I dream of mirrors. I'm obsessed with mirrors. Specifically mirrors in a yoga class. I wish that all yoga and ashtanga classes had them not just in hot yoga and bikram. When I went to my first yoga class I was SO disappointed that there were no mirrors! How was I supposed to check my alignment! That was one of the many reasons I wanted to take a yoga class. I thought NOW I'll finally be able to really see what I look like in the postures all the way down to my toesies. You miss so much down there, all those seated postures, etc. when checking the mirror at my gym or my home mirror or even my buildings hallway mirror it was so unsatisfying as I couldn't see down there! The mirrors just weren't low enough. Can you tell I'm obsessed. I thought now, finally, in class, I'll get to see ALL! Well you can imagine my let down when looking around me there were NO mirrors. Then I found out that most yoga schools actually frown on them. You're supposed to look inward. It's a moving meditation. How can you have a moving meditation whilsts staring down your narcisistic self in a mirror. Buddha forbid! ... OMG! NOooooo! I want my mirrors!
I grew up in ballet class. They had mirrors everywhere. Holy cow batman, yoga blasphemy! No really holy cow! This was KEY to ballet. Part of our tool. You could not have a ballet school or rehearsal hall without it. This was where you could check your alignment, technique, musicality, expression. And this was sacred, sacrosanct, the holy and divine order. I grew up with this. If I didn't look in the mirror my body would play tricks on me. I'd feel like my foot and hip and back was just so. It felt right, even perfect in fact. But then I'd look in the mirror to check it out and alas what a rude revelation! Everything was off. Then correcting the alignment and expression began and telling my muscles through my eye's and brain that THIS is the way it should feel to be right. The mirror had to be my feelings as my bodies feeling's of alignment was usually wrong. It lied to me. How confusing. Ballet knew this and employed these looking glasses. We could not live without it. It's so hard now to let that go. And in fact I really can't. It's still a tool I need to correct my postures as to this day my body still tries to trick me and only the mirror and retraining my brain can correct it.
I've tried Bikram classes with mirrors and funnily enough I still could somewhat get to a meditative groove even while mirror gazing. As it's SO intense and the callout instructions so regulated and military precision like that you concentrate so deeply that it still becomes that moving trancelike meditation. I do believe there are many techniques that can get you to the same destination.
I will never fully accept the no mirror rule. And still dream of the day I can go to an ashtanga shala with mirrors. Lol!
All's good! ... etc. etc.
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