Each day on my way to work, I walk by the big glassy windows of Darshana Yoga. What’s unusual about Darshana is that the yogis and yoginis do their practice in an airy room just behind these windows.
Most yoga studios that I know of are kind of like massage parlors — there’s the shingle out front, but the activities within happen behind closed doors. I can understand this need for privacy; were I doing a downward-facing dog pose, I wouldn’t want everyone on the street ogling my rump.
But by being mindful of theirr appearance to the street, Darshana turns these windows into a wonderful marketing opportunity. Just as the white earbuds on an iPod signal to the world that you’re a Jobsian rip-mix-burner, Darshana’s window makes private yoga consumption a public act. When I see other Silicon Valley technogeeks doing Virabhadrasana behind those panes, I start to believe that I could be a yogi, too.
The icing on the cake is the fact that glass is translucent to kindness. Walk by Darshana, and if you catch the eye of owner Catherine De Los Santos, she’ll give you a nice, warm smile.