Amulya Aradhyula

On Yoga School

I have a lot to say about yoga school but it's been difficult to put into words.

I do this a lot, I think. I sign up for things on instinct, not quite knowing why, but knowing that it's leading me in the right direction. With yoga school, I told myself I needed to do this to add structure to my time off, that an additional understanding of anatomy would be useful, that I'm going to be busy in nursing school so having a daily practice would be helpful. All of that is true, and also, when I got drinks with Viv and Sarah and Grant and Hannah after my first day of school, I flat out told them that I'm religious now.

A year before signing up, I had a call with Jasmine to tell her my biggest misgiving about yoga school was learning about Hinduism from white people. I can't remember what she said, but it was enough to allow me to let that fear go. It has been weird. The way they sing slokas does still sound like The Decemberists. But, ultimately, it has been the only thing that makes sense?

Would I have gone to India for this? I mean, practically speaking, definitely not. And then, on top of that, would learning these teachings in that context made any sense to me? And frankly, I'm suspicious of the Hindu establishment at every turn.

So to find a studio walking distance from me, with a training that fits my schedule, with teachers whose politics I trust and whose understanding of the teachings is vast — I can manage a little cringe.

By religious, I mean a softening. An openness to mystery and letting things be sacred. In practice, we will sometimes do a full pranam. We lie flat, belly down on the ground, hands stretched overhead, in a gesture of surrender. These days, when I do it, I let the ground hold my full weight. I think "Here is everything I have. Thank you thank you thank you."