Some (Unsolicited) Advice on How to Avoid a Fucking Judgmental Yoga Practice

Yesterday morning, my cousin emailed me a link to a blog post titled Yoga is Fucking Judgmental. My first thought was "That fucking catchy title makes me want to read that blog." But I was walking into my Intro to Psych class, so I begrudingly resisted opening the link and delving into the post right then and there. I'm working on living in the moment, and right then the moment was all about fighting the uphill battle of making research methods interesting to college undergrads.

Class dismissed and hidden in my office, I opened the link and gave the post a good read.  I was right. It was more interesting than correlations and experimental design and would have most definitely kept me from living in my teaching moment. The author, Micah Baldwin, is witty and delightfully frank about his Bikram yoga experiences. He also makes interesting parallels between yoga practice and startups (of which I know absolutely nothing, so I'd better just leave it at that).

But if the blogosphere were a classroom, I would have eagerly raised my hand and kindly disagreed with the statement that yoga is fucking judgmental. Can we have a judgy yoga experience? Yes, of course. Yogis are people, aren't they? People, whether naturally inclined or socially conditioned, do sometimes (okay, often) judge. This yogi will admit that yogis are no exception.

It makes me cringe to write this, but I've done it. The brutal honest truth is that I did it just last week. During an Aerial yoga class, I judged the woman in the neighboring swing for being too scared to try the upside down postures. Thinking she was an uptight drama queen, I was silently screaming at her to suck it up and just do it already. So, yes we do sometimes have judgy yoga moments.

But it is the yogi that does the judging, not the yoga. Yoga is completely nonjudgmental when yogis stop being so fucking judgmental.

It's every yogi for herself though. If you expect everyone who plops down on the mat next to yours to relinquish all judgment, you will be sorely disappointed. If you expect every person who plays teacher to let go of all judgment, you will be let down. All any yogi can do is find ways to create their own nonjudgmental yoga practice.

If that's what you wish for, here's some (unsolicited) advice on finding a judgment-free practice from one yogi to another:

1.   Try on different styles of yoga. Like fashion, we all have different tastes in yoga. Yoga styles differ in emphasis on the level of physical exertion, time spent in relaxation, length of time to hold poses, and attention to spirituality. Try on any and all styles available and decide which style harbors the least amount of judgment for you. For me, Integral Yoga or any Vinyasa Flow class taught by an easygoing and attentive teacher usually does the trick.

2.    Shop around for yoga teachers. If you thought your doctor was judging you every time you walked into her office, you would probably start knocking on a different doctor's door. Apply that logic to your choice of yoga teachers. If you typically leave class feeling judged by the instructor, stop rolling out your mat during her class. There are plenty of other yoga teachers in the sea, no need to spend time with the ones who just don't do it for you.

3.  Be loyal to outstanding teachers. When you find teachers who make you feel on top of the world before, during and after class, follow them wherever they go. Many instructors teach classes in several studios in the area. Make friends with the ones you love and find out what studios they grace with their presence. Most yoga instructors find immense joy in having loyal fans.

3.   Consider boycotting mirrors.  Many yoga studios have a strict no-mirror in the studio policy. Others are plastered with mirrors for yogis to self-evaluate their body position during asanas. Mirrors and I have a love-hate relationship. Sometimes my reflection sweetly whispers instructions for small adjustments and pleasant compliments. Other times it screams ugly judgment right back at me. Consider how the mirror helps or harms your practice. If you find judgment encroaching on your yoga, try the sans mirror approach.

4.  Have a self-guided home practice.  If other yogis aren't in the room, they can't judge you when your crow pose ends with you face planting the floor. When you have a home practice, you can take joy in working on asanas that you're nervous about trying in public. Finding the pose at home might give you the confidence you need to you find it in class. Just make sure to get instruction on how to safely complete asanas before trying them out on your own. Here's some free online instruction from Yoga Journal.

5.  Decide you don't fucking care about others' judgments and, simultaneously, adopt a nonjudgmental attitude.  Usually people are too preoccupied about what is happening on their own mat to judge what is happening on yours. But on the off chance that your yogi mates are judgy, make a conscious decision to just not care. Instead devote all your energy to your practice and attitude. Send good wishes to your fellow yogis in hopes that they can do the same.

At the risk of being punched in the face, I'll be the first to be impressed and immensely happy for you when you make it through your yoga practice with no judgment whatsoever. That's a yoga experience worth celebrating. But even if some judgment does keep sneaking into your practice, I agree with Micah Baldwin on this one. It's still worth jumping on the mat.