Then I'd know where everything goes because it would have a place. And if it didn't have a place, it wouldn't be in my house or else I would make a new place for it. Wouldn't that be great? I'd be organized and tidy and I wouldn't have to make decisions every five minutes about where to put stuff because it would be pre-decided and I'd just place it back where it belongs. Ahhh.

I know some of you out there can totally not relate to my situation. You've told me! And I know some of you are in similar situations.

I will continue to look today for the gorgeous watch that a very dear friend gave to me. It is very lovely and he was really super-generous to give it to me. I will be even more embarrassed if I can't locate it before the end of the day. Sorry, Hans.

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I found it! I reviewed one of the places I had checked but this time I looked more closely and sure enough, it was there. See Hans? I take really good care of things! I keep them safe and in secure locations where I can retrieve them when I need to.

Time to Yoga

I have to get out the door in a minute or two or else I'll be rushing even more than I wanted to. I like to get to places just in time without any overlap. But sometimes I do go earlier and it feels pretty good not to be in a hurry on my way. It feels awful to be late, so I don't do that very often.

Today I've decided to walk to Rama Lotus. It takes just over half an hour unless I run for parts. I want to walk. So I'd better head out now.

Here's a link to some people I was at "yoga school" with. I mentioned Todd the other day in class because I've been playing his CD "Bija" a lot lately. He chants the sounds of the chakras and it's beautiful.

Temples of the Divine

So I was going to write about how I was inspired this weekend going into St. Joseph's Oratory in Montreal and how it totally shows how the church is an expression of the body and how we really are walking, breathing temples of the divine spirit but something's still on my mind from this morning.

I teach yoga at CHEO in the eating disorders program. This morning someone mentioned that there's an 11-year old boy on the floor who's not in the program. He's in the hospital with ED and he's 11. Just that itself brings tears to my eyes. What is going on that such a little kid is dealing with disordered eating? Even the person telling me, who is dealing with herself was surprised and disturbed.

Yoga is a place where people with disordered eating issues can hang out. There are all sorts of unsupportive practices in yoga where people with ED can hide. I remember getting sick during one of my trainings in India and I had lost a lot of weight through illness and I got back to my classes and my teacher told me that was good for my practice. That completely went against what I had learned about yoga back in the States (funny, eh?) and I looked at the guy like he was crazy. I probably told him I thought so, too.

So knowing that yoga, with its images of skinny bodies and kriyas and fasting and other body-oriented rituals, could be very unsuppportive to people dealing with eating disorders, I am very conscious to bring out the part where we're all sparks of the divine living in bodies that are actually temples. And that however we are is really great. We're made in all shapes and sizes and everything else.

And it still gives me a knot in my belly to know there are kids in Ottawa ritually starving themselves.

Voting Posture

I did my voting exercise today. It is a different kind of stretch. It requires looking at how things are and comparing them to how I think they should be and seeing how off that is or how close. Things are as they are, right? I mean, that's how things are. And today, the way things are is that we get to vote. So I voted.

It's part of the pose we have in this democracy. I look at where I notice sensations and get curious. I'm curious about the economy and the environment and my family and war and getting older and our young people and lots of things. I know others are curious about those things too.

Do the voting posture - you have until 9:30 tonight!

Coloured Glasses

Last weekend I went to Montreal with my daughter, Remi, who attended the Landmark Forum for Young People. The kids' version is like the adult one, but shorter. (They have less past to put behind them.)

When she got back, she was describing to John one of the exercises they did and she drew this diagram. It's illustrating that we wear different filters and then we get used to looking out of them and we don't notice that we've got a filter on. I think someone had a big stack of glasses and they put them on and ended up with a whole bunch on and things looked pretty grey and dark. When they took the glasses off they could see how things really are without their filters.

Anways, I just loved the diagram. She did another one too that we wiped off but if I can encourage her to draw it again, I'll snap a picture.

Yoga Competition

I'm not sure exactly what's going on in Ottawa, but facebook tells me there's a few more yoga centres opening. That's exaggerating a bit because I did hear about it before the facebook postings, but facebook has become a place where I get a lot of advertising messages now so that's where I see it more.

There are three new ones opening this month that I can think of and I'm sure there will be more happening as people fulfill their dreams of being yoga teachers and opening centres. (And, of course, once people can franchise and duplicate a successful yoga business and repeat it in new markets.)

Personally, I've never had a desire to run a yoga centre, so I stand back and watch and listen to the conversations around space and square footage and all that. Somebody's gotta do it, but it ain't me.

I've seen people say they're working at two places, and I think back to a time when I was asked to sign a contract that said I wouldn't work anywhere else and I didn't go along with it. I wanted to teach where I felt called to teach. But for people running a business, they need their teachers to be loyal and exclusive so they can have something to offer that's special to them. Sometimes that happens and sometimes it doesn't - it all depends on the context.

The teachings of yoga are free, however, the running of a yoga business is not. There will be some competition, vying for the same students in a particular neighbourhood, or type of style like yoga classes done in a hot room, for instance.

It gets competitive naturally. And there's something about yoga being competitive that seems so un-yogic. And at the same time, that's how it is, which is yogic - to look at how things are and allowing them to be that way.

Ottawa has an active yoga market. Yoga has been here longer than it has been in lots of places. And Ottawa will sustain a lot of active yogis who want to practise in group settings because we could all just stay home and practise our postures alone, which is how it's been done for most of history. But we don't, we like to come out and be with other people and learn from new teachers and get tips and tricks on poses and breathing exercises. This means yoga centres will be in business for a long time, which is awesome. And there will be new centres moving in and eventually the market will be saturated and centres will close their doors and students will shuffle around. It's just how it goes. Competition is natural and is a "default setting" and overcoming the urge to compete but rather thrive from within, not from comparing ourselves to what's around us, takes practice and discipline.

Toothbrush Meditation

So I got a new toothbrush the last time I went to the dentist. It's pretty fancy too, for one that they give away. It's electric. It spins and it makes my teeth feel like I've just come back from the hygienist. And it has a little timer on it. I believe the timer goes for two minutes. I've made a little promise to myself that I'll go for the full two minutes. I mean, c'mon, it's not that long and it is an easy way to take care of myself.

Well, what do you think happens? I try to finish early! I catch myself thinking I don't have time and I'm going to stop and I don't really need to do it, I'll do it later and all sorts of things come up. And then I relax and I get into a pattern with my brushing. Top teeth, bottom molars (I know they all have names - perhaps I should learn them?) and I enjoy it! But sometimes I go unconscious and I'm thinking I'm done, when I'm not. It's just like what happens when you meditate. Or rather, when I meditate.

I remember back to when I was first really learning about commitment and for me, that was when I chose to live at Kripalu, being celibate for a year and living in that community and everything that would go with it. The person who was helping me with my application told me, "when you make a commitment, the first thing that shows up is where you're not committed." Totally! Being committed doesn't mean being perfect. Being committed is a practice. That was news to me.

I'm committed to brushing my teeth. It feels good! And sometimes I'm in a hurry. I want to get to some future moment. And then I breathe and relax and calmly brush my teeth and slow down!

Meditation on the Treadmill

My sister and I both meditate. So after our weight training and it's time to get on the treadmill and do a little cardio, my sister reveals her mind. "I've got more important things to do. I'm tired. I can't stay on this machine. I've got to leave now. Surely that's enough time. I'm only doing 10 minutes." It goes on and on. And it's not a drag to hear her because she says it while she's aware. So I know she knows that it's just her mind doing its thing. And it's funny.

After a while her mind goes quiet. It has nothing left to say and her body just keeps walking on the treadmill. Mine too. We talk, we walk, we do our thing, and we know our minds will complain at the beginning and then they will get comfortable. It's like a dog making its bed. It is all fidgety at the beginning and then it settles down and has a nap.

That's often what happens when you sit down to meditate. The mind comes up with a hundred different better things for you to be doing. All of the to-dos that need to be done right this minute show up. And then discomfort is there too. "I can't do this. My knees are sore." Whatever. And if you know that is just part of the deal and don't buy into the story, you get to sit and meditate peacefully. Or you get to do whatever it is you want to do because the obstacles on the path to meditation or the treadmill or to cleaning your office or starting the project or anything you can think of, have all been well-documented by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras thousands of years ago. People are people and we're all going to not want to do stuff we really want to do or think is good for us to do. The mind comes in and tries to sabotage our efforts. If we recognize the signs, we can pursue our path knowing those thoughts will pass. If we get caught up in those thoughts and believe them, we'll stop our progress and take a diversion for a while. No problem. Eventually we'll come back to the path and try to make progress again until we're stopped. And we'll start again. It's inevitable...

Happy Birthday to Me

This is a funny video that my friend, David Cronkite, made for me. I'm 42 today. It still feels great! Hooray for the 40s!

Happiness

On Sunday I read a bit from Anthony de Mello's book, The Way to Love, a book I've mentioned a few times for sure in class, at least once on this blog. He says that we're already happy, we just need to remember it and get rid of the attachment to things and recognize our happiness. Someone after class said it reminded her that there's no "happier" that we're just happy and that there's no striving for it. It's just to scrape off the layers of things that prevent us from noticing our happiness that's already there.

And someone else sent me a page from Tara Brach's book about happiness (that's what the image is). How it's just there. There's nothing to do but notice it. How refreshing. There's not a 10-step process to achieving happiness. It's already ours. It's there.

Good-bye to the Echo

In a few minutes the Echo's new driver is going to come and take it out of my parking place and drive away. I'm actually keeping it insured for him for a couple of days with my plates on until Toyota Financing can get their paperwork straightened out. I discovered that when you want to buy a car from them, they do things super-fast and paperwork takes no time at all, but in this case, it can take a week. Hmmm.

Anyways, something funny happened on Facebook the other day. I had put my status down as, Jamine is "going to have one less car tomorrow" and someone who I know is an environmental guy commented and wrote, "good for you," or something like that. I laughed. What a spin! I think he thought I'm reducing my carbon footprint and being more environmentally conscious. Ooops. If you've been reading my blog you'll know I ended up with 2 cars because I bought an extra car completely on impulse (although entirely premeditated). "Ooops, I have an extra car, now what?" And I'm not keeping the Echo, I'm getting a bigger, heavier car. After last winter when I actually lost a few bucks because I couldn't get to teach a class because I couldn't get my car out of the driveway, I figured heavier may be the way to go. I live in a wintery climate, non?

When I bought the Echo I had just started working at lululemon full time and I needed a car that would be so reliable because I had to make it across town to pick Remi up at the bus. When I started there I was committed to parenting the way I wanted to, which included being with her after school, so I ended early some days so I could get to the bus on time. And that car always made it.

I also bought that car when I was living in "survival mode." I just always did the most basic option and to do anything above was a stretch. I know on the Echo I added a painted bumper and the central lock thingee and I was like, "I'm going to pay an extra 10 bucks a month for that?" And I did.

It took a while for me to really get that I could be a single mom and take care of myself and my daughter without outside help. I wasn't sure that I could do it for the longest time. It took a while before I could relax and know that I had enough and was okay. I bought her new clothes but I didn't buy anything for myself. We still don't have cable TV (or a dishwasher for that matter). I would read articles about how people could save money by doing things like not buying coffees out. I always drank coffee at home. Going to Starbucks and wasting 4 bucks seemed like just that, a waste. So I realized I was already doing those things to save money and I got a bit scared. I was already living so close to the edge. I didn't have a buffer. What if I got sick? What if I didn't have a steady job or enough yoga classes?

As you're aware, it has all turned out. I still get a bit scared and reading about the economy collapsing brings that up too. But what I have now is faith in myself. Faith that I'll figure it out. Faith that I can work enough to have what I need and more. I am strong and can take care of myself and my little family!

So saying good-bye to the Echo for me is not about getting a new car. It's about saying good-bye to a way of life that had me living so much from a place of fear and needing to survive. It's letting go of old patterns and stretching into new places. Living a life of thriving and freedom. That's what I had wrapped up in that Echo and I'm letting it go. (He's on his way over and I'm giving him the keys!)

Trainers

I have a trainer. I pay him to tell me what to do. It's not like I couldn't stay home and run up and down my own stairs and do sit ups and then go out for a long (high-intensity, of course) walk all by myself, of course I could. But I'm old now. I know what I will and will not do on my own. And I will not do strength training on my own. So my sister and I actually split our trainer. We know we need some support and we're willing to go get it.

I taught someone today and she said she knew that she needs me to come to her place and help her do the yoga because if she goes to a class, she'll try to do stuff that could hurt her, and she needs the support of a teacher and she's willing to pay me to come over. I get it!

I've reached an age where I know that there are things I could do and that loads of other people are doing for free, and I'm willing to pay for them anyway. And I've seen enough to know that I do lots of things on my own that other people pay other people to do (computer stuff, for instance).

What a relief it is getting some coaching and support for things you could be doing on your own. We're not going to be able to do it all. I used to try so hard to do everything all by myself! And then there are times when it's good to buckle down and get things done on your own and be more self-sufficient (uh, housecleaning comes to my mind). So it's a balance.

Having a coach or trainer or teacher is a real privilege. (Thanks Scott!)

Partner Yoga is Coming Up

Partner Yoga is coming up soon (September 26) and the questions have begun about bringing someone's boyfriend who's never done yoga before. "I want to get my boyfriend into yoga. Can I bring him to Partner Yoga?" Every Partner Yoga session has somebody's boyfriend who has never tried yoga before.

To be honest, I'm not sure if doing Partner Yoga translates to signing up for regular yoga classes. It's so different in PY. There's a lot that's different in PY than the normal variety. For one thing, there's a good chance you'll have an opportunity to lift your partner up in the air during PY. I've considered removing that move from the repertoire but people invariably request it if I try to leave it out, so we do it. Or try to do it. And there's the rub.


How does "date night" go afterward if you "try" to lift up your partner and it's unsuccessful? There's a lot going on - "I'm not strong enough," from the lifter. "I'm too heavy," from the liftee. Of course, I encourage people to be fine with however it's going and I'll tell you right now I don't give my sister an airplane and I don't make it mean I'm a wimp or she's too big. It's just not workable for me to lift my sister up the same way she can lift me up. But I know that it can be a touchy subject and might bring stuff up that's not what you're expecting when you're signing up for a fun night of Partner Yoga. And for sure, that's not happening for everybody, but I'm pretty sure it's happening for somebody. I don't really dwell on it or comment at all, but I'm sensitive to it.

Check your calendar and see if you can come out to PY! It really is a hoot...

Yoga at the Y

Earlier today I was reading some other blogs and came across this recent post about Yoga at the Y and how great it is. And it got me to thinking!

I am a teacher at Rama Lotus and have been for 6 or 7 years. I go in, I teach, I leave. People come, people go, prices go up, stuff happens, and I'm still in there teaching. I used to wonder why people would go to a yoga class at all seeing as how yoga is free and people can do it at home by themselves and before I lived in an ashram I'd signed up for a series of classes and this drop-in model wasn't in my world. So yoga's free and people can do it on their own but studios have to charge because landlords don't donate their space for yoga classes. (I've asked on occasion, but they won't go for it - they charge a lot.) So then yoga costs something. The Y can charge a little because they're a big business and a charity and have lots of cash flow and it's way different than a little yoga place, which even Rama Lotus is by business standards. Buying in bulk reduces the cost and I know classes can cost below 10 bucks if you've put enough on the card.

And then there's the teachers. I've written before about what people think yoga teachers are supposed to be and I guess charitable should definitely be on that list. Which I think most teachers are as most teachers don't make that much for what they do. So most yoga teachers also have other jobs. Some yoga teachers can get by teaching open classes, but most really can't. There are some very big classes at Rama Lotus, and the person teaching that particular class will be well paid for that class, but most of the classes are small and you could make more teaching at the Y than teaching a daytime class to a few people at Rama Lotus. So teachers generally don't do it for the money.


The length of time for a yoga class has always varied. And it varies on various things. I'm not sure why Bikram began doing 90-minute classes, but he did and Rama Lotus got Bikram classes happening thanks to Luc probably 10 years ago, and then other classes would be scheduled in a similar way to suit the space, I suppose. At Kripalu our classes were 1 hour and 15 minutes for some auspicious reason. Some people get an hour for lunch so a lot of classes are that length, which is what the Y does. They're running on an hourly schedule. Most of the classes I teach outside of Rama Lotus are an hour too, it's enough most of the time. At Omega, the staff classes are 2 hours, so it just depends.

What to wear to yoga has changed over the years (I talk about that on my web site, capitalyoga.com.) I don't think it matters what you wear to yoga but some people do and it can be like a fashion show in some classes. Those great clothes are also very comfortable usually, which is why Chip started lululemon, at least that's what he told me. Doing Bikram in cotton is totally allowed, but usually uncomfortable. I used to wear my bathing suit with shorts on top. Doing non-hot room yoga in cotton works great and that's what most of us wear. (Ashtanga would be an exception as it gets just as hot as a Bikram class in Ashtanga if you're working and there are people in the room!)

When yoga becomes a fitness class it loses something for me. If I want to work out, I go to the gym. If I want to do yoga, I do yoga. It helps me connect to myself and stretch and have quiet time with myself and it feels good. And then it's worth the money, unless I'm doing it on my own!

One of my teachers wrote about offering yoga for free and what happened to him. In our culture if we don't pay for something we don't value it. That's a generalization, but it fits here. And even if there were free yoga classes, they'd need to be outside because indoor space costs something. I've had really cheap classes at people's works and people don't show up. Charge a little more and people come because it's a bigger investment. It's like marketing anything - you have to find the right price, which may be more rather than less. I'm not saying yoga's over priced, but to be honest, I don't know, because I'm not trying to run a yoga centre.

Doing yoga in a dedicated yoga space is also a nice thing to do. I teach a lot of yoga in gyms and dirty floors and places that aren't dedicated to yoga. It's great to be able to teach yoga in a yoga studio. The lighting, the sound system, the props, the whole space has considered yoga. Doing yoga in a gym works, but it's not the same.

Teaching yoga and holding the space for 1 or 50 students, is a privilege and it takes something to do that. It takes a lot of mental energy to do it and it's also something that can be rewarding to the teacher once they get over being drained by it! But it's not something that you can do 8 hours a day. Not leading big classes up at the front. It's something you do for short periods and then you have to do something else. And if you're working all day and then teach yoga at night or stop and do it at lunch, chances are you're not doing it everyday or it will eat up your free time.

Yoga's great and it's awesome that there are affordable classes and classes in dedicated yoga spaces, and private classes. There's a kind of yoga for everybody. And there are good teachers at all levels. One's not better than the other. Yoga's not a competition! Not even the classes or spaces. There's room for free yoga and $15 yoga and $100 yoga classes. Context is the key.

(I grabbed the pictures from my website. I scanned them from the book, Yoga for Americans.)