Etiquette of being a student is always a hard subject for any teacher to approach. This subject could cover a lot of different items that come up in a public class. In this piece I am mainly going to refer to personal hygiene and its communal classroom effects, a subject we Ashtangis are intimately aware of!
The first one that I m going to mention is that of sound. There are many sounds that can come out of the human body, some can be controlled and others not. Some effect only the student and some effect your immediate local environment. Gas related hygiene is most often a controllable event that can negatively effect the entire room rapidly. Now, granted, historically there are postures for releasing gas and dealing with digestion. Pattabhi in fact mentions getting rid of “bad gas”. My observations are thus… Sometimes things just sneak up on you and there is nothing you can do, but one of the benefits of consistent practice of yoga is that over time you can balance out the body and what you are ingesting, so this no longer happens. I am aware of students that just “let it rip” all of the time. FIrst off, we are in a public and often crowded environment. When most of these concepts of releasing gas were written or created, you were in a room with you and your teacher, not in a room with 30 people you did not know too well. Big difference. Second of all, yoga should be dietary introspection as well as spiritual or physical. If you have gas all the time, then you need to look at what you are eating and alter it. Gas is your body telling you that you are eating something that is not in your best interest (or those around you). I know this because garlic is my first love and the bane of all of those who are subject to its aftermath. So I stopped eating a lot of it and my digestion AND skin were altered for the better. If its bad etiquette to wear perfumes or colognes, than dont you think it would be worse etiquette to have digestive “cologn”? Haha. Thats funny. I am always amazed at the ease with some students comfortability and obvious non caring or even the reinforcing of this particular behavior. Seriously. Respect those around you.
The subject of smell in general is a big one. Personally, I am a bit allergic to perfumes and colognes and will spend my teaching/practicing time sneezing and crying when someone decides to douse themselves in them. I dont jump around and show off, wear distracting clothes (whole other subject), or do anything else that distracts me or others. This includes smells. I find that the best situation for me is to shower immediately before a practice and immediately after. I know that it is hard to find the time or shower for that matter. Because of this, I often carry wet wipes or use a wet tissue in the bathroom to spot clean problem areas before class. I understand that some folks fundamentally disagree with deodorants and whatnot. However, there are ecologically minded products out there that work well enough to get through a practice. I have found some great ones! Also, what you eat comes out of you not only in “sound” but in sweat. When I eat onions or garlic, I smell like I ate onions or garlic. When I stopped eating all things fried, my skin and sweat were totally altered for the better as well!
Cleaning your clothing and yoga mats/rugs is huge. HUGE. Us men smell like man things and its not a good smell when left to “age”! Your rug should be cleaned, often.
Patanjalis’ Yoga Sutras mentions the concept of SAUCHA, purity and cleanliness of body, heart, mind, and environment. It is one of the 5 niyamas. The Niyama are the second of eight elements in the 8 limbed approach to yoga, asht+angas. Caring about yourself and your local environment is an integral step on the path to yoga. Conscious of not only yourself, but of those around you. By all means eat what you want, “expell gas” at will, and clean as little as you like while in the privacy of your own home. If you are putting yourself in a public environ, however, your behavior cannot be the same as when you are at home. I try to behave in a manner all of the time that does not need to change due to my environment. Life is much easier this way and I find that I am always respectful of both myself and others constantly! SAUCHA for my people!
this post should be read by all yoga students! love it!
matt,
1) glad i found your blog via your fb page. i was getting sad that the ashtanga *ashtanga blog started by rusty wasn’t being updated anymore.
2) i’m SO glad i haven’t encountered anyone who intentionally let it rip in class. there has been a toot here and there, and most (normal) people are rather embarrassed by it.
3) is there anything we should be doing to help keep the floors clean besides wiping up our sweat at the end of class? sadly, i’m one of those heavy sweaters who has a puddle by my mat.