Basic Yoga Studio Etiquette for Classes & Certifications
Many members of our yoga center have made significant financial and time investments; many have come from far and wide, and many who live close have been waiting all week just for the experience of practicing in this sacred space. Regardless of what has brought us together for our own practices at Bodhi Yoga, we approach our space with an evolved sense of community.
The TOP THREE things you need to know:
Bodhi Yoga™ creates opportunities for connecting with our healing and potential on a deep level. Often, people find Bodhi Yoga when the stakes in life are high.
You must be symptom-FREE to enter the Bodhi Space. In any class or certification you attend, you may be sitting next to someone with a compromised immune system, cancer, healing childhood trauma, dealing with loss, or a child at home who is fighting a high-risk health issue.
Please take this request seriously and attend only if you and those you have been around lately are symptom-free.
We may not realize what is going on with the person on the next mat; so let’s please be respectful and lean into compassionate courtesy as we practice in our Bodhi community.
Following these simple guidelines will allow our group energy to be supportive, rather than distracting, so enjoy!
The Bodhi Yoga Center is a CELL PHONE FREE ZONE.
Why?
Because all Bodhi Yoga™ classes and certifications are EXPERIENTIAL rather than performative.
Those of us born before the year 2000 will be the last humans (in the history of humanity on the planet) to hold in our bodies the memory of what our world was like before mobile phones and social media.
Currently, our world is moving fast toward artificial intelligence, as social media has already ingrained us in the addictive quality of artificial experience. This is antithetical to the purpose of yoga, which is why we turn our phones off before stepping from the world outside us into the world within us.
Bodhi Yoga founder Syl Carson has filmed over 500 online classes, with agreements for cameras to be in the room, and makes them available to all who attend classes and certifications at no additional cost (beyond the enrollment/membership). Syl is practiced at respecting and facilitating these kinds of organic, in-person experiences for use in online support for practicing at Bodhi Yoga.
At specific points during certifications, she will discreetly capture photos or video as a keepsake for her students, and sometimes for them to use to understand how they grow in their own practice. This is done by consent, and it rarely occurs during the training she offers. She asked that no students film during certifications or follow-up practices, particularly of copyrighted material and sequences in your manuals, without Syl having time to acquire expressed permission from everyone in the room, understanding that it will be done at a time with the least distraction from the generous content and experiential time we share together.
This beautiful practice of yoking body, mind, and spirit to work in an integrative way that brings forth is a RARE gift. Glimpsing most of our functional and evolved versions of ourselves will become even rarer as society continues to shift.
As soon as we open our phones, we are under the influence of its addictive qualities and out of the yoking that is yoga.
Yoga is helping many people heal body safety and acceptance issues. As soon as someone opens their phone, the energy in the entire room changes, and the sacred nature of the experiential practice begins to evaporate.
Legally, we also need permissions before sharing images of anyone (in the center, foreground, and background) without consent. AI can now take the image of part of anyone in a photo and use it in a variety of ways without consent. Part of being savvy in this time is leaving our phones off when practicing.
At Bodhi Yoga, we cherish the essential spirit of the practice as an experiential one, where people from all different walks of life and perspectives can gather and experience what the world was like before it became so performative. In doing so, we honor a much-needed break from the busyness of our technological lifestyle and embrace the wonderful, timeless energy of relaxing our ego into a great yoga practice and personal sanctuary.
Let’s keep the good vibes streaming from the happy chi and bodhi community, rising naturally when we practice together, sans tech.
Please follow general personal hygiene practices and shower before attending class, so everyone else in the room can breathe sweetly and deeply.
Let’s take the time during our practice to work up a brand new sweat and enjoy our healing experiences to the fullest.
Bodhi Yoga provides high-end mats, blankets, and other props for your practice; please come with clean feet. There are also sanitizing mat wipes provided for you to start fresh, each class, should you come straight from your mountain hike.
Please come early enough to wipe down your mat or use the provided lint rollers on your blanket prior to beginning your practice with us.
When practicing yoga, we breathe deeply and clearly, so it’s just plain good manners to join our yoga community with fresh breath (particularly if you are in the process of kicking your smoking habit). Let us support you on your journey!
Bodhi Yogis tend to go much deeper in their postures, once we let out a good old-fashioned “SIGHHHH” (usually followed by a laugh or two). It’s a great way to let that healthy prana flow. The honesty of our pose reveals itself when we give ourselves permission to join in on this favorite hallmark of the Bodhi Yoga style.
There are usually mints provided behind the plant on the counter, which sits just inside the front door for shoes and such, if you arrive in need of freshening.
How do I pay for my class?
It’s good yoga etiquette to pay tuition before class begins.
Bodhi Yoga weekly classes are donation-based, and you can pay by cash or Venmo at the little wood cash box at the front door counter.
There are several payment options for paying online for Bodhi Yoga Workshops and special events, which are always occurring throughout the year at both the Bodhi Yoga Center in CottonTree Square and at the Labyrinth at Syl’s private home in Provo.
In addition to in-person, Bodhi Yoga streams over 500 onnline class every day that you can join from anywhere. which include Ayurvedic cooking and yoga workshops at gobodhiyoga.com. Enroll in weekly classes HERE
At Bodhi Yoga, we do our best to make classes available to anyone. If you have hardship circumstances, and would like to practice, let us know, and we will do our best to accommodate a worthy exchange, so you will feel at home here.
Entering late or leaving early?
It’s always best to arrive at class 5 minutes prior to the scheduled time. Take this time to fill out our waiver, let the teacher know about any limitations you are experiencing, and settle into your favorite spot on the floor.
If you must arrive late to Bodhi Yoga class, please enter quietly, feel free to join in the OMMM-ing, and do your yogi-best not to disrupt the blossoming nirvana in the room. If you need to leave early, you should ALWAYS leave before the start of Savasana (final relaxation).
It is best to save your general, personal questions for the instructor until after the class, as he or she may be gathering thoughts for the practice and connecting with the group’s energy.