By Lourdes Paredes
The Lab is meant to be a laboratory, “a place for experimentation where you find yourself, sometimes you lose yourself, too,” explains owner Carmen Aguilar. “You discover elements about yourself that you weren’t aware of, you get over your traumas or fears, you share experiences with people, you make friends, you laugh, you mingle, you learn.”
Aguilar opened The Lab in Chicago’s West Loop in March 2010. Initially, she taught all the classes but now has trained each of The Lab’s 14 teachers in her cYoga method. The name “cYoga” was chosen for its modern sound and many possible meanings, including “see,” “Chicago” and, yes, “Carmen.” She says she developed cYoga “out of the need to keep myself not only challenged but also injury-free and with the understanding that to get to a certain pose, you need to warm up your body in a certain way, so what you do, how you do it, and in which order are extremely important.”
Originally from Zaragoza, Spain, Aguilar first tried yoga at a gym when she lived in Colorado. At that time, she had injuries from running and struggled with anorexia and bulimia. Aguilar became “instantly hooked” on yoga’s physical and mental benefits. “I had always been a very active person but this discipline challenged me in new ways.”
Aguilar wears many hats at The Lab, “too many to describe.” In addition to being owner and teacher, she is “motivational speaker, lecturer, hug provider and anchor.” Clearly she has nurtured teachers and students in her cYoga style. With more than 50 reviews by the studio’s students, Yelp gives The Lab an average 4.5 (out of 5) stars.
Aguilar has practiced at many local studios and considers her primary teacher to be her daily practice. “There’s no greater guru than your daily practice.” She says cYoga “came out of the need to explain to the world that anyone can practice yoga. Even ‘advanced’ poses, when the student warmed up properly, with the proper technique and hours of practice, can be achieved. Anyone can have fun and be pain- and injury-free. Anyone can breathe fully and properly. Anyone can keep his or her head focused and should learn from the real teacher, his or her own practice.”
Aguilar is humorous, irreverent and extremely serious about the yoga business. “As a business owner, I offer what I think is interesting and noteworthy based on my personal experience. I then observe the reaction of the audience and act accordingly. It’s a symbiotic process and I try to shape things in a certain way. Sometimes I can and sometimes I can’t; sometimes I get in return something better than I expected; sometimes I reject it completely. It’s an exercise in adaptability. I find out what is essential and what’s not worth fighting for that I should let go of.
On another note, being surrounded by incredibly talented teachers and practitioners, no doubt, has improved my personal practice faster than it ever had before. Excellence is contagious. I’m sure of that.”
Carmen says, “People take a teacher training somewhere, and suddenly they Carmen Aguilar in Valgulasana think they can teach yoga. No daily practice, no devotion, no discipline and no understanding of what they’re doing because everything is too new. That’s dangerous and a potential hazard. Then you have others who follow the latest trend, practicing the silliest things in the name of yoga. Depending on the day, that makes me a) roll my eyes, b) want to vomit or c) laugh really hard.”
“If I ‘window demo’ in my underwear (or less), contorting in impossible positions just to promote myself, I’m not sure people will see more than just the facade. Maybe they’ll feel truly inspired by the body or the practice, rush over to the nearest yoga class and discover their true self, who knows? Nowadays, big companies have realized that there’s money in yoga, there’s money in attaining health, pursuing perfection dressed in a perfectly matching, stink-free attire. And people are willing to spend. An image sells, so it was just natural that marketing companies would combine a perfect body plus minimum clothing plus a hint of sexuality and naughtiness plus incredibly difficult asanas to guarantee a successful marketing campaign.
Add the social media phenomenon where if you don’t have followers, fans, hits, visits to your YouTube channel, Facebook page, website, and if you don’t tweet, post, blog or upload, you’re as old as a dinosaur. You have a new version of yoga that’s trying to figure itself out. Evolution is inevitable. The important thing for us is to keep the content of our yoga message meaningful and relevant to our times.”
The Lab (159 N. Racine Ave., Suite 2 West Loop), 312.526.3467
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