Yoga is a gift of time that you give to yourself. Those daily distractions that push and pull you in so many directions create conflict and oftentimes yoga is what we give up first. There are so many benefits to yoga: helping to increase flexibility, a balanced metabolism, increased muscle strength while providing you with mindfulness, energy, and vitality.
In the studio, there are social norms that we all follow. We enter the studio quietly, we roll out our mats, maybe walk over and grab some blocks. Take a few moments to sit, have a sip of water and begin to settle into our practice. We make ourselves immersed in the present moment, and look forward to just ‘being’ without any distractions.
But what if the typical community norms are tossed out the window? As individuals we are a fickle bunch and sometimes funny or odd things happen during a class. We asked you, our community, to share your stories of behaviors that you have witnessed during yoga and you shared both publicly and privately. Here are your collective moments of #ItHappenedAtYoga
“I was teaching Hatha classes late one night a few years ago. We were 15 minutes into the opening sequence when I cued chair pose. One of my regulars sat down in his deep chair pose, pulled out a sandwich from his bag next to his mat and proceeded to unwrap it and consume it while we moved through the next five minutes of class. It was a hot studio, the room was 105 degrees and the worst part!? He was eating a tuna fish sandwich.”
“A yoga instructor brought his adorable dog who proceeded to snuggle up on my mat during the beginning of class only to “toot” a really smelly one.”
“During the start of the pandemic when we were only allowed to have five students in the room and everyone was working through the fears of germs, trying to understand how the virus spread. An unknown student was in class and when I walked into the room to begin class he was washing his feet with his spit and wiping them with his hands. He was asked to leave.”
“In a Hatha class a yogi was supporting his practice with blocks. As the class went on he continued to go and gather additional blocks creating a very large eight block stack. At the very end of class before we were going to lay down into our final resting posture he performed a karate kick and launched the blocks across the studio floor.”
“I was queuing a class on inversions and one of our students was set up close to the wall. She fell out of her handstand and tried to use her foot on the wall to stop her fall. She ended up accidentally punching her foot through the sheet rock. She left her mark on the studio by leaving a nice gaping hole to remember the class by.”
“I was nearly knocked out one time when a student of mine wanted to have a spot for an inversion. He kicked up to the handstand and completely freaked out once his feet left the mat. As his feet flailed out wide one of his feet struck me square in the face. I saw a blinding light and felt nauseous the rest of the night. I had to kneel down to continue to queue the class. At the time, I did not know my nose was broken until later that next day when I went to an urgent care clinic. It was extremely challenging trying to keep my head above my heart the entire time while I taught a 90 minute Power Flow class.”
“I’ve had multiple instances where students don’t even take the class that we are offering. One instance in particular, I had a student post up in the front row for Sculpt and do her own class the entire time. Completely opposite of what anyone else in the room was doing. It took doing your own thing to an entire new level!”
“I dropped a class into savasana during a Hatha practice, and one of the students decided that it was a good time to rep out 57 push-ups. I only counted because I was so surprised that he chose savasana, the final rest, as a time to get his push-ups for the day in!”
“I was teaching a Hatha class and as everyone settled into savasana. I quietly made my way towards the door. I caught my toe and tripped. I was literally hovering over the face of one of my students on the verge of landing on top of her. Her eyes flew open and I can only imagine the look of terror on my face as I flailed over her, but ultimately I caught myself two inches away from crashing into the giant gong at the side of the room. Thankfully I did not land on her and she was able to settle back into her savasana. We both laughed about it after class and agreed that it would’ve been really epic if I had crashed into the gong.”
“I once got woken up in a Nedra class by my lovely wife.... apparently I snore.”
“During a hot sculpt class I was instructing, a student walked out during the middle of the class. After about five minutes he quietly walked back in and resumed his practice. In the course of the one-hour class, he walked out another two or three more times, and he always returned and jumped right back into his practice. I assumed he was refilling his water. It wasn’t until after class that I found out from the receptionist that he was going into the restroom to throw up. He found me on his way out the door and mentioned to me that it was a great class.”
“I was using a new Playlist for a class I was teaching. During Savasana a song started that sounded familiar. And after a bit I recognized the music being played by a sitar as Light My Fire by the Doors. One by one I watched as my students began to recognize the song and eventually we were all snickering.”
Just like in life, sometimes the best lessons are taught unexpectedly. We hope these stories trigger additional stories, and if you have one to share, please tag Union Yoga in the post and use #ItHappenedAtYoga. If you don’t have a story to share, that is ok, just remember to make time for yourself and your practice regularly and your odds will increase that one day you will get to witness an act of #ItHappenedAtYoga.
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