I don’t know a lot about feng shui, but I do know that I believe in it. If you are not familiar with feng shui, here’s my very simplified definition: Feng shui is the ancient Chinese practice of placing stuff in the “right” place in order to receive good vibes and positive energy. For example, if you place your desk facing a window, you’ll receive better cosmic vibes (and have a nicer view) than if you put your desk up against a wall (Who wants to look at a wall when you can look outside?).

Your feng shui plays a big part in where you place your yoga mat at yoga class. For example, if you get to class early (which I rarely ever do), you can pick your spot on the floor. The folks who get there early always take the prime spots in the back of the room. That way they don’t have to worry about anyone behind them staring at them during class. When you get to class late, you either are smack-dab in the front of the room with all eyes on you or you have to squeeze in someplace.

In the past week I’ve had bad yoga-mat feng shui. One day I got to class late and had to squeeze in to the back corner, extremely close to the wall and right in front of the heater (this is dysfunctional fêng shui at its best). I don’t think I need to explain this, but being in front of the heater on a humid August day in Ohio is not pleasant—unless you’ve been on a recent drinking binge and need to sweat out a lot of toxins. I was so close to the wall, I was unable to let my arms freely flow as I swan dived into forward fold and had to bend my arm in my free fall. Total bummer.

The next day I got to class late again and was in the very front row of class, right next to the yoga instructor. Talk about being self-conscious; in order to get through that class, I just closed my eyes and let me freak flag fly. I was not going to let being in the front of class bother me one bit.

I have to admit, it’s hard for me to have a bad yoga experience, and none of the two examples above brought me down completely. I’m just saying that if you can, try to place your mat in a position where you’ll not be too close to a heater, mirror, wall, or another person in the class. Practice yoga-mat feng shui and the positive energy flow will come to you!

Photo: Asif Akbar

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