Yoga as "spiritual" fitness

ALLEGRA LEVY

When Belinda Gutman had her second son, she knew that she needed to find a way to keep sane. Her sons left her without time for reflection, without a moment's quiet and without a way to stay in shape. When she started doing hot yoga, the pieces of her life fell neatly back into place.

Gutman wanted to incorporate Jewish culture into her own life and her family's life on a daily basis, but found herself wearing thin. Her family required a lot of her time and, although she loves them, she needed an outlet. She began practising Bikram's hot yoga six days a week and, she said, her first week was hellish, "But now I go at six a.m. and I get quiet alone time coupled with a great workout."

Two years later, Gutman still goes to yoga almost every day. "The breathing and meditation is a learned skill that transfers to life outside the yoga room. Learning to train your mind and body in these conditions allows you to learn to develop a lot of patience when dealing with unpleasant conditions outside the yoga room," she said.

With practise, she has trained herself to push through exhaustion and seek serenity; something she believes has helped her balance her Jewish and personal lives.

"They are both very important to me, and I try daily to teach the importance of both to my kids," she said. "I believe that spirituality is the inner sense of a higher being. Too many times, I have entered the [yoga] room an emotional wreck and, after 90 minutes, left feeling very at peace."

Bikram's is one of many forms of yoga offered around Vancouver and it is practised in a room heated to 42 degrees Celsius, with 40 per cent humidity. Participants go through a series of 26 poses three times. If it sounds brutal, that's because it is.

Along with their regular adult yoga programs, the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver will soon offer children's yoga, a program in which Gutman's son Ben, 4, will participate and that her son Harry, 2, will begin when he is older. The presence of children's yoga represents its value to parents who need a healthy way to teach children the value of inner peace and patience.

However, not everyone is a believer. Ash Laidlaw has trouble buying into the lifestyle surrounding the actual practice. "I don't know if there's any hard science behind it or what they mean by 'toxins,' but I see a lot of people wearing lululemon, and I don't think they're all yogis," he said.

Laidlaw also fails to feel a connection between his Jewish self and his fitness plan. "I've tried it and I can see why some people really like it and feel that connection and I guess it does a lot for them, but oh man, I was so happy to get out," he said.

Most people do yoga in a gym or at a community centre and are working towards fitness goals. Many, like Laidlaw, are beginners in classes that are beginner oriented and which often lack the Zen calm of a studio class or an advanced class. But those who like what they see may choose to seek the spiritual aspect in a more specialized setting.

Alejandro Guzman, a Vancouver yoga and fitness instructor, said that yoga has allowed him to place a tangible, calming practice with the chaotic elements of his life. "Every pose can be adapted to the body," he said. "If you push it too far, you will only get hurt."

Guzman's theories of yoga are health oriented, although he admits that there are many reasons why someone begins training. "Most people want to get in shape, but they end up changing their lives," he said.

Allegra Levy is a Vancouver freelance writer.

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