Through the practice of yoga we try to fine tune our connection to our bodies, our mind, the collective consciousness, and world around us. But, Liz McDonald and a few other LA Yoga instructors are now offering so-called "baked" yoga classes where students are encouraged to indulge before practice! Speaking from my experience training in dance, tai chi, and more recently yoga - this kind of stimulant would do more harm than good for your practice. Good balance, for example, requires full attention to your body alignment and muscular connections. During an asana sequence, it is important to work on breath and keep pace with the class. How well can you breath when you have just abused your lungs? If your senses are numbed, how well can you truly listen to your body's messages on how to align and connect your body during your practice? Yoga makes students more positive and relaxed without stimulants. When you take the precious time to do something good for your body, why give your body mixed messages by trying to do something bad for it? To me, yoga and proper meditation requires you to really concentrate and give your full attention to the practice. If you are out of touch with your senses, you cannot truly give your practice your full attention. To me yoga is a way to help know and develop yourself - relying on what you can get from the practice itself, and not through toxic stimulants. Yoga already gives you a natural high from doing something good for your body... I will now take a chance and be more personal here - I originally became a dancer in part because I knew it would break my bad habit of binge drinking and frequent marijuana use. Yoga is the same in that the high you can get from good exercise, and the positive feeling you get from doing something good for your body can help you overcome addiction. Someone who does this kind of class may be an experience seeker rather than a student who really wants to work on their yoga. But, for me, "baked asanas" are without question "half-baked" and contradict healthy exercise practice and living.
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