'I'm like a bird'

It was a challenge at the gym today. The car park was heaving, because there was a conference on next door; the online booking system is still showing classes are full when they're not; and the air conditioning wasn't working. It was a sticky start in many ways.

Because the room was so hot, we agreed to keep the doors open. One door opens on to the corridor leading to the changing rooms and the swimming pool, so there was a constant stream of folk going past our session. Many were talking loudly into their phones and quite a few stopped to have a look at us with our tails in the air.

The other door opens on to a reception area, where people were chatting and clinking coffee cups, and loud music was playing. We acknowledged the distraction, but tried to keep our focus inwards, like good yogis. I smiled on the outside. Highlight of the session came when we were moving into  Eagle posture, just as Lynyrd Skynrd's 'Freebird' came on.

Honestly, you couldn't make it up.

Sharing spaces

Image: Morguefile

I love all my students, of course, but some of the most rewarding reactions to my classes have come from people I've encountered in gyms. This is in part because I'm never sure whether they've come because they actually want yoga or because they're just having a go at every free class included in their membership package, so it's always pleasing when they seem to enjoy it and, better still, come back for more.

It's  not all sunshine and lollipops, however. The most challenging aspect is often the noise, because sports complexes, leisure centres and the like are busy places. It often takes all our yogic powers of concentration not to be distracted by excited children hurtling along the corridor to the swimming pool or a football squad being briefed by a barking coach just outside our door.

Also high on the list of challenges is the fact that timetables are often very tight. One class finishes at 10.45 and the next one starts at 10.45. You see the problem. Surely it's only fair that we teachers finish on time so that the next class can start on time and that we vacate the space as quickly as possible. I recently took over a studio from one of those pump-and-grind style classes, where the participants lingered to chat and the boom-boom-boom continued at full volume while my yogis tried to settle themselves for as prompt a start as we could manage. No one seemed in a hurry to leave, and the instructor looked quite affronted when I asked, 'Could you turn the music off, please?'

Sometimes I forget that not everyone lives by yoga manners.