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Published: December 10th 2005
Many of you have been asking what my yoga classes are like.
First of all, they are diverse. I have been teaching three kinds of classes. Hot, Flow and Basics. The Hot Class features a series of 26 poses done in a room heated to about 100 F. Flow is similar but the poses vary depending on the student’s abilities and the teacher’s preferences. The temperature is more like 75 or 80 and in Basics, as the name implies, I get some beginners. Except last night. There is always an exception.
Classes range in size from one person to 20. The hot classes are the most popular because many students tell us they come here to lose weight and they think that sweating has something to do with that. It’s a constant that we teachers confront. People all seem to have their ideas of what yoga is about. Granted they need some context to get them in the door, but like everyone, they come thinking they know something about what they are getting into. It’s very hard to cultivate beginner’s mind for people who feel a need to measure up.
But yoga’s not like that. There is always a surprise in each practice, though one can never know what it will be until it presents itself. Back to last night, I had two women in my Basics class and neither was a beginner. When I arrived at the studio, one of the women was practically yelling into her cell phone and when she hung up, was in a complete huff. I came over to her and said “Shi Chi, Hoo Chi” which means “Breathe in, breathe out.” She looked at me with a face that I took to mean “Shut up, smart ass, I don’t need you to tell me how to breathe. Can’t you see I am angry!” Of course, she was too polite and knows that I wouldn’t understand it anyway. At the start of class, the other woman, named Mary, asked me what kind of yoga is good for people when they are angry. “For you?” I asked. “No, not for me,” she said. I took the hint.
“The kind of yoga that is good when angry is the yoga of doing something different. Go for a walk, get out of the house, change something and know that in time, this too shall pass.”
We started class with eyes closed and I asked Mary, who also teaches, to translate for me. First we did some simple breathing, then I asked them both to find a soft spot inside of themselves, a place of peace. Then I asked that they consider their good fortune, at having a body that works, a studio in which to practice, time to do so, and money enough to afford it and access to yoga’s teachings. Then to contrast that with the beggars who work the street just outside our window. Then I asked that they think of someone in their life who needs some extra love and attention. And to send them some of that peace. And then to dedicate the practice, the movements, to this person.
I continued for some time with eyes closed, moving through some simple postures, but Mary found it too challenging to both practice and interpret so we succumbed to opening our eyes. The studio recently got some straps and blocks as props, so I got the straps out and used them to help with a few poses. About an hour into the class, my manager poked his head in and said the staff was worried that I didn’t know I had another class beginning exactly when this class ended. Ah, a schedule glitch. Yes, I was aware of it. Yes, I was leaving this class early. So with two students of quite different ability, I split the instruction. I gave Angry woman a quick shoulder rub (tight!) and then some shoulder openers. I’d say 90 percent of the women here are super flexible. But this woman couldn’t join her hands behind her back. (Gomukhasana style to the yogis in the audience) so she got some shoulder openers while Mary got some stronger poses. After a bit of that, I closed the class and as I was leaving, Angry woman told Mary that she felt much better. See… yoga magic.
Before the next class, I had time enough to put on my shoes to go to pee. Our studio is on the 4th floor of a building in which there is a DeCleor cosmetics store on the first floor and a beauty spa on the 2nd and 3rd. In our studio, there is no men’s room. So down to the basement I go wearing my blazing yellow Crocs and a pair of shorts. This always draws stares from the guys in the john, but as a foreigner, I get stares all the time. May as well give ‘em something to look at.
Back in the studio, I grab my iPod and head into the hot room. It’s still five minutes till 7 and as I go in, the students herd in. I put on some calming music, sit on my mat and say in Chinese. “We breathe.” Then I attempt to tell them to count to six on inhalation and six on exhalation, but I brain fart and can’t remember the word for six. I start laughing and several students chuckle too.
Once centered, I ask in Chinese, sort of, which students are new. Of 15, I have four beginners, so I instruct them with body language that the room is hot, they aren’t used to it and if they get dizzy or tired, they should rest. I do this knowing full well that they rarely listen to that advice even if they understand it. This is where “face” comes in. Granted the hot series is suitable for beginners, they must still make some adjustments. But no one wants to appear inferior to anyone else so no matter how tight or inexperienced they are, they all try to do the full pose.
This kind of striving is hard to battle. Western students do it as well, (don’t we all?) so I often demonstrate the fundamental alignment of each pose and then do it with them, going maybe a quarter of the way into the full pose. Because if they see the teacher going more slowly, they will follow. Conversely, if I show the full pose, they’ll try for that as well. This is tough because some of the experienced students can do the full work, even better than I can as they are more flexible. So when the new students see the advanced students go deep, they all want to go. That’s when I bring them back and tell them again, sometimes pointing at a few students, to go with me, not with their neighbors.
About a third of the way into the class, some of the initial enthusiasm of the beginners starts to wane under the heat, sweat and effort required. By two thirds, those same students are really worked and last night I told several to stay down. But they still want to push through it so sometimes, when they are lying down, I put my hand on their shoulder and hold them down while I instruct the other students to continue. They get it, but it drives them nuts. Most of the classes are like this, requiring that I split time helping the advanced students refine their postures, the middle students go a little longer and deeper and the beginners to just back off enough to make it through class. It’s a great challenge to do with nearly zero Chinese language skills. I have to demonstrate a lot. And against traditional advice, I demonstrate what not to do as well as showing the correct pose. I might turn my knee and say “boo yaow/don’t want,” then demonstrate correct alignment. I accompany my boo yaows with a scrunchy face and proper alignment with a smile. Of course, sometimes I go off with some drama, like the knee breaking and me crying. It keeps the students engaged and gives them permission to do what they enjoy, laughing at the silly foreigner. Hey, it keeps them coming back.
One of the things that sets our studio apart from others is that we offer instruction in English. We also touch the students. There are a few other studios here that have recently opened. The ones with just Chinese teachers usually have a teacher at front, just talking and sometimes demonstrating, but rarely touching students and doing hands-on posture correction. Yoga is really new here, at least this Western-style yoga, and most of the teachers around here are quite inexperienced. Think aerobics instruction with a two-week yoga certification and you get the idea.
There are exceptions. There’s a brand new studio up on Wu hill that is the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. They have two teachers, one from India and another from Bali who are quite experienced. So it seems that Y+ isn’t the only show on this road…
We get a lot of repeat business as Y+ sales staff work to get people onto 3,6 or 12 month contracts. Classes are expensive, easily what people pay in America, but Hangzhou is one of the wealthiest cities in China. I keep hearing that of the Forbes 500 world’s richest people who will admit it, 30 or 40 live in Hangzhou. Like any big city, there are some elites here and we like having them around.
So that’s what I do, ten or 12 times a week. For a teaching schedule, it is perfect. Two classes a day is an easy schedule. Sometimes I do three, which is reasonable. While my contract commits me to 15 a week, the managers know that is a tough number to keep up with, so they cut us some slack. They know the teachers are happier and that we provide better service than when we are maxed out.
As for the students, mentally they are like students anywhere. While many come for “weight loss” we try to get them to see that yoga is more about the art of living. I like to offer some philosophy in each of my classes, just to remind them that there is something deeper going on. I often have a student or two in class who can translate such complexities, but they usually feel funny standing out in the crowd like that so I keep it kind of low key.
Physically, Chinese women are smaller and lighter than westerners. They are also more flexible, but that said, many have such little body awareness that it is shocking sometimes to think that people can get through the day. I asked one woman to tilt her hips while standing and she couldn’t get it. It was just her, me and another, so we all got on our backs and tried it. She still couldn’t get it. Hip tilt is a fairly basic movement for an adult, (you sexy thang) but I’ve learned to meet students “where they are” and some just don’t have it yet. (I’m not really sure that women have much recreational sex here, aside from prostitution. With a one-child policy and a nation full of what I am told is insensitive men, I think China is about 60 years behind the west.) That said, this same woman came to my Hot class last night and did much better. We all have our strengths. It could be she was too embarrassed to do a pelvic tilt in front of a foreign man. It could be something much bigger. But she couldn’t breathe either. Sounds strange, I know, but I asked her to breathe from her belly, to use her diaphragm. That’s a harder action than a pelvic tilt, but after 20 minutes, she figured that out. Then I asked her to stand and lift her arms over her head, coordinating the movement with an inhalation. That’s when she hit the wall. She couldn’t get it. It made me laugh and appreciate the skills I have learned and to realize, I did learn them, or at least I haven’t forgotten them. Breathing, man. It’s the first thing we do when we come in the world and the last thing we do before leaving. But not many people pay attention to it until they can’t do it, then they get really motivated.
But for every weakling out there, there is a student who is equally strong. I have a few hard-bodies that can do amazing poses, gracefully mixing both strength and flexibility. While sometimes it makes me wonder what I can even teach them, it’s beautiful to see.
I’m also getting a chance to experiment with classes. We’ve added a pranayama (breathing) class on Sunday nights that has been popular. We follow it with some chanting for the many students who like to sing. Breathing practice is a bit esoteric for these new students so it has attracted the more experienced and that gives me a chance to teach more advanced concepts. I have some really eager students here who are very dedicated and want to learn everything I can offer. That led me last week to demonstrate Jala Neti, a practice of cleansing the nasal passages with water. Contrast that with my experience in America where offering a breathing class is like offering a class on lawn mowing. Not a big money-maker. So it is great to have a studio to teach whatever I like.
It’s a bit like someone opened a studio and promised to pay all the bills. They give me the keys and ask me to teach. I don’t even have to check in students or clean up after them. It’s as close to idea as I can imagine.
Plus tonight, I am beginning a Candlelight Flow class, a new class I was introduced to while in Denver. We’ll turn the lights down, bring on some candles and incense and soft music. I’m hoping it will encourage students to turn a little more inward. As it is new to me as well, it’ll be a good challenge to balance strong work and a quiet mind. I’m looking forward to it.
My own little yoga paradise. I’m feeling very fortunate.
PS. If you are looking for a different perspective on this whole thing, check out my workmate Ian, (Rasyogi) who also has a blog going here. He's a very talented writer. - J
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Maria
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Challenges!
You have an incredible set of daily challenges. I have a regular yoga practice here in Philly (We were fortunate to have Duncan Wong here for a week earlier in the year!)and I'm wondering how my upcoming "Asia trip" of some two months will be. I really enjoyed your detailed description of your students in Hangzou; Funny how the students in my Spanish classes are quite similar. I will be in Hong Kong early Feb, and was thinking of flying to Hangzou, but I fear it will be brutally cold in Feb. What are your thoughts on the matter (especially since I'll be coming in from much more temperate S. India). If I make it to HZ, I will certainly visit Y+! Thanks for the insights.