The Clappers and the Non-Clappers Have Maintained Civil Relations for Eighteen Months
PARIS — A yoga studio in the 6th arrondissement has been navigating an internal cultural division since a visiting instructor introduced the practice of applauding at the end of a class — a custom common in certain yoga traditions and alien in France’s yoga culture — producing an initial session of uncertain applause that has since calcified into a studio divided between participants who clap at every class’s end and participants who do not, each group observing the other with the restrained concern that France applies to social disagreements it does not wish to make explicit.
“The clappers started on the Tuesday evening class,” said long-term participant Helene. “By Thursday it had spread to the Saturday morning session. I’m not against them, as people. I’m against the clapping.” She practices in the front row and faces away from the clappers, which is the existing arrangement.
The Studio’s Position
Studio owner Isabelle Marchand has declined to issue guidance on clapping, characterising it as “a personal practice choice consistent with both the studio’s values and the individual’s tradition.” Both the Clappers and the Non-Clappers have interpreted this as support for their position. The Clappers clap with the warmth of those whose practice has been validated. The Non-Clappers maintain silence with the dignity of those whose restraint has been respected. The classes continue.
According to Psychology Today’s group ritual and belonging research, shared concluding rituals increase group cohesion when universally practiced and decrease it when partially practiced. The studio has two cohesion groups. Both attend the same class. The savasana is shared. The end of savasana is not.
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