Tuesday 5 May 2015

IMHO

I used to have a small column in our local newspaper in which I could write pretty much anything I liked. I tried to keep it positive or, at least, reasonable. I've never written for the national press, but if I were to, I hope I'd maintain the same values.

I'm not a regular reader of the Mail on Sunday, but I gather from people who are that the stock in trade of Ms Liz Jones is to be nasty. On 26 April, she wrote a very snide piece about yoga, entitled: 'Yoga won't make you slim, dahling - just deeply boring.' Well! (Cue rolling up of sleeves and formation of some very unyogic responses to this.)

She is, of course, deliberately trying to rile folk, and won't give a hoot what I or any other yoga people think. In any case, we can rise above it with our 'sheen of smug self-satisfaction'. The whole thing made me splutter with indignation, but it also made me laugh because her writing is absurd. Three things in particular are worth a mention:
  1. Her statement that Pilates is the thinking person's yoga - way to offend two groups at once;
  2. Her conclusion that yoga is exercise for lazy people - words fail me;
  3. Most breathtaking of all, her assertion that we all have orgasms when we are in the Downward-facing Dog posture.
I can only conclude that either I'm not teaching it right or that whatever class Ms Jones has been to it certainly wasn't yoga!

Om shanti, shanti, shanti.

8 comments:

  1. I've never tried yoga but based on numbers 2 and 3, I was thinking of having a go - now I'm not so sure! :)

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    1. Do it, Wendy - and let me know how you get on (ahem).

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  2. Elaine Medcalf6 May 2015 at 14:22

    Brilliant, thanks for this Julia. Many of those sort of columns in the weekend nationals don't add up to much. Makes me slightly grumpy to imagine how much they all get paid for spouting tripe once a week.

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    1. Elaine, I was very tempted to write to the paper and invite her to come to a class, but I don't want to boost her ego any further. (Have you stopped blogging, BTW?)

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  3. I'm sorry you were offended by that jerk - but her ridiculous assertions made me laugh! Seriously, there are idiotic people everywhere. I'm no longer surprised, and I'm too busy to take issue with them.

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    1. I wasn't really offended, Lexa. In fact, we had a good laugh about it in class. But,oh! it makes me mad.

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  4. What a load of tripe. She obviously has never tried, studied or known any befefits of yoga, otherwise she couldn't be that stupid.

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  5. I didn't lose any sleep over it, Susan. I'd love to get her to one of my classes, though...

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