Weekly Journal 6

Kaitlyn Gonzalez 

Weekly Journal 6

GIS-4636-091

October 14, 2020

    I think that this a difficult question to aks when it comes to a sense of community. I have talked about this before in previous journal articles that the sense of community is lost because many things have turned virtual now. Most times, people are now doing classes in the comfort of their own home and maybe by themselves virtually. In the past though, the sense of community with a yoga studio and its members is so important to building a bond with the people you take a class with. When you go to a yoga class consistently, you begin a sort of bond with the people you see every week. You may not talk to them, or even know their names, but in a way, you are all connected somehow. You feel a sense of community within the yoga studio when you continuously go to classes. I've had teachers in the past who go around the room and have everyone say their names and something good that happened that week, all while we were doing our beginning stretches. That was one of my favorite classes to go to because I loved the sense of community. Every week after class our teacher would bring in a deck of cards, each one representing an animal, and each one of us would pick a card to see which animal we got. The deck of cards came with a book that gave a little explanation of the animal card. This was something so small but so personal that really made the class enjoyable. To this day, I still miss going to that class. I loved the fact that it was the same people going to the class every week, and that the teacher knew everyone's name. It was a different kind of experience rather than hearing a teacher just speak at you and expecting you to do the moves on command. 

    In my opinion, I like it when I have a more hands-on teacher who is willing to get to know their students and be involved in the process. To me, this is what creates that sense of community more and strengthens it. Nevertheless, without the teacher's involvement, I still think a class can have a strong sense of community. These personal things that the teacher did make me and the others feel apart of this community. In the past, we did practices where the teacher just talked to you and told you what poses to do. At other times, the teacher got up and showed the class what they have to do. I enjoy it better when the teacher is showing us the poses because I am able to adjust myself accordingly when I am making a mistake. On the other hand, if the teacher was just talking I would be doing the pose and hoping that I am doing the right thing.

    This week, we did two Ashtanga practices with teachers David and Amita. For our first practice, Amita was focused on Iyengar yoga. This practice focuses on stretching and aligning the body and having synergy with the body not only externally, but internally as well. Many of the poses we did were focused on aligning the body, and Amita talked about how the top of the head was seen as north, and the bottom of the feet are south. Many of the poses were standing up, putting our arms in the air, and literally aligning our bodies in a straight line. I was able to do some of the upper body poses, where we would stretch our arms, or the poses where we sat down and stretched out our hips and lower body. For the second practice with David, I had to do more observing then doing some of the poses, because I felt that this practice was a bit more advanced for a beginner or someone who is limited mobility like me in a chair. Overall, on the topic of creating a community, I think that Amita touched on this subject a bit when she was talking about her past and her education when it came to yoga. She talked about how long she had studied this practice for, and how she studied in India with others. I think that in this way, she created a community within her practice, especially those who practice Iyengar yoga like she does. It is important to have a community when you are practicing, I think that it makes you want to practice yoga more and you are able to connect with others.