A Strange Sense of Entitlement?

This is what I presume happened before I walked into yoga class: A man set up his mat in the corner of the room closest to the door. When he stepped away, a woman moved his mat and set hers down in his place. Then, she stepped out of the room. The man comes back confused as to why his mat has moved.

At this point, I walk into class. I’m setting up my yoga mat when the woman returns and the man obviously perturbed, asks her, “why did you move my mat?” To which she replied, “I’m always here.” He raised his voice and asked, “why would you do that?” Again, she said, “because I’m always here” in a tone that implied it was an obvious and logical answer.

I sat in disbelief when I heard her response. Words such as inconsiderate, oblivious, selfish, unaware and entitled came to mind.

How Would You React?

Livid, the man asked, “How would you feel if I did that to you? Do you own this place? Is this your home?” He continued his rant and said, “You don’t own that corner. We all pay for membership. It’s first come, first serve.” And though he didn’t have to, he went on to explain that he chose that spot because he didn’t want to disrupt class when he left early. He was so angry that he even started cursing.

Now, when I think of yoga, cursing doesn’t usually come to mind (well…maybe except when I try to do one those really hard poses like crow pose). This incident created an energy that didn’t feel natural to a yoga class. Yoga, for me, is about being grounded, releasing stress, being at peace and letting go of things that don’t serve me.

We don’t have control over what other people do, but we have control over how we react. Perhaps the man could have remained calm, but I don’t fault him for reacting the way he did and I’m glad he spoke up.

Oblivious or Entitled?

Was this woman that oblivious? Was she selfish or did she have some strange sense of entitlement? Just because she always gets the same spot, did she feel entitled to it even if it meant taking it away from someone who got there before her?

It seemed to take the man’s outburst for her to see what she had done and put herself in his shoes. But even then, she didn’t really apologize. Her response, “I won’t move it next time. Are you happy now?” sounded hollow. Still, I hope she does think twice before doing something like that again.

Fortunately, by the time class started, calm filled the room and everyone had a peaceful practice.