Scranton’s “Hot Yoga” (that is, Bikram Yoga taught by instructors who were not trained by Bikram) draws a sizable crowd—easily 40 to 50 people per class. True to its name, the temperature inside the room soars to 105 degrees. Huge cauldrons of water periodically release steam throughout the 90-minute class. The effect is akin to exercising in a steam room.
Although I believe heating a room to that degree is unnecessary—we can generate appropriately intense heat for a yoga practice through Ujjaya breathing—I generally enjoy the healing effect of Bikram. The 26 primary postures are simple—just about everyone, regardless of size, flexibility or fitness level— can practice Bikram, and progression is swift. The downside: the Bikram dialogue can be annoying, especially when the instructor has an unpleasant dialect. Also, the laundry. I need to wash three towels, my mat and yoga clothes after every practice.
Yesterday a new downside made its way into my Bikram-cum-Hot Yoga practice. As the instructor explained how to get into a posture she said, “wrap your first two fingers around your big toes like a piece of bacon.” Bacon. Bacon. The word bacon never, ever, under any circumstances, should be uttered in a yoga room.
The yogic lifestyle is a vegetarian lifestyle. Period. No exceptions. Pigs possess the intelligence of a three-year-old human, and are every bit as cute. Intellectually speaking, pigs are smarter than dogs. Pigs used to produce food in the US are tortured, imprisoned in small quarters where they don’t even have enough room to turn around, for the duration of their lives. There is enough information out there about the horrors of the US conventional food industry. That ordinary people choose to ignore the atrocities propagated on fellow sentient beings is sad. That a yogi would cavalierly disregard the plight is wrong.
The mammalian brain, across all species, is more similar than different. All mammals feel emotions—grief, loss, love, sorrow, pain, joy. I’m not saying everyone should adopt a vegetarian lifestyle, although I do think that those who eat animals should at the very least insist the animals they eat were treated humanely while alive. And I do believe all yogis should practice vegetarianism.
Vegans tend to be angry and self-righteous. It’s easy to ignore any message delivered in anger. After yoga class I approached the teacher and gently (no anger, no judgment) explained that hearing her refer to the meat product of a dead tortured sentient being with the IQ of a three-year-old human was upsetting for me. Every cell in my body tensed, which is the opposite effect of what I’m going for in practicing yoga. The teacher snapped, “That’s what I was taught to say. That’s the dialogue.”
Time for me to find a new yoga studio in Scranton. I sure wish Jois Yoga would open a shala here.
Well, that is not part of the dialogue. I am a certified Bikram instructor and I can say it is not. However, there is one part of the dialogue where Bikram refers to a Japanese Ham Sandwich so I cannot say that meat is not referenced in the dialogue. It always puts a knot in my stomach when people have a negative experience with Bikram Yoga. I believe there are more positives to Bikram Yoga than negatives. We are talking the entire time as instructors and it is good to be able to find your peace in yoga so I do hope you are able to find the peace in a yoga class soon. Yoga is good for us.
Hi Charlane, Thank you for your comment. Actually, my negative experience was with Hot Yoga, not Bikram. The instructor to whom I refer in my post was not taught by Bikram. My Bikram instructors—most notably, Mary Jarvis in San Francisco—promote a vegetarian lifestyle. Truthfully, though, it is disheartening for me to hear that Bikram himself refers to ham sandwiches in class. For my own peace of mind, I’m going to choose to believe he does that because he enjoys being controversial. 🙂
How do you go from Ashtanga to Bikram? Bikram is not even real yoga and Bikram is certainly not a yogi so why would the bacon reference surprise you?
I got to Hot Yoga (a Bikram knock-off–not even authentic Bikram) because I’m living in Scranton, PA, and there was no Ashtanga here until about a month ago when a fellow Ashtanga yogini and I began renting space for our morning practice. Now we practice daily with Sharath’s CD or David Swenson’s. I’m now very blessed to have my practice and a beautiful shala to practice in. Practicing home alone just doesn’t work for me.