How To Save A Spot For Your Friend In Yoga.

Yoga etiquette. As a yoga practitioner, I am devout in making sure I practice it. As a teacher, I make sure I encourage the students to practice it. But sometimes, people lose their cool in the hot room even before we start sweating in Pranayama.

Oy vey!

Seems like people are really serious about their yoga lately. This is more evident by the full classes where we are all packed in the room mat-to-mat. There isn't much personal space. But no big deal. In Bikram yoga, we're not going beyond our mat (usually) and don't need more than the almost 6' by 2' we get on the traditional mat.

But mats do take up some space. So as a teacher, I encourage students as they are laying out their mats to follow some guidelines:

• Put it over the line.
• Don't put it directly in front of someone or behind someone. Shift it just a few inches to the right or left.
• Be cognizant of the fact that your feet may be in someone's face or your hands may hit their feet... And adjust your mat.
• If you are saving a space for a buddy who will be joining you in class, lay down a towel to save it for them. But in general, if your friend isn't there 5 minutes before the class, you have to allow someone else to take the space.

It's this last one that caused a ruckus recently.

It was a full class. Lots of students were going to be taking it. Space was running out in the room. A student ran into the room in front of other students and threw her mat down HORIZONTALLY.

I figured she was new and didn't realize that all mats have to face front in Bikram yoga. So I turned her mat to allow a few other students to go ahead and lay their mats down. I then left the room.

And that's when things got Cruise-azy.

A few minutes later, one of the students I had made room for came out on the verge of tears.

"That girl's mat you moved... She came back in. Yelled at me and moved my mat over. Right in front of me. I told her a teacher had moved her mat. She didn't care. She was saving a space for her boyfriend. That's why she threw the mat down like that. I am so angry right now. I just walked away to not deal with her."

I was glad to see that this student was being the more mature one. But it demonstrated a need for people to understand that there are ways to save a space for your pal in a yoga class... And ways to not do it. And throwing your mat down horizontally is one way to not do it.

If I see your mat facing the wrong direction, and you are not on it, I am going to fix it. Only because I am assuming you are new and don't know better.

If you want to save a space for your pal, the BEST thing to do is to simply put a towel down and save the space for them. But again, if they are not there 5 minutes before class to lay down their mat, then they lose the space.

Some studios strictly forbid you from saving a space for your pal. Some don't mind, as long as it is done within reason.

Bikram yoga is tough enough without having to worry about cat fights breaking out before class.