I’ve always been kind of embarrassed about how much I need my yoga teachers to tell me what a great job I’m doing. It’s not a job after all, it’s yoga. It’s not that I don’t love to be challenged, corrected, adjusted, egged on, pushed, or really noticed in any form, that is to say coached. But I need the cheerleading too.

I love to hear those special words. Good. Great. Super duper! And it’s even better when they say your name. Really good Beth.

That is why I love having a regular studio. Everybody knows your name. Just like on Cheers, the TV show. Your name is your own personal cheer. Yay your name here!

I loved to get cheered and I’m always cheering people on too. Friends. Baristas. That girl in the mirror, wow she really needs it. I’m afraid I might have scared off one or two yoga newbies with overenthusiastic praise. That was your first class? You did great! Good for you! That was a really hard class too. Next time you might find it a little easier without the socks.

I notice that when I teach my writing/performing workshops, the more I cheer my students on, the easier it is for them to hear my notes. There’s something about the phrase here’s what’s so great about you that seems to really open up the ears.

I first learned about the power of cheerleading in high school, when I was a literal cheerleader. The kind with pom-poms and a miniskirt. People are always surprised when I tell them that. I guess because I’m bookish, anti-authoritarian and afraid of heights. Or maybe it’s just the dark curly hair.

I wasn’t exactly a Laker Girl or anything. I was a cheerleader for the JCC. The Jewish Community Center of New Haven. Beep beep ungawa, the JCC has got the powa. I never did any flips or pop downs or even any cartwheels. But we did do a pyramid. Jews building a pyramid? Hmm. The historical symbolic resonance did not even occur to us. So ok, maybe we didn’t exactly bring it on, but we screamed our lungs out for the team. We and we put out for them too.

If you need any more evidence of the power of cheerleading look at mega-media success of Oprah. Op-rah ra ra!

Yes ra ra ra! The most primordial cheer. And ra? Etymologically, ra is attributed to hurrah. But where did hurrah come from? My guess is that hurrah comes from Ra, the Egyptian Sun God. And if there is any better cheerleader than the sun, I don’t know what it is. Grow! Grow! Grow! That’s why we get so depressed in the winter when the sun go go goes.

In fact lately we’re learning that a deficiency of vitamin D, which you get from the sun, is carcinogenic. It turns out all that staying in and avoiding the sun, all that sun blocking, is just as lethal as over exposure. We can take D3 supplements, but it’s good to actually spend some time with the sun saying Ra Ra Ra. Closing our eyes, and being in union with the sun.

After all, what is the center of most hatha practices? The Surya namaskar, the sun salute!

This year on the darkest, longest night of the year, the winter solstice, Greg and I did the 108 sun salute practice. We rock (rah-k!) we kept saying. I’m still sore. But, we did get through it thanks to our mutual cheerleading.

For yogis there’s another level of ra ra ra, which is Ram, one of the Sanskrit seed sounds. When I first learned about seed sounds I wanted to know what they meant. But seed sounds can’t be translated. They are not words that describe experiences. They are experiences themselves. That other words describe. And of course seeds are activated by? Sun! Ra ra ram!

Each of the seven major charkas (wheels of energy) in our bodies has a seed sound associated with it. And Ram is the seed of the Manipura (manipurRA!) what’s known as the 3rd chakra. It’s the chakra that corresponds to the solar (like the sun!) plexus. The bright yellow, sun colored, will connected, Vitamin D, you-can-Do-it centric, solar plexus. When we chant ram, or use the mantra of ram, we channel sun energy. We’re solar powered.

Probably the most well known cheering in yoga today happens at anusura studios. I know some yogis aren’t into the anusara practice of applauding after demos. But I say give a cheer get a cheer. And practicing at anusura studios helped me be a little less embarrassed about my desire to be cheered on because I realized that I actually enjoy it just as much when I hear other people getting cheered on as I do when the cheering is for me. More evidence that we are all one. And that the cheer vibrations are in and of themselves, good for everyone.

Plus, according to light and energy workers, clapping is one of the most effective ways to clear a space. Good to know if you find yourself caught without your trusty sage or if perhaps, you happen to make your living as a performer. Say as a comedian, where your job is basically to cheer people up.

DR. Emoto and other researchers in new edge science have been proving that that positive reinforcement has measurable positive results. Which is to say, the phrase good for you, is actually good for you.

So congratulations for making it through this column. You’re doing great! Good for you.

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