11.22.2009

Wanna know a secret? Yoga is expensive.

I've spent a good chunk of my paycheck over the years paying to practice yoga at an excellent local studio. But it's nothing compared to training to be a teacher. It's a little scary to add it all up: a weekend teacher training, weekends studying with visiting master teachers like Ana Forrest and Bryan Kest, the weeklong training in Mexico.

But I'm very clear on how much I spent this past weekend: $500. OK, it was two weekends. Isn't that better? (Say yes.) Yoga training is calculated in hours and this past weekend was the culmination of 24 hours learning hands-on assists. When broken down, it's $20 per hour, which seems semi-reasonable to insane yoga people like myself. But I'm still grateful (most of the time) that yoga has become a black hole for my time, and dinners out have pretty much come to a screeching halt. I've reallocated my resources.

But despite the achy upper back and 12 hours confined to a hot studio, I loved the whole weekend. I'm ridiculously happy to spend hours every day talking and thinking yoga, refining postures and luxuriating in some hip opening. My shoulders feel the effects of being lifted deeper into wheel. My wrists are sore from pulling on people's legs. Yes, assisting involves a lot of contact with really sweaty people. I can't even pretend it's appealing to the sane. But I'd do it every day, all day. It's incredibly fun to see people light up when you deepen a twist, get them into the right alignment or help them into a headstand.

I'll help you too. Remember, the free class deal is time limited!

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