Yoga: for the People (of the upper middle class with disposable incomes)

A new store opened in the posh Pittsburgh neighborhood of Shadyside

Lululemon 

An if you've taken any $18 hot yoga class in any similarly nice neighborhood studio you have probably seen the ubiquitous inverted U on all the clothes.

Maybe I just don't shop much and I'm unaware of the 'realistic' cost of items...but there's not many words for the sticker shock I experience upon entering this pristine world of American Yoga. I don't doubt that these clothes are nice, but how nice do you need your work out tank top to be? $60 nice?

And if you don't think that is crazy. Please consider the $88 allegro scarf because "studios can be chilly".


I discovered yoga after my accident when I couldn't leave my room, I couldn't stretch my shoulder, I needed peace of mind. I would slowly stretch, and lay, and balance, and work my way to feeling as well as I could feel. Imagine my surprise, to discover this beautiful practice (that I thought was all mine, in my dimly lit room) is also a huge consumer market!

does that wrap come in brushed periwinkle?

I can't help but feel that something has been lost along the way and the practice that was to be accessible to everyone (all you need is a mat... and really, not even that), has become the top calorie burning exercise for predominately upper middle class white women - myself included.

Maybe all of this sounds very bitter. Maybe I just need to walk away from the dark maple floors and rows of $100 hot pants on Walnut St....

Maybe I need to roll out my dollar store mat and breathe deeply and use the money I saved by not buying anything today to start a "fly to india and ask this guy what its all about fund"