“I love that the word is controversy…”
And I love that there are no gray areas with Elena Brower.
Here’s the deal, this GLBL Yoga event is for sure taking place. Let’s go through a quick rundown so those of you who don’t haven’t heard the scoop can be in the know:
“On August 16, 2012, GLBL YOGA kicks-off, NYC-style. We’re going to turn Central Park’s Great Lawn into the world’s largest yoga studio. Tens of thousands of New Yorkers united by the practice of yoga, led by world-renowned teachers Elena Brower, Seane Corn, Colleen Saidman and Rodney Yee. Live soundtrack laid down by Questlove, DJ Drez and other top artists. And the incomparable Reggie Watts rockin’ it as host and MC.”
So what’s the “controversy?” The $675,000 price tag. Here’s the cost breakdown:
General admission tickets are available for free via lottery on the GLBL site.
So now that you know the logistics, it’s easy to understand why there are those of the opinion that a hefty sticker price like that could be put to use for a myriad of other things. I think we can all agree that $675,00 is a pretty large sum of money, but to be fair here it should be mentioned that right off the top $100,000 will be distributed to several charity partners.
Let’s take that sum out of the equation for a minute and talk about the beauty of thousands of yogis coming together to practice in the name of peace. Via Elena Brower:
“The reason why we’re doing this, and the people with whom we’re doing this, this is for a damn good reason. We are raising money, we are getting people together to celebrate, to be grateful, and there is absolutely nothing that will stop that.”
When you put thousands of people in the same place, most of them presumably yogis, all of them there to concentrate on and physically show their humble devotion to the world and it’s inhabitants around them, you better believe that it will create a tangible force of energy. Whether or not you want to contribute your energy to that field is purely up to you. I know for me, personally, I want to take part in this opportunity to stand in solidarity and create a fathomable force of love and gratitude with the very real ability to send it’s adoration vibrations rippling out to the surrounding world.
Having the opportunity to speak with Elena Brower, who will be teaching at the event, about the issues surrounding it and what this en masse yoga class means to her was nothing short of pure inspiration.
She was so clear, her intention so transparent, and her ferocious honesty is as admirable as her face is glowing . And the truth of the matter is that what is happening is so important and so darn large that it’s force is not easily diluted—be it by the notion of aggravation or:
“There are just so many people who are writing to literally gain eyeballs. That’s the bottom line. Everybody knows it, everybody talks about it. The truth is what we’re doing is so much bigger than eyeballs on a blog.”
Elena is no stranger to this thousands-of-people-deep yoga class phenomenon. We touched base on the White Yoga Session she will be teaching in Paris this fall as well as a few other things you may or may not have known about Ms. Brower herself.
Listen to Where Is My Guru’s LIVE Wanderlust or Bust series with guest Elena Brower here:
To listen to Where Is My Guru’s interview with GLBL Yoga’s co-founder Sascha Lewis please click here.
**Please note that the show was previously recorded and the CD listening party for MC Yogi has already taken place.
