Stuff White People Like

©2009 Stuart Isett/www.isett.com

“Bonding with their Downward-facing Humans”

By: Bethany Lyttle.  New York Times, April 8th, 2009.

Overview

White people like to make the most of their free time, but many of them discovered that time doing yoga was time away from their dog and time with their dog was time away from yoga.  It was becoming a fairly significant problem.  Thankfully, Doga has been created to allow white people to combine two of their favorite things into one expensive, time consuming activity called Doga or dog yoga.

Concerns

“Doga runs the risk of trivializing yoga by turning a 2,500-year-old practice into a fad,” said Julie Lawrence, 60, a yoga instructor and studio owner in Portland, Ore. “To live in harmony with all beings, including dogs, is a truly yogic principle. But yoga class may not be the most appropriate way to express this.”

She is correct, the most appropriate way to express yogic principles is by wearing $100 stretch pants at an expensive yoga studio.  Failing that, the second most appropriate way to express your devotion to yoga is to do it at home with a holy DVD and yoga mat from Target.

Value

These classes run between $15-25 per class and according to one instructor feature a number of complex activities:

Ms. Bryan, the author in Seattle, said: “It’s a new field so there can be confusion about what doga is and isn’t.” Her classes are loosely structured and filled with humor. “Who cares if everybody’s facing the same direction and doing exactly the same thing?” she said. “Besides, laughing is spiritual.”

To make that clear, white people are paying $15-25 per session to hold their dog in the same position as other white people.  This is considered a relative bargain.

Stuff Mentioned in the Article

#53 Dogs
#15 Yoga
#26 Manhattan (now Brooklyn too!)
Portland, Oregon (Book)
#11 Asian Girls
#92 Book Deals
#101 Being Offended