“Calling noise a nuisance is like calling smog an inconvenience. Noise must be considered a hazard to the health of people everywhere.”
— Dr. William H. Stewart, former Surgeon General of the United States
* * *
Outside, the air was cold and swirling.
“Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the waaaa-aayy!” A car full people, laughing and yelling, the car idling, the stereo booming. Bright lights, banner ads, and music streams out of storefronts, festivities flaking across Union Square. There is a moment every winter where I stop loving Christmas and cannot wait for January 2. This moment is about to happen.
So I take a holiday yoga class to find a quiet hour amid the holiday madness.
The teacher puts on music, at full volume. As I’m wondering why we are listening to hip-hop in a yoga class (and meanwhile trying desperately to find the meaning behind it all… is this a lesson in inner quietude despite external disquiet? …an opportunity to practice patience for opposing ideas? …a chance to simply practice compassion when otherwise I’d be judgmental?) I make out the lyrics — which are clearly a blending of contemporary pop, along with a “Krishna”, “Ghandi” and “yo, yo, yo India!” thrown in.
This isn’t a new concept. There are all kinds of yoga-blend classes, such as Yoga Booty Ballet [TM], and Boot Camp Yoga (for that extra boost of yang in your diet). But lately, even my local spiritually-bent yoga classes have started incorporating music at low volumes.
Sure, sure, sure — Hip-hop Yoga [TM] reaches out to the kids, or folks who otherwise wouldn’t find yoga accessible. But my only question is this: in this loud, mad world, if I can’t find peace and quiet in a yoga & meditation class, then where can I find it?
Apparently not many places. According to a recent article on Salon.com, noise pollution is real and growing, with consequences on our health and quality of life. Traffic, sirens, planes, music, annoying drunks at 3am stumbling past your window yelling to a friend across the street– just as an example. These things can lead to not only increase in mental/emotional stress, but can affect the physical nervous system as well.
About halfway through class, I asked the teacher if she wouldn’t mind lowering the volume; I could barely hear the instructions to chaturanga. She looked very disappointed. I smiled my most compassionate smile, and tried to find my inner earplugs. No biggie, I told myself — this is precisely one of the reasons I left San Francisco for quieter Sonoma County; there is plenty of quiet space at home.
But just as we were lying down for shavasana (corpse, or final resting pose, done at the end of class for a moment of calm) an Alicia Keys song came on, and I knew I was at my breaking point. I’m down with Alicia and her soothing vocals and all, but his was just too much. Pop during meditation?
I left class, drove home, and took a nice long moment to sit in the quiet of my own home.
Then I went online and found these guys.
