Yesterday I gave a talk at a corporate office on the benefits of yoga. No, it was not a public asana demo where I had to perform crazy gravity defying, back bending type poses to completely wow people (I will leave those to my husband). But I had to in less than thirty minutes find a way to wow people enough with my words that would at best persuade them to come and try a class or two. It’s a funny feeling for me to do a talk like this. First off, what do I wear? (I mean, I want to be myself but I also want to respect the office environment). I settle with a casual blazer and jeans. (Yes, I own a few blazers). Second, I feel strange “selling” yoga to a crowd who may not be interested in buying. Thankfully, I was invited to do this talk by a wonderful student who has a deep passion for the practice, and I felt more comfortable knowing I had someone on my team who was rooting for me. But, it’s funny how completely alien I feel to the office world. I am sure my feelings are not so different than the way a busy corporate professional may feel stepping into “the house of belonging.” I mean, I can only imagine the awkwardness one may feel at walking up the stairs to our studio and seeing the weird statues and candles and crazy hippy quotes about love painted all over the walls. I mean we love it. But, for the layman who is working a sixty-hour week and manages to finally stumble into the likes of a genuine bonafide yoga studio – it must just feel weird at first. Not, unlike the way I felt initially sitting in the conference room waiting for the group to get their lunches and surround me in office chairs.
The thing is, yoga is not an easy commodity to sell. When you are in a position to peddle it to people it comes across as preachy and cultish. Most of us who have been practicing yoga are totally ga-ga over what it has done for our lives, not to mention our bodies, our well-being, our relationships. It is easy to speak enthusiastically to people about all of those great benefits – especially if those people are asking. But more times than not, I have been in conversations with people where after they hear I practice or teach yoga, they roll their eyes and say “Oh, I have tried yoga, and it’s not for me.” That one always gets me a little. But I often end the conversation respectfully. I mean, how beneficial would yoga seem to be to me if I started yelling at the person for being so ignorant?
As Mitchel would often say, yoga begins with a question. It is usually a discipline , a relationship and a lifestyle that is sought, it is not the thing that is doing the seeking. It is a wonderful thing if it is something you have pursued, found and have truly made a part of your life. I consider it a blessing that in this lifetime we have embraced yoga into our lives. And for a long time, I was pretty stubborn about trying to “get” other people who didn’t necessarily share my same feelings, to try it.
On the other hand, and after having the opportunity to talk to a group who were potentially interested in the practice whether they were one hundred percent on board or not, I think we live in a culture today that cannot afford not to do yoga. I don’t mean to sound like an activist, but, unless I could think of one person who would not benefit from raising their consciousness and adding a little mindfulness to their lives, I don’t really know who couldn’t benefit from a little yoga. Sure, it may have all these stigmas, and it may have all these different approaches. Maybe it seems weird or even intimidating to some. But, putting all those obstacles aside, isn’t it something to imagine a world where we are all making time to create more beauty in our lives? Whether we sit in an office or atop a meditation cushion, there is not one person in the universe who would not appreciate the simple boons of dealing with pain better, improving our focus more and ultimately lifting our spirits. If that is the promise, then office or no office, who wouldn’t in their right mind, want in?
From: Yogapata