Yoga: Gettin' Real in the Whole Foods Parking Lot

Here's some local yoga you’ve probably experienced. I bet you've been there when it's gotten a bit too real in the Whole Foods parking lot. Have you seen this video yet? It's a great way to laugh about a phenomenon I talk about often: West LA has one of the highest saturations of yoga in the world AND also one of the highest saturations of...ehh...not very kind people.

I know that sounds like a judgement—and it is—but I’ve had the experience of getting out of class to be cut-off in traffic by a fellow student. I’ve definitely been rammed with a shopping cart by someone wearing their fancy yoga clothes at least a couple of times. This is certainly not to say that, if you do yoga, you have to be nice all the time. But, if you are looking for a more advanced practice, or a bit of integration, such contemplations might be a good place to start.

In many spiritual traditions, it is believed that our existence is one and two; we are neither, both, and infinite. The plane of oneness is most associated with yoga: we are unity…all is love. The plane of duality is where there is contrast and diversity. There is money, power, gain, loss, praise, blame, happiness and pain. This is where it gets difficult. It is where we have to take action and make choices. The effort is to live in all planes at once: to honor the unity, the diversity and feel for harmony through multiplicity.

To ground all that, here’s some yoga shopping stretches you may want to try.

• You can’t get cut-off if you let someone go first. Do the practice of graciously giving space. Watch for any feelings of being “less-than” or submissive. This is a powerful act.

• Open your senses when you can. Allow yourself to see and be seen. Dare to smile or say “hi” to someone, even if they can’t do the same back.

• Notice the tendency to want things for cheap. Fast food culture tells us to seek as much crap as we can get for under a dollar, so we may be resistant to pay prices that actually honor the life we are eating. Instead, consider all the lives and efforts involved. Be grateful for what money you do have to spend.

• Give yourself time to do an errand so that it’s less about agenda and more about experiencing.

• And, when people (including yourself) are acting crazy, try to see the comedy.