{"id":13558,"date":"2023-04-29T10:04:29","date_gmt":"2023-04-29T10:04:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yogajournal.com\/?p=110705"},"modified":"2023-04-29T10:04:29","modified_gmt":"2023-04-29T10:04:29","slug":"i-took-a-yoga-class-in-another-language-what-i-learned-surprised-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/29\/i-took-a-yoga-class-in-another-language-what-i-learned-surprised-me\/","title":{"rendered":"I Took a Yoga Class in Another Language. What I Learned Surprised Me"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! <a href="https:\/\/outsideapp.onelink.me\/wOhi\/6wh1kbvw" class="o-content-cta-link" data-analytics-event="click" data-analytics-data="{"name":"Element Clicked","props":{"destination_url":"https:\/\/outsideapp.onelink.me\/wOhi\/6wh1kbvw","domain":"<>","name":"in-content-cta","type":"link"}}”>Download the app<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Einatmen\u2026Ausatmen\u2026Einatmen\u2026Ausatmen<\/em><\/p>\n

Inhale\u2026Exhale\u2026Inhale\u2026Exhale<\/p>\n

In the yoga class I was taking, the teacher was speaking in her native language. German. A language I do not speak. Well, I do know a few important sentences: \u201cDo you speak English,\u201d \u201cI\u2019m sorry, I don\u2019t speak German,\u201d and, most importantly, \u201cMay I please have a glass of red wine.\u201d Beyond those three phrases, I\u2019m pretty useless.<\/p>\n

I arrived in Germany<\/a> on a Friday, ready to spend a year in Hamburg having been relocated for my work. After a few days recovering from jet lag and exploring my new city, I knew where to buy my groceries and how to get to the office without directions. I had located a taco joint only a few blocks from my apartment that served both a delicious mushroom taco<\/a> and a mean mezcal margarita. Now it was time to look for a yoga studio in my neighborhood.<\/p>\n

For more than a decade, as I have moved from one side of the United States to the other and back again for school, work, and life, yoga has been a mainstay of my wellness routine and of my social circle. Now, here I was in an entirely new city. I was craving social contact and yoga was familiar and safe.<\/p>\n

Struggling With Vulnerability<\/h2>\n

An internet search identified a studio nearby and I headed out for a class. I took down the address from their website but the exact location wasn\u2019t clear. Then I spotted a woman a few steps ahead of me on the sidewalk also carrying a yoga mat. I followed her into what looked like an office building and we shared a look of mutual confusion. She said something to me in German, but I was too proud to admit I couldn\u2019t understand her. Instead, I responded with a nervous laugh and shoulder shrug, hopeful it was a fitting reply.<\/p>\n

The scent of incense was a telltale sign that we were in the right spot. The studio space turned out to be an oasis of warmth in a building of cold tiles and sharp edges. As I navigated the check-in process, the teacher informed me she would be instructing in German, and that if I was confused I could call her over. For the first time, I questioned my plan to attend a class. I had been practicing yoga for thirteen years and had at one time owned a yoga studio of my own. As someone who struggles with humility and the need to be perfect<\/a>, calling a teacher over for personal assistance was a level of vulnerability I normally try to avoid.<\/p>\n

I positioned my mat toward the back of the room and sat anxiously as the space filled with bodies and the familiar low-volumed chatter that takes place before classes start. These loud whispers were different, though. They were in a language I didn\u2019t know, so instead of offering me entertaining gossip to eavesdrop on, they acted as a reminder that I was, in fact, an outsider.<\/p>\n

The clock struck the hour, the door was closed, and the instructor made her way to the front of the classroom where she took her place on her mat.<\/p>\n

Finding the Familiar in Something New<\/h2>\n

The language of yoga is Sanskrit<\/a>, one of the oldest languages in the world\u2014and another language where my knowledge is limited to only a handful of words and phrases. Relying on the English names of poses, I can teach yoga without it. My 200 hour yoga teacher training was held in Mexico but taught in English. I didn\u2019t even have to use the little Spanish I remembered from high-school and college.<\/p>\n

Now here I was, being led through a meditation in a language I didn\u2019t understand, in a city I was just getting to know. How was I supposed to be guided to my inner peace<\/a> when I couldn\u2019t understand the instructions? We were supposed to close our eyes but if I did that, how would I know if she started cueing small movements? I had come seeking comfort; I was finding only unease.<\/p>\n

But like the other people in the room, I sat propped on a meditation cushion with my legs crossed, palms resting on my thighs. I closed my eyes. I took a deep breath<\/a> in through my nose. As I pushed the breath out audibly through my mouth, I was met with the sound of a communal exhale. This was a sound I knew. This was familiar. We took another breath. Inhale through the nose; exhale from the mouth. We found a rhythm in the room. I felt the tension begin to release from between my shoulder blades.<\/p>\n

Letting the Breath Be a Guide<\/h2>\n

As we moved from meditation into a yoga flow, I realized I was enjoying myself. There was actually something magical about not understanding every word the teacher was saying. Of course as a teacher, I knew the sequence of a sun salutation. I didn\u2019t need to know the German translation of Ardha Uttanasana<\/a> to lift into a half forward bend. I just needed to follow my breath.<\/p>\n

Follow your breath.<\/em> It is something yoga teachers say\u2014something I have said countless times in my own classes. Move with your breath.<\/em> But never had I experienced it to this level, because the breath was now my only guide.<\/p>\n

For the next sixty minutes I moved and breathed. I stretched, twisted, balanced, and strengthened, watching the students around me for guidance as we moved to new sequences. I heard the Sanskrit names for some poses woven throughout the class and appreciated their familiarity. But mostly, I listened for the breath. Inhaling as I stretched my hands to the ceiling and exhaling as I folded forward toward the mat.<\/p>\n

Language Beyond the Words<\/h2>\n

In that class, I learned that yoga reaches beyond the confines of language. Breath has no language. Einatem<\/em> and Ausatmen<\/em> may not have been words I understood, but the sound of people filling their lungs on a deep inhalation, and the energetic release of the exhale? Those were known to me.<\/p>\n

I became a regular at that studio. Every time I took a class with a new instructor, I learned to embrace the vulnerability that I so often push away.  My German vocabulary has expanded to include the words for right, left, foot, and hand. I roll out my mat with a new level of humility as I know I am dependent on the persons in front of and beside me to help show me the way. And, mostly, I am so much more present in my body and connected to my breath, as it is truly my guide.<\/p>\n

Inhale\u2026Exhale\u2026Inhale\u2026Exhale<\/p>\n

Einatmen\u2026 Ausatmen\u2026Einatmen\u2026Ausatmen<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"I<\/figure>\n

Moving to another country gave one yoga teacher a chance to learn the universal language of the practice<\/p>\n

The post I Took a Yoga Class in Another Language. What I Learned Surprised Me<\/a> appeared first on Yoga Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[37,35,36],"class_list":["post-13558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ayurveda","tag-blogs","tag-yoga","tag-yogacourseware"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogacourseware.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}