Saul David Raye and the Packed Yoga Class
I’ve been meaning to try Saul David Raye’s yoga class for a while now – he does teacher training at Exhale and thought he might be a good complement to Shiva Rea. I finally got a chance to go to one of his classes on Sunday morning to meet two friends.
On the positive: Saul leads a wonderfully spiritual, meditative class that includes a smidgen of kirtan and a lot of soul. He is a healer and I definitely want to take some teacher training from him at some point.
On the negative: Don’t go to a weekend class at Exhale when there’s yoga teacher training. Saul’s class was so packed that people were practically practicing on the walls. I got there late and was smushed in next to the cubbies. Exhale seems to have this policy of letting everyone in even when they are clearly over capacity. There has to be some fire regulation they are breaking here.
The Powers That Be there really need to limit the number of people allowed in a single class or get a bigger space. It’s not right to be paying $17 for a drop-in class to be stuck up against a wall where you can’t even raise your arms alongside yourself.
I am continually reminded that while I love the teachers at Exhale, I don’t love the management.
Despite that, I was mostly able to navigate the confines of my mat to get a good workout in. But next time, I will attend his weekday classes.
I agree with you not only on Saul David Raye (took a couple of classes with him) but also the crowded class/price situation. It’s a pet peeve with me and of course I did a bit on it:
http://yogadawg.blogspot.com/2007/01/yoga-news-yogas-all-time-record-profit.html
Guess things will get better once Yoga loses its trendy panash.
I think you are missing an opportunity to practice yoga in this packed situation. I’m a Sunday morning regular and I love it because the energy in the room is nearly palpable and, more importantly, it requires consciousness. There are times I need to make sure I don’t kick someone in the face or bump my head into someone’s butt. Paradoxically, I also spend at least half of class with my eyes closed. Finding the balence between inner and outer focus, actively caring for those around me while tending to my own needs and desires and being deeply aware of my body within the space around me are distinct benefits to the situation. Overall, the practice of gratitude is not exclusive to yoga, but is helpful in recieving all blessings of the circumstances. I am grateful for all the lessons I learn in the crowded situation and for me it totally worth it and I don’t mind sharing (because I don’t feel that I’m better or more worthy than anyone else, no one there is “in my way”). At the end of the day, it’s personal preference, I suppose. Namaste!
Karina, I say this in the most gentle way…but the rationalizations you provide in regards to feeling “gratitude” and “sharing” do not really articulate a benefit to having an overpacked yoga class other than it appears that you get some sort of charge or excitement from being there…because the “energy” you say is so palpable seems to be the energy of, “look, I’m in the popular yoga class with the popular teacher so I’m willing to put up with an ass in my face.”
This does not discount the other serious issues with overcrowding, including the dangers involved. It is much easier for people to get injured when they have no room and are more likely to fall on the person next to them. Furthermore, even with teacher’s assistants, it’s impossible to get the right attention in a class that large.
It’s so easy for new age people to want to be so positive all the time that it seems we’re not allowed to criticize – we must find “gratitude” in everything. Well, I’m grateful for having a choice and that to me means finding a smaller class.
I’m not discounting the excitement that comes from being in a very large group but the space should support it. The sizes of the rooms at Exhale absolutely do not support the numbers and it’s not a good recipe for good, safe learning in my opinion.
I’ve had so many wonderful classes with unknown teachers with small groups where I get the adjustments and personal attention I need PLUS the positive energy…I just don’t see the need to pack myself in like a sardine just to see the celebrity teacher.
different strokes make the world go round…
There is a big old “groupie” vibe at the Saul classes. I don’t get it. It is almost like “Simon Sez” yoga. I think all the “spirituality” preached in the class is not being used in the world as people will elbow you to get a space in that class. It is a case of “not walking the talk”. And, I think it speaks volumes about the teacher! To each his own. One Yoga class does not a Guru make! Oh, and the management at Exhale is a joke. They allow that to go on and purvey themselves as a space for community. Hmmm.
Looking for a place to ? Saul on something he said in the first class of his i took yesterday brought up this site. Thanks all for your honesty!!
I went to a weekday class bc Girish Gruden, whose very original Hanuman chant i adore, had FB he’d be at his class w/o specifics & it was not on Exhale Venice website as a special event or announcement. Staff spent time & legwork chasing down the info & answerig my ?s about the level of the class. They also volunteered that it would be crowded bc of TT, but i thought oh how lovely to practice with such caring nurturing people.
Owl, maybe it’s the focus on getting into yourself, maybe the people would have moved their nests of unused blocks & towels if they were able to allow another human being in, but i could not get anyone to make eye contact, let alone spontaneously move a mat two feet from the back wall so that i could fully unroll mine in the space the assistant insisted i go to. Although the class had many many pauses & breaks, no one adjusted to prevent future collisions their long limbs/choices of variations/easily had caused.
When Saul aborted a bridge sequence for a laughter exercise after having already announced wheel, i thought it would be disrespectful to continue with my own felt need , so at the end of the class i went up and was jostled, knocked & bumped by a rush of yogis returning their props. Every other peice of floor space was available–i was the only person in the hall who had not rolled up her mat!! They were less caring tha strangers rushing to crowd onto a city bus!
Trying to get my bag from the cubby after everyone else , i still had to ask four times for a threesome who could not see or hear me to please excuse me(they were standing in front of the only cubby with anything in it with no other people around except for me. Then i couldn’t get out because the people from the next class were rushing in.
How much is how /what people came to the situation & what they want out of it–an experience for themselves? Love thy neighbor is not part of it–the only nod beyond individualism was one invocation “i’m sorry” about the gulf .
BTW, a single class is now $23
I had a great deal of challenge with SDR when I took a Yoga Teacher Training with him. This is not a man comfortable or confident in his own skin. If he was he would not have any trouble dialoging about subjects he brings up in class. If you have a different point of view to him, on anything, he seems to get very uncomfortable and combative. This goes hand in hand with his ego and his issues with it. He talks a great deal about ego eradication in class yet I think the reason he does it is because of his own ego issues. He also seems quite tickled by the crowd he attracts and the drama that ensues around getting a space in his class. I know this directly as members of the teacher training questioned this and he only looked at the manager of Exhale (his lady) and smiled. It is very unyogic to revel in what ultimately causes drama and possible harm to people in a class. If there was ever a fire et I can only imagine the chaos that would ensue. But, it also goes to show the greed involved in packing the room that tight. Oh well, karma is a bitch!
Check this out, I think it may have something to do with aforementioned teacher!
http://recoveringyogi.com/the-yoga-stars/