The
New York Times reports on a new trend in Yoga: "Yoga + Wine" retreats. I'm not kidding. The article includes a photo of a studio filled with yoga students
on their mats, with wine glasses in hand. Hey, I couldn't make this up.
I don't know how many of my readers are dabblers in yoga, but I suspect more than a few of you have tried it. I would venture a guess that at least as many have been to a wine tasting. I just don't think the two go together. Besides, where the heck do the glasses go when you're in warrior pose? I'm sure I'd knock them over transitioning from iron mountain to whatever the heck comes next. Are there buckets for spitting? Servers?
It's only a matter of time before some frat boy turned yoga student gets the bright idea:
"Dude, if we combine wine with hot yoga (the Bikram style in steamy hot rooms) we can catch a buzz faster even faster."
Anyone with only a bit of sense will tell you that the notion of drinking during a class is about as far from the goals of the practice as you can get. But, as the entrepreneur points out, Americans approach paths to spiritual enlightenment pretty much the way we do a lot of things: "cafeteria style". That is to say, we like to pick and choose just what we want. Why conform to someone else's discipline, especially if it interferes with your partying?
Contemplating another version of this oddity seems reasonable to me: a yoga retreat set in wine country that offers good local food and wine after a day that includes yoga class and vineyard tours...
that could work.
