Once someone asked me if a yoga teacher should wear white while teaching. My answer was very simple and quick: no. Then I was wondering from where that question even comes. When I asked the questioner, I got to know that this person learned from one of the thousands of different traditions that teachers should teach in white. There may be other traditions that teach in yellow and others that teach in orange and I know for sure that some tell you not to wear anything and do yoga naked!
I actually see this as ‘branding’, a kind of trademark-marketing. Once this tradition will get popular, everybody who teaches in white, yellow or orange will at first be seen as a follower of the specific tradition and their rules. So this may be good for marketing but I don’t think that yoga requires this.
Another point is that you should wear that dress ‘in yoga time’. When you are done with the class, you take off the dress and put it in the drawer where it belongs. Doesn’t it feel like the whole yoga has gone into the drawer then? It feels as if you are putting on a fancy dress or you wear the clothes for your role in a drama in theatre. Do you only play and step into the role of being a yoga teacher?
Why can we not just be who we are and how we are? Let yoga come into your life naturally, normally! Again, you don’t ‘do yoga’ for a few hours each day but you are in yoga and that for your whole life. Why would you dress up like for a show and when the show is over you do what you want? I know that this happens in really many traditions, some wear white, some wear another colour, some wear only a certain kind of shirt, some have their tradition’s logos on their clothes, some wear turbans, others wear special yoga socks and there are many more such examples.
I believe it is unnecessary ritualization which leads to several different problems. One of these problems is that ‘normal people’, means people who have nothing to do with yoga or any philosophy get afraid that these traditions might be sects. This leads to ideas like this Christian priest had that I told you about. He believes that Yoga is not compatible with being Christian.
So why don’t we just all be natural about who we are and leave this kind of rules behind us? Feel free to wear whatever you feel comfortable with and include yoga in your life!
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Is it inherent in our “humanness” that we feel the need to put our mark on practices that need no redressing? The suggestion to dress a certain way for asana practice (to me) represents a separation from other practitioners, like a school …uniform superficially distinguishes children from different schools. Yoga has an almost inexplicable way of increasing my awareness of interconnectedness to all beings. i am suspicious of any type of teacher who asks his/her students to abide by a specific code of conduct. My practice goes hand-in-hand with cultivating awareness and compassion– no uniform required! XOXO
of course its not needed but i know personally orange makes me feel more spiritual! so go with what help u connect with spirit
It seems spirits are colouful when every spirit asks for another colour :)I don’t believe in that, just wear your favourite colour, no rules and regulations! You feel spiritual from the inside, not with the colour you wear…
What rules would you keep Swami Ji, and what makes them different?
Personally, i just want my students to show up for class, I am not at all concerned with what they are wearing as long as they are free to move and let energy flow and they aren’t wearing anything revealing or offensive to the rest of the class. Never did understand the color thing.
Colors represent the energy! of course it matters!
I think it’s just marketing but, I guess it’s possible that some people actually believe it is the truth.