YOGA TODAY
When There Were No Yoga Mats: Before Yoga Was a ‘Thing’
ically, there were no actual Yoga classes near me. Along with my Ram Dass studies, the only other thing going was Richard Hittle- man’s Yoga: 28 Day Exercise Plan . So, I copied the positions from the images of a skinny female model, who wore stirrup tights and had straight bangs across her forehead, for many rounds of 28-day segments. When I was old enough to drive, I would take my Mother’s car to Hollywood where I would do Yoga with the Integral Yoga Society. This was always offered at a private home, usually in the living room where there would be maybe 6 people at most. There were still no Yoga mats, just our beach towels, and classes were a $1 donation. The line up of practices was always the same: you sit and do breath of fire, then alternate nostril breathing, then you rest. Sun Sa - lutes, then rest. Forward bends came next, and then, you guessed it, we’d rest. And so on, until the headstand and shoulder stand at the very end. After a long Savasana (resting pose) and a meditation, we
BY CLAUDIA NEUMAN, MSW, E-RYT 500 YACEP
For the Yoga community, and for better or worse, it’s fair to say that Santa Monica, CA, is considered the launching point for Yoga in the United States. As a Yoga student and instructor for over forty years, and a California native born in Los Angeles, I have a unique and deep - ly personal history with and perspective of this founding. Not only did I watch it unfold, I had a front-row seat… and remember when there were no Yoga mats. Back in the day… we are always weary when something starts with this phrase, I understand, but… Back in the day… Yoga wasn’t a thing. Very early on Yoga was for the weirdo Hollywood types like Gloria Swanson and Marilyn Monroe. But I was born into a family that abid - ed by the health fads of the era. There was Euell Gibbons ( Stalking the Wild Asparagus ), an early environmentalist and “back to the land” wild food forager, and later Adelle Davis ( Let’s Eat Right to Keep Fit ),
were invited to eat soup, which would be on the stove while we did our practices. If you were flush, you left a dollar; if not, no worries. What was important was just to come and practice. Why? Because the mind and body are one and the same — and Yoga is about de- votion to something greater than chaos. The emphasis is always on meditation. We did the poses so we could have a peaceful mind and meditate. That was the point.
who made points about the disastrous state of health and nutrition in America. Then there was the couple, Durk Pearson and San - dy Shaw, who pioneered the vitamin fad and extolled the virtues of vitamin therapy for an- ti-aging. I was impacted — by both my fami- ly’s embrace of these fads, as well as the fads themselves (not all) — for a lifetime. It started at age 8, when my amazing Moth - er took me to the local Yoga class held in the park on Wednesdays. We are talking about 1966, Los Angeles. Yoga was not a ‘thing’ — it was for off beat weirdos like my Mother and myself. I loved going, despite being the only kid there. From my point of view closer to the ground than the adults towering above me, I watched their strained faces; everyone looked really serious and stiff. I didn’t understand. To me, it was the most natural thing in the world to do bends and twists and balancing poses. And we didn’t have Yoga mats. You were supposed to bring a towel, specifically a beach towel, something large and thick. We sat and did breath exercises and facial exercises, like sticking our tongues out un- til we could touch our chins. There were no
Studios on the Scene In my twenties I was blessed to find a Yoga teacher named Ragavan with an actu - al studio. It’s hard to imagine this now, but his was the only Yoga studio in Santa Monica, CA, where I was also living at the time. It was with Ragavan that I did my first serious study of Yoga. He emphasized quieting the mind through meditation, using the poses to bal- ance the body and the nervous system, and building up strength through the practice of pranayama (breath retention). Yoga practice was offered at 6am and 6pm; it was always the same sequence of poses. And it was iden - tical to the Yoga I had known — beach towels, no mats, no standing poses, resting in between, and meditation at the end. Classes were still $1. Ragavan offered his students the opportunity to study to be teach - ers with him. His training was a year-long course during which you were expected to attend both morning and evening practices, go ad- ditionally on the weekends to learn the philosophy of Yoga, as well as learn about the lifestyle to adopt. He taught diet, fasting, reading the texts, practicing meditation and more. Ragavan called his studio “Scientific Yoga” because he taught us that Yoga was a precise science for living. He and his wife eventually opened a health food restaurant. She was an amazing woman with fiery hair and clear, golden eyes, who would teach for him if he was too busy. Many afternoons were spent hanging out with them at their restaurant, sipping tea and listening while he talked about the Yoga Sutras or Tantric texts. She would cook and have a new menu daily. I remember talking with her once
standing poses. We did classic sun salutes, forward bends, back bends, twists and inversions. In between each pose, we did a resting pose. At the end, after a longer resting pose, we would sit up for meditation. The emphasis was clear: we do all this breathing and moving in order to have a clear mind for meditation at the end. Yoga is about having a balanced, sattvic (meaning light or pure ) mind. The mind and its thoughts must be harnessed to move in the direction of truth. When I was about 16 years old, I wanted to have a Vegetarian fast food chain. Yes, I was a vegetarian at that age. It was radical then. I grew sprouts in a jar and tried to make yogurt. I ate carob instead of chocolate. I had read books like Be Here Now by Ram Dass, while my Mother did Yoga in the backyard and meditated every day. She stud - ied Metaphysics and taught me how to develop my psychic abilities. She would faithfully do Yoga on TV with Lilias Folan, Yoga and You ; if she missed Lilias’ broadcast, she’d make sure to get in her half hour with Jack LaLanne, the famed fitness and nutrition guru of the time. I, on the other hand, was doing Yoga from a book, because, iron-
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PATHWAYS—Summer 23—11
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