It's hot in here!

I teach and practice Hot Vinyasa Yoga in a room that is usually between 90° and 100° Fahrenheit. During class today I suddenly had the urge to strip off my shirt and sweatpants, wishing I had a teeny bikini to slip into. I was steaming up, dripping sweat, and I wasn't even doing yoga; I was teaching. Obviously I kept all my clothes on but as I scanned the room midway through class, I noticed there were several men with their shirts still on. Realistically, when I'm teaching (and practicing) it's important not to be a distraction to the students and I'm thinking walking around in a bikini, no matter what my body looked like, might become a tad distracting. So I dress as sensibly as I can while making comfort my second priority, yes, second only to appropriateness. Most of the students at the studio where I work dress in typical yoga wear; shirts, sports bras, pants, shorts...usually high end stuff that covers just enough but still allows them to be comfortable in the heat. Once in a while, a woman may have something a bit skimpy on, leading to an occasional areola sighting, but for the most part they wear what's needed to survive the heat and not become too much of a distraction for wandering eyes. Most of the men wear pants or long shorts with a short sleeve shirt or are bare-chested. Just like the women, they make sensible choices for clothing, except of course when the shorts are too short and a berry inadvertently falls from the bunch. Yikes! Overall we're a pretty modest group considering how hot it gets in any given class.
So today, as the sweat trickled down my face, I actually felt sad looking at all these men drenched from head to toe, tangled up in their shirts. Am I missing something here? I know it's not inappropriate for a man to do an intense physical yoga practice in a boiling hot room with his naked chest revealed! Granted, I like men, I love the male form, and honestly, I enjoy looking at men's bods. But this aside, 'cause it's not about my needs or in any way a selfish request. In all seriousness, if you do not have boobs or a weigh-in for your next pro-wrestling match, take off your damn shirt! And no, man boobs don't count, their not really boobs, they are something but they're definitely not boobs.
I have a student who'd been coming to the classes that I teach for years. At the beginning, he would wear a long sleeve shirt and spandex shorts, yeah, now that's a good look. Suppose now is as good a time as any to say it ...people talk about camel-toe not being attractive, well gentlemen, camel-tail is not any better. If you're gonna wear spandex, please don't tuck "it", and quite frankly, spandex on a man in yoga is in fact, distracting; whether "its" tucked or not. Back to Mister Long Sleeve Spandex...I don't know what happened but eventually he started showing up to class with regular shorts and it was beautiful! However, he still had the long sleeves and I noticed that even though he practiced 6 times a week for years, he had to take child's pose a lot and he would get red in the face, guzzling loads of water throughout class. I'd say about a year ago he finally shed the sleeves and let his arms out to play. Hallelujah!  His practice was definitely getting better but he was still burning up and it was effecting his ability to find new edges. After 5 years I finally approached him in the middle of a super hot class, "Hey, why don't you take your shirt off?" He responded with a laugh. That was it. Huh? What the fuck? Did he have some weird thing goin' on under there? Strange hair growth or a third nipple or maybe he wore a girdle or something to bind him in? I just didn't get it. A few days later I asked him why he wouldn't take his shirt off and he said some bullshit about it being better to practice with a shirt to hold the sweat...yea, whatever. I was determined now. There's 70 year old men with moobs, men with huge Buddha bellies and strange arrangements of thick back hair in unusual patterns, and they take their shirts off; yet this guy wouldn't budge. So much of yoga is about letting go but he wouldn't let go of his damn shirt and I couldn't let go of the idea of getting it off of him. And I tried, oh believe me. If you attended any of those classes during my mission, well, the extra push ups and 5 minute planks...I need to apologize 'cause I got a little carried away; and then we were all saved. Just before class began one evening, my friend and fellow teacher decided to stay but didn't have her yoga garb. She started practicing in a bra thing and it was just so not working. Light bulb!!! I went over to "Shirt", "Hey sorry, but is there any way Jules can borrow your shirt to practice in? She left her stuff at home?" He looked at me with a smile, "umm". Before he could even get the words out I thanked him, got the shirt and had her put it on. Yippee, yippee, yip, yip, yip. I couldn't believe it!!! He was shirtless and I could finally get back to teaching like a semi-normal person again. Oh, but wait, I had to look, I mean, come on, ya' know I had to see what he'd been hiding for all these years. Not with judgement but with curiosity, I casually glimpsed from across the room; looked okay from there. I wandered closer, hmmm, nothing unusual that was standing out. In fact, this guy not only had a great body but even his skin and hair, everything was really nice. I was kinda' shocked, maybe even a little disappointed. After the class I checked in with him and he was gleaming, he actually liked it and I remember the words he spoke,"I sorta' feel liberated". Next time he showed up, he didn't take his shirt off at first but I was more brazen now, meandering over, taking it off 1/2 way and then allowing him to finish it off. I know I may have pushed the boundaries but he's never gone back, he's the "shirtless" guy now and I swear I notice a little more joy in his eyes, a little more freedom in his body.
One of the things I wish for all the students that come to the classes I teach is for them to find that freedom in their practice. The freedom to be exactly who there are and the courage to liberate themselves from the things in life that hold them back from that. This could translate into trying a challenging inversion, coming to child's pose, staying on the mat when the urge to leave arises, or quite literally, as in this case, letting another layer fall away to reveal the light and strength that we all really are.

~ namaste


*** the thoughts and opinions expressed above are solely mine and are in no way a reflection of those who are more highly evolved