Off the Mat
Bliss Miss
By Kristen Dollard
A conversation with renowned yoga teacher Seane Corn
Q: Your last great purchases?
A: A vinyl Marc Jacobs travel
bag. And jeans; I have more jeans than any person ever. I run out and
buy whatever someone says is the hottest—as long as they make my butt
look good.
Q: In class you joke that you’re a horrible person without 2 hours of poses. Really?
A: I can be hard on myself. I
can be hard on the people around me. So if I don’t breathe and don’t
move every single day, tension just builds in my system, and then it
will come out in other ways.
Q: But you always seem so chill and composed.
A: Believe me, I get triggered. I just came home, and I know someone
smoked in my car. I left a very nasty message on their cell phone. I am
angry, and I’m not going to be all “Om Namah Shivaya” [Sanskrit for
“The Lord who dwells in every heart”] about it.
Q:
So dealing with stress and problems is what you mean by yoga “off the mat”?
A: Yes. You do the best you can
with what you know. A lot of self-forgiveness, trial and error. In
every situation you try to find the grace. Life is hard.
Q:
So yoga isn’t all love, peace, and happiness?
A: To me, you are not doing
your job if you haven’t provoked someone or something. Yoga is braver
than that and more assertive than that. It’s not Pollyanna-ish.
Q:
And neither are you.
A: Exactly.
