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| freiamaya--that's actually good. If the instructor in question is the owner, then she is probably going to be very sensitive about feedback from her customers--this is her livelihood! Honestly, you'd be doing her a favor to tell her how you feel about that whole "rigid personality" thing. She probably has no idea how you (and others) feel about it. Is there a suggestion box or some other way to give feedback without having an awkward conversation?
(Talking with the owner is best. I only suggested Bikram corporate as a last resort.)
Ferret |
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| Ferret, I totally understand what you are saying. I've tried to broach the topic, as in "I'm not sure I understand the link between being rigid personality-wise and being inflexible, and it kind of is bothering me". Her answer is that in her studies in holistic and nontraditional medicine she has observed and seen this link time and time again...and in past conversations (specifically about the franchise thing and studio compliance), she's said that she and Bikram have a really good relationship and she's not concerned at all about studio noncompliance wrt franchise/Bikram requirements and so on.
This IS a cultish studio - being the only Hot Yoga in town, and with plenty of other customers/clients, and with her stated relationship with Bikram, I'm pretty sure that whatever concerns I have will be/have been brushed under the non-regulation studio lino (hahaha!). Its her playpen, I suppose! There is a tendency for the very young who do this form of yoga at our studio to be less analytical about what is being said, and for the more life-experienced (aka oldies like me!) to be less willing to swallow everything hook, line, and sinker both with respect to Bikram Hot Yoga health claims and medical advice (including our only male instructor - he and I have discussed these issues at length and with some amusement). My background in the Health Sciences means that I have a personal pet peeve with respect to the promulgation of junk science and dubious medical facts which seems to be rampant. If that makes me rigid and therefore unable to touch my forehead to my knee, so be it!
Personally, for me, I absolutely understand that I tend towards a Type A personality which is indeed rigid and which both helps my practice (I just won't give UP! I believe that if I am consistent and kind within my practice, I will reap many benefits from Yoga, improve my balance, coordination, flexibility and help reconnect my mind, body, and spirit!) and hinders my practice ("Are you NUTS??? My leg CAN'T go that way just yet!") However, I also understand that I have had certain longterm use and misuse motion patterns and physiological facts (such as being short-waisted) that also both help and hinder my practice. So, for me, the bottom line is that the feedback from this question has set my mind at ease because my initial thoughts about this link have been confirmed by most of you. The practical thing, I think, is to accept that she and I don't/won't see eye to eye on this matter and at the end of the day, I can just go in and do my yoga and take from it what I need. I guess we all have our own paths to our own personal truths, and situations like these challenge our fundamental belief systems and make us think, which is a good thing! After all, who wants to be a drone??? And doing Bikram's Yoga doesn't mean that one is by definition a "true die-hard-whatever-Bikram/my instructor-says-MUST-be-true-because-Bikram/my instructor-says-it believer". There are LOTS of us who get different things from the practice and quite often tune out the "bumpf"...a skill I need to become better acquainted with!
Thanks everyone,
Namaste
Freia
Edited by freiamaya 2010-01-11 4:47 PM
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| Wow! This instructor sounds quite "rigid" in her attitudes. *snicker*
You know what's weird, is that it would ever come up that she is not concerned about studio noncompliance? Who says something like that, except for someone who is concerned. I've certainly never heard such a thing at my studio. Me thinks the lady doth protest too much!
Anyway, it seems like venting and getting some sympathy and validation helps. Keep doing the yoga, and don't let the turkeys get you down.
Ferret |
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| Thanks, ferret!
I really appreciate the time and effort taken to help me sound this issue out...
Freia |
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| i think what is really cool is how you did speak to your own personality and mind about how the type A can both be very driven (determined) which takes a certain fortitude. . .which is a kind of rigidity. . . and also how that can be a hinderance in the mind. . . holding onto certain ideas or patterns even when they don't serve you or whatever. . . which is also a form of rigidity.
trust me, there are also people who are TOO flexible. i mean, they're practically type-C personalities! LOL and, they NEED some rigidity! you've heard the phrase that someone needs to get a back bone? yeah, that's part of it.
and i'm sure that all of us have places--regardless of personality--where we are too rigid or too flexible. and the beauty of ALL of the yoga practices (beyond asana) is that they take us into balance. it's a fine tuning back and forth, back and forth to get just right.
it's amazing.  |
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| Rigidity and flexibility are both necessary, physically, mentally and emotionally. Balance is the key. For me, balance is the point of yoga. Opposites can only exist in relation to their opposite.
Balance is not a fixed place, but rather an active process.
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| yeah, as demonstrated in dancer's pose. |
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| Demonstrated in MOST postures, really.  Same thing as Jim says - balance doesn't mean you ELIMINATE your strength/rigidity or looseness/flexibility - it just means you have BOTH of them, in a good relationship. "Equal and opposite, fifty-fifty." |
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| well, i suppose technically all of them since we're talking about balancing between the hard and the soft.
but, when i'm in dancer's pose these days, the balance is interesting to find.
i remember about 2-3 months after i had the baby, i tried my first yoga class. i still had, like, zero pelvic floor. ok, let me be honest. by then, most women feel normal, and i think that's because they had no awareness of what their PF was like before the birth, and by that time it "feels better" and you're not peeing on yourself when you cough, laugh or sneeze. but for me, my PF didn't feel normal until about 14-15 months post partum.
anyway, three months in, i go to a class and my vagina won't quit makng comments and then i try crow pose. holy moly was that an exercise in finding the balance, finding the strength, utilizing certain flexibilities (in hips, etc). man-oh-man.
and let me tell you this, i was doing mula and uddiyana bandha (with and without pranayama) and working on nauli every day to help get that area back together again. every day--20 minutes.
still took 14-15 months to feel normal, and i can still feel some oddities now and again. it is getting better. like, 98% or something i would say...i'm going to get to 100. it's ok to have aspirations.
anyway, yeah, balance, patience, yoga brings out a lot of htings. |
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Is there a link between physical flexibility and personality?
