Stiles plans to set up more studios in small towns of Middle America where no yoga gurus have ventured before
She does not sit cross-legged, enveloped by fumes of incense. She does not quote from ancient Hindu scriptures or instruct students to chant Om and execute headstands for attainment of moksha. Tara Stiles, dubbed the 'coolest yoga instructor ever' by Vanity Fair magazine, usually walks around or stands at the back of the room. She refers to 'asanas' as 'poses' and her students do 'Triangles' (not Trikasanas) and 'Downward Dogs' (not Svanasanas) to the tune of Blues pianist Terry Butters. If a student can't touch his or her toes, Stiles just shrugs and says, "It's no big deal, just bend your knees". She reminds them that the pose is "good for quads and hamstrings. "
Stiles, a model-turned-yoga instructor, has become the new face of yoga in the United States. Unlike her rivals, she has not branded her type of yoga. Her version is not rigorous and rule-bound like the traditional system taught at ashrams here, and is also unlike the countless spin offs - hip hop yoga, hot yoga and ganja yoga - that have become a rage in the US. "Mine is just authentic yoga, true to itself, and not pretentious, " she told TOI-Crest in a telephone interview from New York.
The 29-year-old has subtracted the spiritual quotient and Sanskrit terms from yoga, picked simple asanas and blended them together to make interesting, fun routines. In short, she has tailored yoga to make it more palatable for the average American and packaged it as "healthy exercise".
A native of rural Illinois, Stiles set up her yoga studio, Strala, in Manhattan in 2008 and has since earned fame and flak in equal measure. A section of traditionalists, who consider yoga a way of life and a spiritual quest, have criticised Stiles for reducing the practice to a 'gym routine'. But Stiles's popularity is rising steadily. Her latest book Slim Calm Sexy was No. 1 on the Amazon list for months;her YouTube videos have got six lakh 'hits';she has collaborated with Deepak Chopra and Jane Fonda for DVDs and IPod applications and proudly counts them as her "students".
The queue for membership at her 3, 500-squarefoot studio is also getting longer. An average of 45 people turn up for each of the 40 classes conducted each week. Stiles plans to set up more yoga studios in "small towns and suburbs of Middle America where no yoga gurus have ventured before".
Why would she want to tap smaller markets? "I want to take yoga to the masses, " says Stiles. Her desire reminds one of Baba Ramdev. Having made pranayam (a yogic breathing technique) a part of life in chawls and sky-scrapers, the saffron-clad man has already accomplished what she has set out to do.
Their methods are also similar: Ramdev sticks to simple asanas and preaches no religion. Stiles has not heard of her Indian counterpart. And, their personalities could not be more different. While Ramdev sports a long, black beard and is a sanyasi, Stiles likes to sport tank tops and shorts, got married last year and stresses the importance of a good sex life. Her new book features 'partner poses' designed to turn up the heat in the bedroom. Yoga's usage as an aphrodisiac may be debatable. But even her critics do not contest that her brand of yoga is connecting with Americans like never before.
At Strala, across rectangular mats spread on the floor, a fireman and a FedEx truck driver stretch beside young actresses, bankers, socialites and university students. One of the secrets to her popularity could be the affordable price tag for her yoga. Strala classes cost $10 each - around three times cheaper than other yoga studios in New York. "I didn't want people to have to budget for yoga. "
Stiles has been practising yoga since she was five. At 18, Stiles, a five-feet-nine inch tall beauty with a lean frame and long tresses, was noticed by the Ford Modelling Agency and assignments followed. She pouted for many print advertisements but "did not get wrapped up in it", in her own words. She felt more alive during the yoga classes she was attending in her free time.
In 2006, Ford asked her to make yoga videos for YouTube. This led to two DVDs that turned her into a yoga diva. She has not looked back since.
Her own experiences as a yoga student made Stiles vow to be different from the India-returned, incenselighting, self-styled gurus who had been teaching yoga in the West since the 1970s. "I discovered that many yoga studios in New York make people feel terrible. The instructors are maniacs who talk down to students and behave like they have some kind of power. Some pretend to be enlightened priests from India and even feign an Indian accent. "
That is why you find Stiles peppering her conversations with local slang and even calling a few complicated asanas "crappy poses" during interviews. "If I recite the names of the poses in Sanskrit, it immediately becomes a barrier and intimidates those who don't know the language, " she said.
Her no-frills yoga may have worked commercially, but it has attracted sneers from purists. Jennilyn Carson, an American blogger known as Yogadork, rued "the way yoga is whittled down to a disposable diet fad to tackle the epidemic of bra fat" in her 2010 book, Slim Calm Sexy. The book's advertisements had claimed that one can get a "yoga-slim body in just 15 minutes a day". Carson mockingly calling it the "Incredible, Edible, Yoga: bite sized munchkins of a practice formed from the whole of the yoga donut. "
Stiles is not amused. "I am not saying people should do yoga for only 15 minutes. But life is a string of 15 minutes. I hope that if people enjoy those 15 minutes they will do more. " Can one also become sexy with yoga? "When you are connected to yourself, you become more aware of your feelings. It does not have to be about lingerie and champagne. Yoga is a great way to connect to yourself and feel sexy, " she said.
One would expect Stiles to cash in on her fame like Bikram Choudhary who owns a string of Bentleys and Rolls Royces. But she surprises again. " Yoga is my way of contributing to society. So many people are on prescription drugs and the health of 20-somethings is deteriorating. I want to give people the tool to lead a healthy life, " she says, leaving one wondering whether her altruism is genuine or another marketing gimmick.
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