Women and Yoga

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Hands Of Eye brought up the fact that in the West a majority % of yoga teachers and students are women wearing little clothing.

We assume that yoga was dominated by male yogis in ancient India, but is this true?

Consider that many male yogis would have been married, surely their wives and children were practicing yoga along with them.

What would they have been wearing? Surely not burkas, salwar-kameez or saris with cholis - those are all much later developments in clothing.

Artifacts have shown that ancient Indians in the tropical and sub-tropical regions of India wore very little clothing. Dhotis/lungis without shits for men and dhotis/lungis for women on the bottom half with simply a thin piece of cloth strapped around the chest and tied in the back for women, or the dhoti/sari wrapped in this way, as is still worn by elderly women in Bengal today;

http://www.indiansareewholesaler.com/editor/image/stranky3_galerie/obrazek_62.jpg

Some women went completely topless in ancient India, and with the temperatures as high as they get - can you blame them?

If you attend a yoga class in India today both the women and men are usually clothed from top to bottom, regardless of the weather. This makes it very difficult to perform some asanas, as opposed to just a loin cloth or lungi wrapped around the lower half of your body.

The reason why Indians cover themselves up so much despite the high temps is due to cultural infiltration from Muslims and other non-Hindus from colder regions who established new norms of social acceptability with regards to clothing, particularly that of women.

If we were to dress authentically Indian, as Indians did before such cultural infiltrations, we would be wearing a lot less clothing, as is appropriate for tropical and sub-tropical environments.

All of this being said, if men are getting sexually turned on in co-ed yoga classes by the women, and if women are getting sexually turned on by the men, maybe it is time to introduce gender segregated yoga classes?

PS: [B]Hands of Eye[/B], I saw your photo and being the cute, blonde surfer boy that you are, I’m sure plenty of women (and men) are having a hard time being “celibate” around you too! I can imagine booking a private massage and having YOU turn up on my doorstep. Proof that there is indeed a God.
:wink:

#2

You are right about that clothing in Indian society was far more liberal than it became after infiltration of Islam. Sri Rama Ramanuja Acharya has written about it: http://www.srimatham.com/publications/hindu-women-and-veils.html

#3

Coincidentally, I just learned about this today at a museum exhibit in Kerala depicting the clothing of women here going back as early as the middle of the 1900s. A simple skirt resembling a man’s dhoti and a small folded cloth top are all that is shown in pictures of the royal family. I found it quite funny that it might have been the foreign Christian influence that helped affect this change and now I, the foreigner, viewed that exhibit in full long pants and a full-sleeved top that went to mid-thigh, when I’d rather have been wearing a sundress. Unfortunately dressing in a way I feel is appropriate for the weather by the standards of my own culture will get me inappropriate and unwanted attention.

#4

[QUOTE=GORI YOGINI;62713]
All of this being said, if men are getting sexually turned on in co-ed yoga classes by the women, and if women are getting sexually turned on by the men, maybe it is time to introduce gender segregated yoga classes?

[/QUOTE]

Accept the challenge as a surmountable obstacle in your practice. Transcend it, then move on. It may be rooted deeply in the human psyche, but part of the foundation of yoga puts you in the position of the Charioteer, controlling the reins of the mind and keeping the horses of your senses on path.

If you follow this logic, whats next, having american women in the workplace wearing burkas?

#5

[QUOTE=GORI YOGINI;62713]Hands Of Eye brought up the fact that in the

All of this being said, if men are getting sexually turned on in co-ed yoga classes by the women, and if women are getting sexually turned on by the men, maybe it is time to introduce gender segregated yoga classes?

[/QUOTE]

All the women in my yoga classes (including myself) wear leggings and tank tops or t shirts. I don’t see what is so provacative about it and I can say that I myself and alot of my girl friends that practice yoga never find themselves looking around at the men in the class and being turned on.

To me what women wear in class isn’t any more provacative then what women are wearing out about in daily life. Maybe its more a matter of focusing on yourself and your practice rather then looking at your neighbors body. To me gender segredated yoga classes sounds silly but I guess it wouldn’t hurt to offer them for the people that would prefer them.

#6

Nellie, I think it depends on the region. I’ve been in some yoga classes where the clothing was indeed provacative and showed way too much in downward dog. LOL!

More fun here;

#7

LOL!!! That’s funny! I guess your right. A friend of mine does bikram and she said guys and girls wear very short shorts in the class.

#8

All you need to wear is a langoti.

#9

[QUOTE=GORI YOGINI;62713]

We assume that yoga was dominated by male yogis in ancient India, but is this true?

[/QUOTE]

yes

#10

http://www.lotusfertility.com/Yogini_Roots.html
Interesting article about ancient yoginis.

#11

All of this being said, if men are getting sexually turned on in co-ed yoga classes by the women, and if women are getting sexually turned on by the men, maybe it is time to introduce gender segregated yoga classes?

I think it would be a good idea but hard to accomplish succesfully. I read an article about the bikram studio in L.A that he talks allot of sexual references and that the studio is kind of a “singles scene” were people to to find partners

I quess some studios use that aspect to gain regular paying customers. There is nothing wrong with it really. It would make it really hard to make segregated classes happen though

#12

[QUOTE=handsofeye;62998]All of this being said, if men are getting sexually turned on in co-ed yoga classes by the women, and if women are getting sexually turned on by the men, maybe it is time to introduce gender segregated yoga classes?..
[/QUOTE]

If people are admiring even meeting and establishing relationships with perhaps like minded yogis sharing the journey or maybe just beginning on the path; well I am shocked. :rolleyes:

#13

wearing clothes yoga is for everyone. But its depends on their culture and mentality, you need to understand what yoga actually means and was intended for, and not the Western appropriation of it.

#14

[QUOTE=handsofeye;62998]All of this being said, if men are getting sexually turned on in co-ed yoga classes by the women, and if women are getting sexually turned on by the men, maybe it is time to introduce gender segregated yoga classes? [/QUOTE]

When I first started a hot yoga practice (22 years old) I had a Very difficult time keeping my eyes to myself. After all it was akin to being a kid in a candy store. While the candy never got any less sweet over time I was able to bring my focus to where it should be.

I now practice at YogaWorks in classes that are mostly unheated. I still stick to my mid thigh length shorts and no shirt because I feel smothered in anything else. Whatever makes a man or a woman comfortable in class is their own perogative. As far as I am concerned men and women should wear whatever enables them to focus and relax the best.

#15

[QUOTE=handsofeye;62998]All of this being said, if men are getting sexually turned on in co-ed yoga classes by the women, and if women are getting sexually turned on by the men, maybe it is time to introduce gender segregated yoga classes?

I think it would be a good idea but hard to accomplish succesfully. I read an article about the bikram studio in L.A that he talks allot of sexual references and that the studio is kind of a “singles scene” were people to to find partners

I quess some studios use that aspect to gain regular paying customers. There is nothing wrong with it really. It would make it really hard to make segregated classes happen though[/QUOTE]

And the same sex segregation deals with same sex attraction or perception of attraction how?

Is it that big of a deal? If it is you might want to consider yoga videos or podcasts or private practice for a while if you guys can’t get over human behaviour interaction and your reactiveness to it.

#16

Getting turned on is all in the mind
Cheers imho

#17

[QUOTE=Fixed;79959]Getting turned on is all in the mind
Cheers imho[/QUOTE]

I salute you Captain Obvious :slight_smile:

#18

[QUOTE=zafu;79991]I salute you Captain Obvious :-)[/QUOTE]

Always Glad to be of service my friend :slight_smile:
Cheers

#19

I have to admit that if classes were segregated based on gender, i would be a lot less likely to actually make it to class.

#20

So people are looking at each other and getting turned on? Horrific! I say, we should introduce gender segregation in society at once! This madness must come to an end! Oh wait… there are homosexuals too… I know, we segregate everyone from each other!