A yoga student named Lauren Cahn has posted a piece on the Huffington Post which has been receiving some attention from the yoga community. Titled “Five Words That Do Not Belong in Yoga”, the piece is basically a lengthy diatribe against the practice of Ashtanga Yoga as taught by the late Sri K. Pattabhi Jois.
Cahn, who was a dedicated Ashtanga student for four years and who wrote faithfully about her experiences in the Ashtanga room on her blog Yoga Chickie, has since renounced the practice and has chosen to share her reasons for doing so in this HuffPost piece. Here’s an excerpt:
I practiced Ashtanga faithfully from 2005 until this year (even taught it for a period of time), when for reasons that I cannot even yet articulate, I found myself growing inexplicably repelled by it. I like to say “I threw myself out of the cult.”
Cahn’s criticism of the Ashtanga system includes the many narrow “rules” inherent in the tradition, the “cranking” that students are supposedly encouraged to impose on their bodies, and her observation that “Ashtangis often talk of pain like it’s a good thing”.
After reading this piece, we must say that we are hugely thankful that our own Santa Barbara-based Ashtanga scene headed up by Steve Dwelley and Michele Nichols hardly resembles the strict, close-minded, competitive, gossipy practice that Cahn describes in her article. Cahn’s own Ashtanga room in her home state might well have been more regimented and linear than the relatively relaxed one we know in SB. But our personal observations over the years have led us to conclude that to a large extent, the practice of Ashtanga often becomes what the practitioner decides to make of it. People whose personalities are generally open and accepting often approach the practice with this attitude, while people who tend to be somewhat uptight and competitive will certainly bring these elements into their relationship to the practice.
In our humble opinion, as much as we appreciate honest dialog about the yoga world, we must conclude that this HuffPost piece is at best controversial and at worst unnecessarily harsh. What do you think? Check out the article here!
I read that article and commented on it. I hated that she lumped all Ashtanga teachers into one horrible group. Unfortunately this does happen in many classes but I believe that Ashtanga will start to evolve and change just like everything else in the world. It is a sign of life and growth. I teach Ashtanga and I constantly tell my students to listen to their bodies and be compassionate to their on needs.
I have been back to classes where the teacher was dogmatic in the past and has changed their tune. It is evolution. Nothing is immune to it.
Yoga Chickie hates ashtanga because she can’t accept herself and her physical limitations. She also correlates her “last pose” with self-worth.
She embodies the shadow side of this practice – someone who is to self absorbed to learn detachment and equanimity.
Maybe it’s just that she has found that Ashtanga has too many contradictions to be a workable practice for her. Better not to judge the reasons for her disillusionment or, should I say, rejection. I can relate to many of her complaints, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I would stop practicing Ashtanga. I accept both the negative feelings as well as the positive that come with it and let them go…isn’t that what we are trying to do every time we hit our mat? I appreciate her honesty and laud her courage to speak about some of the darker elements of such an intense practice.
Hi Guys! Thanks so much for your feedback. We totally agree with you, Shanna. The article’s author did lump all Ashtanga teachers together in this piece, as though these disparaging observations applied to all Ashtanga rooms everywhere. Perhaps the specific yoga studio in which she practiced did embody some of these qualities, but this article would have come across as more equitable if the author had gone out of her way to tell us that she was describing her own personal experience. Instead, it seems she used a broad brush to paint over the entire Ashtanga community, which doesn’t seem quite fair.
I’m not sure what happened to make her so disillusioned about Ashtanga. Many of the sins she attacks Ashtanga for are true of other practices.
And I’m suprised at the ad hominem attacks. What does a teacher cheating on their spouse have to do with Ashtanga? I think we can all agree that infidelity is wrong.
As far as the rules of Ashtanga go, if you don’t like them find another practice. No one is forcing you to practice Ashtanga. Yoga has the power to change lives and that goes for other practices besides Ashtanga. So if you don’t like the tenants of this practice, do something else. There is no need to attack something because it doesn’t work for you.
I really take offense with her call Ashtanga a cult. I have to say I think we are better off without her. I’ll say a special prayer that she can move beyond whatever event caused her so much anguish that she felt the need to disparage the practice this way.
Oh my!! I just took the time to read some of her blog posts and now I am beginning to understand where some of her venom is coming. I seems she has been having a rough patch and doing some personal exploration.
All that being said I think it is sad that she felt the need to disparage Ashtanga so publicly. It is clear from her blog and the article that she needs to look deeper into the non physical aspects of yoga.
I hope that she is able to find some peace.
Talk about self absorbed; Yech. Here is a typical american female force who has been successfully hypnotized into the AMerican Dream. This on includes Mysore style yoga. It could include any porcess as far as we’re concerened as long as her #1 priority is covered to the “T”…her comfort zone. Look at it this way she’s in an advanced level of American babysitting. Beneath it all , as usual is a profound lack of roots; the systemic infrustructure that would nuture amodern tribal veiw; that includes the welfare of her relatives, not just the fortunate few lucky to have access to her upscale American home. Basically she’s been culturally “Velvettatized”. It would take an atom bomb to wake her up from her entitlement and enthronement.
Wow, sounds like she was really hanging around with the wrong people. The only thing that’s clear from her article is that she made the right choice when she discontinued her mysore practice.
One of the most valuable lessons I’ve taken from my experience practicing yoga is personal responsibility. While I do practice astanga in a traditional mysore setting, I am very keen on managing my own safety and communicating clearly with my teachers about any potential injuries or issues I’m having. If I found that I wasn’t supported in this by my teacher, I would look elsewhere.
I do think that the teaching tradition of astanga as I have experienced it has the potential for dysfunction (as is the case with most of the world) and that it is not for everybody.
Oh, and also, news media tends to like sensationalistic topics.
What else is new?
cheers
Hi:
All I want to say is that I know this person as many other people do in the community here.
She happens to embody most of the things she criticizes and is also very gossipy and overtly competitive.
Its funny how people can project exactly what they are without realizing it. Its also a very sad thing when people take the practice in the wrong way. The practice is about breathing, focusing, working with what you have and trying to achieve mental peace. It is not a popularity contest. Right Yoga Chickie?