Green Options

 It’s 7 am. Do you know where your yogi is?

 I’m a relative newcomer to the practice of yoga. I started with Bikram about a year ago and navigated my way through several different traditions until I discovered ashtanga. In my ongoing search for the “right” practice, I’ve tried a lot of different classes and a lot of different teachers. There was the Iyengar instructor who poked me in the back when I did something incorrectly, and the anusara teacher who never showed up. The Bikram-aholic who clapped with enthusiasm when a student vomitted. (“You’re purging!!”) Currently, I’m studying under two different teachers in Paris. One is a veritable gumby of a fellow who performs meta massages with his didjeredoo. The other, a lighthearted yogi who loves to sing in English. His CD’s always skip.

The other day after a particularly good class, a friend of mine asked me about the teacher. “Do you think he…drinks?” I had to laugh because I’d been wondering the same thing every Sunday. What, exactly, did our limber guru do with himself after each class? Did he have a life outside of the studio? I was determined to find out. 

Sarah Smarsh and Simran Sethi are writing a series on the impacts of everyday things. They will be posting previews on Green Options before launching the posts on Huffington Post.

Who doesn’t feel better after a yoga class? Yoga is the union of the body, mind and spirit.It stabilizes the nervous system, decreases blood pressure, increases flexibility and endurance, and opens you up in ways that you may not have imagined.

Simran used to be a yoga teacher. She loves the practice even though she hasn’t spent much time on her mat lately. (“Yoga on the inside, baby!”) Sarah gets her yoga on every week and knows it does her body good.

But, as any student knows, the real practice starts when you walk out the door. That’s also where the rubber hits the road and your practice takes its toll on the environment.

Oh brother, that again? Yes, my dear yogin, that.