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| Hi all,
I do not practice Bikram regularly, so forgive me if this is a silly question. I was looking at the Bikram teacher training website and came across this:
http://www.bikramyoga.com/TeacherTraining/YogaEtiquettes.htm
Why are the students advised to not wear green? I was just curious.
Cheers. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 621
 
Location: CA | If you think that question is silly, the answer is even sillier - it's because Bikram hates that color! I have no idea what he's got against the color green - there must be a story in there somewhere, but I don't know what it is... Is anyone out there more enlightened than I on Bikram's personal mythos?  |
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Moderator
Posts: 4020
Location: San Antonio, Republic of Texas USA | I honestly don't know the reason but believe it can only be more Bikram bull$****. Not only the green part but the rest of the "etiquette." For the price I'd have to pay for the training in Hawaii, I'll be darned if I can't ask for ice or water. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 621
Location: CA | Bruce,
I thought the rest of the etiquette was totally reasonable - if you read all of it, it just says don't ask the RESTAURANT STAFF for ice cubes and water, which I can totally understand. I've been a waitress for years, and if I were waiting tables at a nice hotel restaurant and had 300 sweaty yogis chasing me around for free ice cubes all day instead of going upstairs and getting ice out of their own freezers, I wouldn't be too thrilled. That would just be obnoxious. And if I were in Hawaii on vacation and checked into a nice hotel, I might not want to be jammed into an elevator with a dozen sweaty guys wearing nothing but speedos. (well actually... no, nevermind, not pursuing THAT train of thought.) It sounds like, except for the "green" thing, all those guidelines are just set down to maintain amiable relations with the hotel that is hosting the program. (Besides, would you seriously want to wash your feet in the ladies room sink?  ) |
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| As far as I can remember the color green is forbidden at the World Headquarters. The only time I recall Bikram letting this rule slide is if it's the student's first class and was not informed of this protocol. The boutique is answered prayers for those who wants to comply with the protocol. It's not a big deal to ask students not to wear a green costume/clothes inside the yoga room, is it?
The reason is a long story but the rule started in Calcutta, India by Bikram's guru, Bishnu Ghosh. |
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| Gee Bruce, you seem a bit testy! Nothing in that short paragraph seems unreasonable or worthy of such wrath.
As for the green issue, I was once told Bishnu Ghosh was wearing green the day he died and Bikram has disliked the color ever since. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 418
Location: New York | I think it was actually Bishnu Ghosh's son that was wearing green when he died. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8440
  
| OK, I have to ask - how far does this rule go? Teal? Bits of green in plaid (ok, I confess I haven't seen many plaid speedos!  ), little splashes in a t-shirt logo? What about mats? I had a boss who was adamant about no blue jeans, but didn't care about denim skirts, any other colour of jeans etc. I find blanket statements about a colour difficult to understand. And, dare I say, (this is said in light jest, not to offend, but I know someone else is thinking it, too...) the hatred doesn't seem to apply to $$? |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5287
| i think i could comply with this.
when teaching one of my client who is a recently returned vet from iraq, he asked that i not wear camoflage. i have one camoflage tank top, that i wear under a black tank top, usually.
camoflage reminds him of some of the horrifying things that he saw, and so when i wear it in yoga class, it reminds him of something terrible. he told me this privately. . .
but since then, i've talked to other students in the class about not wearing camoflage. one of my other clients, whose son joined the military last fall (marines), read a book written by vets of different wars, and many of them mentioned camoflage as a 'trigger' for them.
because of this, she also started to tell her friends to not wear camoflage--and at one gym, there's even a sign up requesting that people avoid camoflage in the gym to respect our veterans in their process of reintegration (it was written by a national guard vet who is also a trainer at the gym and was noticing the same problem in his own experience).
everyone is willing to comply.
i think that it is appropriate to honor the needs of others, and in this situation, it may be an extension of that teacher-student respect thing. it may be one of those things that is "keeping the baby with the bathwater" or it may be one of those things where it's handed down in order to draw out a specific lesson over time.
i think that i can be valuable to ask and think about why. . .
for example, why many studios here are asking "please do not wear camoflage in class; honor our veterans." |
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| Seems fair enough to me. I just wondered if there was any symbolic significance to not wearing green.
I also wondered if the request extended to Bikram classes in general, or just the TT. It sounds like it doesn't apply to everyday classes.
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5287
| perhaps it applies only to classes that bikram teaches?
this is the first i've heard of it, and while i don't wear much green, i've never run into it when i have taken bikram classes. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 621
Location: CA | For everyday classes, no one cares. Although now that I think about it, no one seems to wear it anyways - I see mostly blacks, blues, and oranges these days...  |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8440
| It bothers me that so many little kids wear camouflage. One year olds in pink and blue camo are reflecting our general acceptance of a militarized world. It is sad. |
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Moderator
Posts: 4020
Location: San Antonio, Republic of Texas USA | Again I say bull$hit to Lord Bikram's decree against green for whatever freaking reason to "combat" vets whining that camouflage triggers bad memories. I don't buy any of it and affirm that somebody takes my money for a service, they ain't making fool rules. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 364
Location: Oregon | There's gotta be somewhere else besides here where you can grind that ax, Bruce. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 330
| where are you from? |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 330
| sorry, I meant that question for zoebird, but I was unclear. |
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| Gee Bruce, All you super models are so cranky--go eat a hamburger and see if that don't calm your panties--or lack of--a bit! |
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Moderator
Posts: 4020
Location: San Antonio, Republic of Texas USA | Andre & Rick--I have near zero tolerance for pomposity and ersatz sensitivity--where better to grind that ax than when such displays are encountered? |
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| I have to admit that my feelings about Bikram yoga are mixed.
On one hand, I like the classes that I took in Davenport, TX (near Austin). The instructors seemed to know what they were doing, and the whole class looked fit and into it. And, I think that my yoga improved from those classes.
But the same old sequence would get very old after a while, I think. I suppose if I were wealthy enough, I'd join both a Bikram and a non-Bikram studio and alternate types.
And, this idea that "Bikram doesn't like green, so you don't wear it" sounds strange; it is almost as if one is expected to indulge every bit of psychosis of the guru.
This strikes me as very "cultish" type behavior. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 1508
Location: Alexandria, VA | zb- I've never been into the camo print. I'm not in the military, will never be in the military and I've always felt weird mojo about seeing it in popular stores as a fabric print. I don't know why.. I've just always felt that way.
As for green- I know that you are not supposed to paint a restuaurant green and to be careful in your home.. because green inspires nausea....
of course, my dining room at home is green  |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8440
| See, ML - this is my point. There is GREEN and then there is green. My dining room is green, but I have strong doubts it would bring on nausea in anyone. And the great outdoors tends to be green (where I come from, at least) and the species seems to have kept enough food down to propagate itself to quite an astonishing level form back in the day when they all ate in green "dining rooms", right? |
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Member
Posts: 14
Location: New Jersey | I was told by an instructor that green was associated with Islam and Bikram has an issue in that area... I have seen that Muslim flags often contain the color green, and you can google that information.
Just what I heard - no direct knowledge....
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| Can't answer about the source of the Bikram anti-green but I can confirm that green is incorporated into most Muslim (all?) countries' flags as it was the prophet Muhamad's favourite colour.
Fee |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 621
Location: CA | I feel like this discussion is spiraling off topic a bit - soon we will be concluding that Bikram yogis aren't allowed to eat lettuce, broccoli, or granny smith apples in a green dining room and that Bikram is going to put on a camouflage speedo to launch a holy war against muslims. And then Bruce will challenge someone to a duel. |
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Bikram / do not wear green?
