Chewing gum during yoga class can be harmful to you and your neighbours
Betty always comes to class with her chewing gum already fully engaged. She finds that chewing gum really helps to keep her mouth from drying out and she is so good at blowing bubbles during class and popping them. She doesn’t even get the popped bubble stuck on her face. She gets lots of attention from the other students and the teacher when she pops a bubble. Betty really enjoys the attention.
Unfortunately Betty does not realize that she is putting her health and safety at risk the longer she chews gum during yoga class.
What is wrong with chewing gum during a yoga class
There are 3 problems with chewing gum during a yoga class:
- There is a serious health and safety hazard.
- Chewing gum can be distracting to both Betty and everyone else in the class.
- Chewing gum really interferes with the breath work during a yoga practice.
Let’s look at the health and safety hazard first and then move on to the other items after that.
Chewing gum is a Health and Safety hazard
You move your body around a lot during a yoga practice. You lift your head up and look towards the ceiling. Alternately you lower your torso below your hips and bring your head towards the floor.
All of this moving the head up towards the ceiling and down towards the floor can result in a couple of possibilities.
One possibility is that the gum will fall out of your mouth and land on the floor where someone could step on it. This is disgusting enough but it is also possible that the teacher could slip and fall as result of stepping on the gum.
The other possibility is that when you lift your torso up and your head up is that the gum could fall to the back of your throat and you could choke on it or swallow it. Choking during a yoga class is not a good thing and can be really disruptive to the rest of the class.
It is time now to move on to the next problem area with chewing gum during a yoga class: Disruption of the class.
Chewing gum is distracting
Watching a person chewing gum during a yoga class can be really distracting for some people. The jaw is constantly moving the muscles are bunching, contracting and expanding. And the sound that is made as a result of the chewing not to mention the blowing of bubbles during the pauses between poses can drive some people right up the wall.
Not only is everyone else distracted by the gum chewing, Betty is distracted is as well. It takes a lot of attention to manage the gum in your mouth. When you get ready to blow a bubble that feat requires a lot of concentration to get the gum in the right shape, the right thickness and in the right place in your mouth before you start to inflate the bubble. All of this concentration takes you away from the yoga class and leaves you in your own little world.
While Betty is working on blowing that prize winning bubble there is more problem area to consider. The breath and how chewing gum makes it almost impossible to do the yoga breath properly.
Chewing gum and the yoga breath do not mix
Let’s take a moment to talk about Ujjayi breath.
Ujjayi breath is a particular kind of breathing that you do during a yoga practice. The mouth and lips are closed, the teeth are slightly apart and there a slight restriction at the back of the throat. You breath in and out at a moderate and deliberate pace and you can both hear and feel your breath as you breath in out.
Once you get the Ujjayi breath established it is impossible to continue to do it while you chew your gum. The jaw is not still. It is moving up and down, back and forth as it chews away. The restriction at the back of the throat goes away as well as you continue to chew.
All of this action with chewing destroys the Ujjayi breath and all of the benefits that it brings to your yoga practice.
To do the Ujjayi breath properly Betty needs to store the gum some where. She could stuff it into her cheek. She could put it under her tongue or she could stick it to the roof of her mouth.
Even better Betty could put the gum in the trash can before she comes into the practice space and not have to worry about it at all.
Summary
Chewing gum during a yoga class is a very bad thing.
- Your health and the safety of the class is at risk.
- You and everyone else including the teacher will get distracted and loose the full benefit of the yoga practice.
- You will not be able to the yoga breath properly and loose even more benefits of yoga.
Next Steps
Leave your chewing gum at home and enjoy the full benefit of your yoga class.
