Good Sweat
Kula kleptos ignore karma
A Kula caper: The mysterious case of the missing Manduka mats
Yesterday the Kula Yoga Project, one of the city’s most serious studios, blasted this e-mail to its members:
“So first the bad news, or really the SAD news. Five short weeks ago we replaced our funky old purple rental mats with nice new Manduka eco-mats. Since then 32 (THIRTY TWO!) have been stolen from the studio.”
WellandGoodNYC.com spoke to Kula studio manager Tatiana Ramos at 9 a.m. this morning and so far not one of the high-performance $70 “eko” mats, with “sea-grass texture finish” had been returned. “It’s beyond disheartening,” says Ramos. “I’m looking for some yogic lesson in it, but it’s hard to find.” Right now the studio charges a $2 rental fee for these mats, which “leave no footprint on the earth,” according to the manufacturer. And apparently no fingerprints by thieves either.
What kind of yogi would steal a mat? Certainly not the ones devoted to practicing loving-kindness, along with limbering poses. One student we interviewed emphasized the distinction between a true Kula yogi and “those who just show up and take classes.” Xenophobic posturing, perhaps, but a rationale that’s helping betrayed yogis make sense of this heinous karmic crime.
Kula, whose very name means “community” in Sanskrit, is practicing (excessive) compassion, suggesting that the thieves might be thinking of themselves as “’liberators’ of community mats or yoga props. Perhaps this person thinks it’s not quite stealing?”
C’mon Kula. Take these kleptos to the mat.
Do you think karma’s enough to stop people from stealing at yoga studios? Tell us, here!
Oh dear, this really confirms the worst, snarkiest thoughts some people have about yoga practitioners. Find your inner yogi, kleptos! Prove the nay-sayers wrong!
Unbelievable. Who has the karma for that kind of behavior? Sounds like there will need to be a $70 deposit for the mat rentals. sigh.
Articulatex wrote on Facebook page: “NICE, Melisse! Though not nice that people are stealing mats. It’s been going on forever. David and Sharon used to find blocks and mats in India with Jivamukti written all over them.”
[...] flexible folks who impart Buddhist sutras and conduct half their class in Sanskrit roll up their Manduka mats to observe this American-as-apple-pie [...]
[...] Kula Yoga Project 32 new Manduka Eko yoga mats [...]
I stopped offering rental mats at my studio because of this problem. Unfortunately, I was just loosing too much money to mat loss. Now if someone comes to class without a mat, I allow them to borrow an old rental, but not without leaving car keys or a drivers license. Sad, but true!
As they write over at Integral Yoga….
All of us are on a spiritual path, but some us of further along than others. Watch all personal belongings carefully.
…There should be a hall monitor assigned who takes each mat from the students as they exit the classroom in order to make sure that they all get returned properly to the studio. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
PEACE
This is a really sad story.
Let´s get motivated to make people more conscious about the impact of their actions.