CCVII: Leftist Yogic Experiment

Abstract: I've conducted a mini yoga social experiment. It's not very scientific or controlled, and I haven't tested it enough times to be able to come to a foolproof enough conclusion, but it's enough of a difference that it will cause me to continue along with my ideological leanings. And it totally questions the belief that right is morally superior to left. We see this in English as the Latin word sinister, or "left", now means "evil" in English.

Hypothesis: I get more yoga lovin' when I place my mat on the left side of the room versus the right side of the room.

Background: Normally I try to fit in one or two Core classes each week with a particularly tough and entertaining instructor. One of the unique things about his classes is that before he starts our warmup, he gets us to walk around the room and introduce ourselves to everyone else--very unorthodox for yoga classes and Vancouver in general.

I used to always sit on the right side of the room, and when it was time for icebreakers I would be faced with a lot of awkward waiting for other people to finish shaking hands, or looking around and not having anyone in my vicinity. So drawkwa. So story-of-my-life.

Procedure: A couple weeks ago, I decided to spice things up by sitting on the left side. I repeated this again today.

Results: I immediately noticed that now people were waiting to meet me and that there were no more awkward moments.

How could this be?

Conclusions: It cannot be due to having made friends in that class because I haven't. Some people's names are familiar to me now but we still introduce ourselves to each other as if it were the first time. And I don't do smalltalk.

Similarly, I do not go often enough to be known by the instructor on a name-basis. And I would like to think that I am equally endearing in all of my classes.

Oh no, am I the variable? Or am I the constant?

If k ≠ Giosy, then L=R
If k = Giosy, then L>R

That's enough thinking for today.