these are a few of my favorite peeves...

it's been almost a year since i attended my first "serious" yoga class (i'm not counting the gym versions i used to take every now and then). after practicing with different teachers at different studios, i've come up with the top ten list of things i'd rather do without.

here they are, in reverse order:

10. yoga studios that require me to use a pay parking lot or search for a rare metered spot because they don't offer complimentary parking and the majority of the street parking spots are reserved for permit parking only.

9. neighborhood parking with a two-hour limit. yoga classes are normally 1 1/2 hours long, so the extra 30 minutes is barely enough to sign in and line up before the class, then gather my stuff and say my goodbyes after. but i park there anyway if i can't find other parking, knowing that every day i do this brings me closer and closer to a parking ticket.

8. classes that are so popular that i have to show up at least 30 minutes before class to get a decent spot in the room. so much for two hours being enough (see #9, above).

7. students who show up at the last minute (despite #8, above) and insist on squeezing in their mats where there obviously isn't enough room for another mat. why do some people feel so entitled? if i can get there early to get my spot, why can't they?

6. studios that allow in more students than the room can comfortably fit (see #7, above). it just seems like the reasonable (and sane) thing to do!

5. the social hour (and a half) at maha yoga. why do people feel that they should be able to talk during the entire class? do they think no one will hear them over the loud music? (thankfully, they stop while they're in savasana. or better yet, they're gone by then - see #4, below)

4. students who score a prime spot, even if they know that they're going to leave midway through the class. this seems to be another maha phenomenon. for some reason, once it's time to lie on our backs for inversions, twists, or ab work, the pulling up of sticky mats commences. and by the time we finally sit up and look around, a good number of people are gone!

3. studios where i end up barefoot in the bathroom because i have to take off my shoes at the entrance. then i'm expected to stand on my mat after that?

2. students (and teachers!) who step on my yoga mat (while i'm sitting on it, no less) and/or my towel while they're walking around the room. PLEASE respect my space (especially since i have to put my face on it). and i don't even want to think about whether you've visited the bathroom (see #3, above)!

which brings me to the thing that annoys me the most:
1. yoga studios that don't update their websites with teacher substitutions nor have live people to answer the phone to give me that info. this sometimes causes an unexpected replacement when i show up for class -- and i end up taking the class anyway, either because i didn't have the heart to let a teacher know that i really wanted someone else, or because i drove all the way to get there and didn't want to waste gas going to another studio.

i don't know if i'll ever see the day when all of these will be resolved, but then again, maybe the yoga gods are listening...