to mirror or not to mirror?
Wednesday, July 28, 2010 My lovely new space is blessedly mirror free!
I teach at a couple of gyms that are so mirrored up that they feel like a fun house to me. Students always have their heads cranked to the left so that they can check themselves out.
Don't get me wrong, mirrors can have their benefits. As a teacher mirrors give me some extra angles to check on alignment etc. And mirrors can be really nice to check your own alignment in a class. Is the back actually flat here? Am I actually arching here? How does my knee look? Which is really nice. I especially like a mirror for chaturanga because my butt likes to float up.
But, to me yoga is more about how it FEELS rather than how it LOOKS. I like the sensory deprivation that not having mirrors creates. It takes me more inward. With all of our gadgets that take our attention and focus outward, isn't it nice to have that non-tethered hour of bliss? How on earth do I know if my ass is floating up without a mirror?! I feel it. I float it up to sassy chaturanga. I float it down to sad chaturanga. And then I feel where I am level.
I was working with some lovely ladies last night and they so desperately wanted a mirror to let them know if they were doing it "right". I asked them how it felt. Does it feel good? Well, yes. But am I arching up enough? Well, try arching up some more. Arch as high as you can. Pull through that navel. FEEL it.
Ultimately they would love it if I would add mirrors to the space. What are your thoughts on mirrors in a yoga space?
Reader Comments (7)
This is a great question about yoga and about succeeding with a studio. I really respect you for taking time to walk around with it.
In terms of feeling / looking there's a pair of pieces on The Magazine of Yoga "Skip Class! and "Go To Class!" that deal with what it takes to develop internal accuracy with what it feels like you're doing and what you're actually doing. These inaccuracies may lead to injury, and they also tend to reinforce our patterns and illusions, rather than bring fresh insight and reality.
Yoga heals many of the neurological hiccups that develop over time. It's really why we feel the air is brighter when we've practiced, why we feel calm and energized at the same time!
http://themagazineofyoga.com/blog/2010/07/07/personal-practice-get-real/
Very excited for you - and your students are extremely fortunate to have someone so intelligent, considerate - and real!
No mirrors! Some yoga poses are not exactly flattering and oh boy did it used to bother me to see myself in them (warrior 2 makes your midsection look ridiculously wide!). It's just a way to get the negative self-talk maching going, in my opinion. If you have a good teacher, you can trust her/him to let you know if you're out of alignment and unsafe. We see enough of our physical selves in day-to-day life.
I can see an argument for mirrors, but I believe the argument against them is stronger.
I say no to mirrors. I know when I was younger if I was having a bad self esteem day a mirror could ruin my day, and my yoga practice. Yoga's about feeling the posture not seeing it :)
Another vote for no mirrors here. Everyone is right on about how feeling right is more important than looking right. For me, a mirror is just a distraction, something that ruins the meditative aspect of the practice, steals my focus and gets me worrying more about all the little things I may or may not be doing wrong.
I completely echo the no-mirrors votes here! It takes a lot of maturity in your practice to be able to use a mirror as a tool and not get distracted or obsessed by it. Plus, mirrors just reinforce the notion that a pose is supposed to 'look' a certain way, as opposed to 'feel'.
A compromise used in a studio i like is mirrors covered by curtains. That way you can use them if you feel it's appropriate, but cover them when it's not. :)
Adding my voice to the no-mirror choir here, it's easy to get distracted and not focus on your practice with mirrors around. As everyone said, it's not about looking right but feeling right.
@susan--thanks for the info! it is great to have some resources.
@jamie--it is funny how a mirror can just get in the way.
@rachel--i agree and i remember those days. now that i've found yoga, i don't have many of those days any more :)
@alex--thanks for the thoughtful comment and welcome to my little blog!
@lagitane--it never even occurred to me to cover up a mirror. hmm, compromise.
@emmanuelle--i agree!