In this post, I talk about a type of photograph some yoga teachers take at the end of their class. I acknowledge some people have real problems: children to feed and school, debts, exorbitant rents, long commutes, bad health. However, my rumination about the topic won out. I feel it’s time we talked about our values as yoga teachers in relation to how we use social media to promote our classes.
"The Kicker" (c. 1870)
I hate to be a kicker,
I always long for peace,
But the wheel that squeaks the loudest,
Is the one that gets the grease.
Henry Wheeler Shaw
As
a relatively new yoga teacher, putting yourself out there is a necessary part
of getting yourself a class and reminding your students where you will be and
what you will be teaching. Many Yoga
teachers I’ve met, with an established following, don’t need to have a social
media account. When we are starting
off, it doesn’t cut the mustard to post infrequently with text only. We need images. An effective way to communicate your success
as a Yoga teacher is in the savasana pic.
I’m
beginning to question the grasping nature of image procurement. At what cost do we need the images? Surely if we got the gig and we gave our
heart and soul to the teaching (as we do because Yoga teaching is a special
type of teaching), we have nothing more to prove. Do we have to excessively remind people that
we were there when we said we were there?
Do we have to demonstrate how relaxed our students were by taking our
attention off task, pull out our camera and take the savasana pic? Are we more prone to taking a photograph when
the room is packed compared to our 7am class in which just three people arrive?
It seems a consistent marketing practice
is winning out over a priority to keep our attention on the final resting pose.
“Pointy stone meets chisel”. Korean proverb.
Each
one of us carries a powerful tool in our pockets. If you walk outside your front door you are
fair game. With a photograph we have the power to bully,
abuse, lie, unflatter, steal privacy and possibly damage old paintings with
flash photography. Politicians need to
make sure they are always smiling.
Public places such as museums demonstrate their right to ban
photography. Photography is banned in
life drawing classes. Pope Francis
doesn’t want priests or congregations to take photographs in churches
anymore. School management do not
permit students to take photographs of teachers. Pre-school, primary and second level teachers
are warned against putting up photographs of students on social media for child
protection reasons. Whether we take
photographs or not usually boils down to the norms of an organisation you are
in or your peer group. As a community
of yoga teachers, I propose we need to question the customs and practice of
taking photographs in our yoga classes.
I
observe countless examples of the savasana pic on Instagram these days. I’ll put my hands up in the air here and tell
you, that I too made it my absolute business to make sure I got an image of my
students in savasana after I taught my first ever class. I wasn’t thinking. I just thought this was something you
do. And I did it again at the end of my
first ever workshop. But then it felt
wrong. I woke up. I decided there were other ways to
promote. I wouldn’t like it if someone
photographed me with drool coming down one side of my mouth, even if you
couldn’t see it, even if I was unrecognisable.
From crisis to sanctuary
You
might think I’m being precious but let me give you the context; I had a
crisis. Incorporating yoga into my life
provided me first with a oasis and second with a solid foundation to newly find
myself. I didn’t need to sup the nectar
of melting ice under the Himalaya’s with a punishing guru who made me get up at
4am, starving, to meditate for two hours before an unfulfilling vegan brunch
and share woes of broken marriages and childlessness with strangers on a hard
wood floor (but India is on the cards and I can’t wait for it). No, it was under the guidance of an
experienced and technophobic teacher in Dun Laoghaire that I found a place
where I could let go, sob into my pigeon, wring out my anger, and to be honest,
simply find out where my heart was and listen to it for a change. Yoga gave me an alternative way to work out
my shit in a safe environment.
The
studio became my sanctuary. My teacher,
unbeknownst to herself - became my guide.
I adored her steadiness, her focus and ability to infuse a sense of
humour into the class. I loved how she didn’t
try to come across as a perfect person, but stayed perfect to me because she
was focused on her job. She kept her students in tune with their breath. She gently encouraged them out of their comfort
zones. Her praise and patience was like
that of a mother teaching her child how to walk. My
biggest revelation during this time was learning how to relax. Had she taken her phone out to photograph the
class, the spell would have been broken.
My opinion of her would have plummeted.
If she were to have snapped us (no pun intended), I would have realised
that she was not respecting us. She
would have been stealing something from me.
And that is not yoga. Further to
that, had she put up my image without my consent on social media, I would have had
to express my profound disappointment.
Are you genuinely offering a choice or are you manipulating the circumstance so it is difficult for them to stand out from the crowd and say no?
“Hey guys. Welcome to this supersonic yoga
workshop. Do you mind if we take a few photographs at the end of
class? No?” Looks around. “Okay, well we’ll begin in child's
pose….”. At the risk of being a fun sponge, I am guessing some students out
there are afraid to say no when asked. As a general rule, if a few people
say, ‘Hey, yeah, no problem, sure thing’, it is difficult for one person who
feels uncomfortable to go against the grain, to have everyone turn their heads
around, looking at them in amusement and surprise. Nobody wants to be a
source of amusement at the beginning of a yoga class, especially if they have
been brought to that space to sort out a problem in a quiet and reflective
environment. I’m also guessing many teachers don’t even bother to ask
their students. If you take a photograph in a museum and are asked to
leave, you have broken the rules. No hard feelings. Are you
genuinely offering a choice or are you manipulating the circumstance so it is
difficult for them to stand out from the crowd and say no? How much time
do you give them to reconsider? What’s the follow up if they don’t sign
your waiver? Would you refuse them onto your program?
Let’s summarise the type of responses people might have when looking at a Savasana picture;
1.
THE LOOKING FOR YOURSELF OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW RESPONSE: I can’t identify one person in that shot, their
faces are all blurred and they’re covered in blankets.
2.
THE STUDIO INSPECTION RESPONSE: Bodies
on the floor. Nice studio. It looks relaxing.
3.
THE FOMO RESPONSE: Wow! Packed out class.
4.
THE GENDER/AGE ANALYSIS RESPONSE:
All men. Mostly women. A young
crowd. Aging people.
5.
THE BODY ANALYSIS RESPONSE: Overweight.
Too skinny. Splayed open.
Creases under the arms. Nostril
hair.
6.
THE YOGA UNINITIATED/INCREDULOUS RESPONSE: Pack of weirdos. They look like dead bodies on the floor.
7.
THE EMPATHY RESPONSE: Tired
people. Sweaty people. Fragile people.
8.
THE FASHION RESPONSE: A GAA
sweater. So many Lululemon
leggings. Rough looking feet. Nice manicure.
9.
THE PHOTOGRAPHY RESPONSE: Nice
low camera angle.
10.
THE ‘WHERE-IS-THE-TEACHER’ RESPONSE:
I hope the teacher remembered to turn off the shutter sound.
Bullet dodging and paralysis
In an overcrowded web, some are more skilled then others
in the art of seeking attention for our product/service. For mental
health reasons alone, we learn how a laptop lid is a precarious door for some
to open. Murky waters include compulsively checking status updates,
increased rates of depression, the sadness of equating likes with self-esteem,
envy when we compare our lives to the edited lives of others. All the
while we dodge the bullet of being mentally hijacked by our search
history.
We are in paralysis but we are beginning to question the
sense of it all. As yoga teachers we frequently promote the benefits of
fresh air and a restrained use of technology, with all the mental health
benefits both have to offer. But I don’t think we’ve thought hard enough
about this. While there can be innocence behind yoga teachers taking
photographs of their students in class and in savasana, I think the time has
come for us to discuss the presence of our phones in class at all, for reasons
other then our playlists. It’s not black or white.
It’s not right or wrong. It’s
simply questionable – at least that is where my reflection has led me.
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