Yoga West

I was given a gift certificate for a week of classes at this place by one of my business associates. I had walked past here before but I did not know about the yoga classes. Furthermore, I had seen the mostly Jewish converts wrapped up in turbans walking along Robertson Blvd. for decades. It piqued my curiosity and was close to my house. I ended up joining and buying the unlimited monthly pass. A bit expensive, but I thought I was going to learn real yoga. Everyone I came in contact with at this place treated me well. Now, I am not a touchy-feely kind of guy, and am genuinely suspicious of any activity that is sponsored by a church so I began to research the group (H3O) and it's founder, the late Yogi Bhajan. I did not find any smoking gun, or anything that would indicate that these people were malicious like the Sikhs that took over the Golden Temple in 1982, except that Yogi Bhajan preached that homosexuality was an illness and mistakes of god. Deduct a couple of stars for retardation. Also, there were some accusations that he was a ladies man. Finally, I read that some high ranking members were busted with a sailboat full of Thai Weed back in the 80's (not much of a crime in my book). The church seems to have a lot of assets. Then, a few months later, I met someone close to the founder, Yogi Bhajan. He claims the yogi was a charlatan and that the followers were people he would go through great lengths to avoid. I thought that was a pretty strong endorsement to stay away from these people. I do not want to say his name, but he was a close relative of the Yogi. I found almost all of the teachers here to be pretty cool, friendly and kind. The one disappointing exception was Guru Ignatowski, I mean Guru Singh. I was told by some adoring fans that he was the rockstar guru. While he was nice enough, when he opened his mouth, I kept on thinking what kind of bird brained philosophy is this? I'm talking serious mumbo jumbo here, folks. Repeatedly through his classes, I wondered in astonishment if this guy was for real (I went to several of this guys classes to give him a chance). My guess is that someone ate too much blotter while wheedling away on his guitar. I listed to this narcissistic idiot lie about how he was the subject of the MK-Ultra Program and how he went to Mexico and apprenticed with a shaman up in the mountains. I was born in the morning, but not this morning, and I can tell you that Guru Singh smells pretty fishy. I would like to eat shrooms with him and expose him as a liar. If you have never practiced Kundalini, you are in for a laugh. It is not really physical, and the poses are childishly easy. If you have gone to Bikram or Bryan Kest and can hang, you will be insulted by the lack of intensity here. There is singing and chanting and brainwashing along with blind adoration for all things Indian. I can't believe that these idiots want to be Indian. India has a lot of social problems, and is a classist, racist society. Some people that teach here assert that India is a utopia, overlooking the gang rape, child abuse, designation of women as lower than dogs, and the hate of all things Pakistani. Indians are fucked up people, and I do my best to avoid doing business with them. Because of the caste system, most of the Indians that you will meet here in the United States are from a high caste in India where they undoubtedly believe that they have been created in a superior manner to you. Because of this, you are fair game for mistreatment and being ripped off by them. I know that there are exceptions, but Indians are for the most part very racist people, and their society is pretty harsh. Notice that no Indians go to Yoga West. Real Indian Sikhs go to the gurwarda on Vermont in Los Feliz. When I came in here, there were a bunch of aggressive middle aged women with their pudenda hanging out of their yoga pants looking for some same day action. If you are interested in cougars you are going to be a happy man. It would be possible to seal the deal with any of them if you were into that sort of thing. These people are constantly trying to nickel and dime you once they have you inside the studio. Immediately after getting on their mailing list, they are trying to sell you extra things not included in the monthly membership. You could, for instance, get the special attention of Guru Singh at the Summer Solstice celebration for an additional $150.00 or teacher training at over one thousand. To round out the commercial vibe of this place, there were linen yoga suits, designer mats, books, CDs and Yogi Tea available for purchase in the lobby. They also had a calendar with 365 different sayings of the leader for each day of the year. All major credit cards accepted. They send you a new solicitation on an almost daily basis. Finally, I heard several teachers suggest taking cold showers. Someone has obviously never had their gas turned off. I would not go back to this place.