Yoga the Musical review

I saw a review of Yoga the Musical in the Salt Lake Tribune recently, and I noticed one of the aerobics instructors whose classes I used to take regularly was in it, so I decided to go. I ended up running into another instructor there, out on the town for her twelfth wedding anniversary with her husband, and we ended up sitting together. Twelfth... hard to spell, and hard to imagine. Anyway...

The show was hilarious. There are a lot of people who take yoga very seriously, and there are a lot of people who consider it just another form of calisthenics. I guess I fall somewhere in between there, so I got to laugh at the jokes poking at both extremes, while not getting whatever stereotype I fall into too scathed. I guess I did get a bit of teasing in there somewhere, but it was easy to take. The jokes and pokes were fast & furious, and the yoga-infused dance with vocals was very impressive. The troupe stayed for Q&A afterward, and it turned out there was one yoga-only member - not a real dancer, strictly speaking, but very accomplished.

I know I must've missed three-quarters of the jokes, and I'm sure it would be a bit hard to follow for folks who don't do yoga, but the piece does make some interesting points of what happens to various ideas when they're absorbed into the American mainstream. One bit where one of the practitioners characterized trying to have no ambitions as "quite ambitious" was fabulous. It's one of those yoga deals, kind of like a Zen koan, that just doesn't work in our Western mindset: You're not really supposed to strive for anything in yoga; you're supposed to let things happen organically as you practice. But if that's right, why would you practice yoga at all? Isn't that a form of striving? Yes, kind of, but you're not supposed to do it for reasons of ego. Still, how many of us would go to the gym if we were truly egoless? And around and around it goes.

The show is going on next weekend, as well, also at the Rose Wagner center in downtown Salt Lake. I highly recommend it to folks who practice yoga, or those who might be interested.