Speaking of dudes in regular people clothes….
A few of you have noticed how little ink we spill on NYC’s old-skool yoga instructor, Dharma Mittra, creator of the 908 Yoga Asana poster that, still to this day, doesn’t look like it contains all 908 asanas.
The real reason we don’t talk about him so much is because, in all honesty, we don’t know that much about him. He’s just not on our radar for some reason.
So, when we came across this ad for an upcoming workshop he’ll be leading at Kripalu early next year, we didn’t think much of it.
Mostly we just noticed the usual Dharma Mittra stuff: A head of hair that’d make a sixteen-year-old jealous, two thoughtful eyebrows, a perfectly cropped George Clooney beard, an abundance of rudraksha beads, flowey hot orange pants, and a pair of black socks to do yoga in.
Wait. What? Socks? While doing yoga?
That’s right, kids. Looks like your bossy 200-hour-trained twenty-something yoga teacher was just all sorts of wrong. Apparently, you can wear socks while doing yoga. You see, someday when you’re older you’ll realize that once you pass the age of, say, sixty (Dharma is seventy-two) not only will you be able to wear socks while doing yoga, you’ll pretty much be able to do whatever the F- you want.
- Can’t reach something in a food aisle? Just yell out to no one “I can’t reach this” and someone will come over.
- Don’t want your waiter to give you more water? Just cover the rim of the glass with your hand without looking at him. He’ll get the message.
- Don’t feel like walking down the street anymore? Just stop right where you are. People will go around you. It’s ok.
- Feel like everywhere you go the music is just too darn loud? Just tell someone, anyone, to lower the music. It doesn’t matter if they have anything to do with the music or not. It’s your day!
- Feel like doing yoga in black cotton socks while a bunch of people sit around praying? Go right ahead. Nothing’s weird for an old person!
But, what is weird is the scene going on behind Dharma.
Really. What are those people doing in the background in this photo? Are they praying? Praying for what? Are they clapping? Clapping for whom? Are they singing? What are they singing about? And, whose empty yoga mat is that? (see above) Where did that person go? Are they taking the picture? What the hell is going on here?!
You know what? You older-than-me people are so damn cool. I hate that this society has no idea what the hell to do with you. You should be walking around with bones around your neck carrying mojo bags filled with hair and dirt. Call me sometime. We should talk about how to change this mess.
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The Babarazzi 
In New York City, that wonderful state of existence (unless you have the greatest plastic surgeon and keep your back and neck covered) seems to start around age 57 …. a little older in the South and West (except Southern California)
LMFAO as the kids say . . .
what? no Toesox?!?
Nothing but a good ol set o’ cotton sneaker socks. It’d be awesome if they were dress socks though.
He said it right there on the poster: “For everyone.”
Some of the best yogis along with some of the coolest bad-asses in the world are in their geriatric years, repositories of wisdom with years of life experience behind them yet most of the popular culture form of yoga also suffers from ageism. And ageism starts in the studio
I’ve been at yoga classes where Studly Young Buck Instructor only adjusts and pays attention to Nubile Young Does clients ignoring the Old Crones altogether.
Oh, yeah … I have entire blog posts devoted to The Yoga Teacher to the Future Yoga Rock Stars … despite their being trained by Dharma Mittra or Kripalu or some such, they take their wise old benefactor’s training and look for the next (primarily young) virtuoso …
Thanks for reminding me why I have a home yoga practice and take only pilates classes 🙂
ive never hung out with dharma mitra, but from the few videos ive seen he seems like a pretty righteous dude.
more importantly: you really can do whatever you want when you’re old. when you’re old and broke because there is no more social security, shoplifting becomes a great potential option. imagine how easily you could just stroll right out of the grocery store with a cart full of food and wouldn’t even get a second glance. and even in the rare instance you do get stopped, a pretend episode of alzheimers will ALWAYS have your back.
there’s an older lady who is a regular at the studio i practice at and she spends most of the classes blatantly farting while ooohing and ahhing at the sweet relief she is getting. boat pose particularly seems to get her ships a’sailin. bravery also comes with age i guess.
pissing all over the toilet seat also seems to become more acceptable and expected. ive had to wipe so much of it up at the clinic i work in, and it doesn’t even bring me so much as a brow furrow. when you enter the forest dweller stage of life you’ve got bigger things on your mind than your potty aim.
the golden years= moksha
Love it….
After Dharma’s workshop asana sessions, the group circles the wagons, cranks up the Krishna Das, lays out 4 or 5 mats depending on space and we go around the circle, everyone has an opportunity to enter the circle and show their stuff. It is really quite fun and really blows out whatever is left in the tank. Then we gather around and listen to satsang…Dharma Mittra is very impish and really quite sincere at the same time. He saved my life.
That’s sounds like a very pleasant experience. Thanks for sharing, Garuda!
I was going to say the same. Except that when I was going, Dharma was on the harmonium leading the chanting himself, and he would go last.
Dharma would say “offer the practice to krishna!” and as such could be a really authentic experience. That being said, I mostly watched young NYers show off and then very blatantly hit on my husband by winking at him and yoga flirting while everyone was clapping and chanting around them. I’m fairly certain it was not Krishna that was on their minds.
When we returned to our mats/shoes, my husband discovered about 15-20 little slips of paper with names/numbers on them. He handed them over to Dharma saying “Pass these along to Krishna, will you?” And Dharma had a right giggle.
That is so funny!