BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Yoga Crowded Yoga Class

What do you do if your yoga class gets crowded? Ours is about at its limit. Should she close the door at a certain point and not let more people in? Take reservations and the first 13 get into the class? I don't think the gym has a larger room available to put us into.

Maybe the teacher just changes to only doing poses that have you fit perfectly on your own mat area?

yeah i'd squeeze people in and adjust the poses. Everyone should have a chance to play.

I take yoga at the local Y and at some times of the year, the class is packed. However, only so many mats can fit so the best option for me is arriving early to get a good spot.

Definitely if we get say more than 14 people there is simply not any more room for the mats. So you have to do something then.

This past time we were near our limit and this woman was trying to squeeze in, and the male next to me was just NOT getting it. I finally had to ask him gently to move his mat so that she could fit. He did move at that point.

But interestingly a few weeks ago we had a similar problem and once again it was a male who was not moving. The rest of us all had to slide around to make it fit. These are the only 2 guys we've ever had in the classroom. Maybe they're not quite as aware about sharing? I am baffled that it's the 2 guys we've had this problem with.

I know this might be a little untrue for many people, but i think men are naturally more competitive and women more cooperative, just by nature of testosterone.

Human Tetris anyone?

Also many of my fellow males have very poor noticing and interpersonal skills!

I wonder too if the guys felt really uncomfortable about being in a "woman's class" so they were trying to hide and not look at people and therefore didn't even realize what was going on. I.e. they were trying to stay quiet and "look inside". So that's also an option.

But it did strike me after months of classes that the only 2 times we've had an issue was once with each of our only 2 guys.

You have to remember that men and women are hardwired completely differently from hormones to neural net. Plus of course the cultural input, men tend to turn inwards when doing things and are less aware of the outside world -in Europe and the US at least . Speaking as the only man at a bellydancing class before now I was surprised at the comment by the more experienced practitioners that I had a level of spatial awareness that they didn't expect from a man. I put it down to my martial arts training

So I guess this makes me a dude then? I don't like being all crowded and if somebody is trying to find a space and I don't feel like moving because I'm already as close to the person next to me as I feel I need to be then I won't move. Sorry but first come first serve. Find another spot not next to me : )

I guess this is probably why I stopped going to the first studio where I used to practice. I didn't want to feel people especially guys breathing on me when I was practicing, know what I'm saying : ) Ewe! I've had this happen and it's gross and completely disrupted my concentration.

Most guys aren't as aware as Ian and I think most women are too willing to share their personal space. I'm all about boundaries these days and it totally works for me.