When I walked into yoga class at one of the places where I teach yesterday, I immediately noticed a new student only because she was sitting out of place, with her back to everyone else. Her eyes were closed. She was seemed to be meditating. I figured that while she was new to my class, she was obviously not new to yoga.
She was pretty, with an athletic build, and wearing green shorts. In fact, there are many pretty women who take my class at this place from time to time. Anyway, I decided to wait until we came out of meditation before asking green shorts to slide her mat back and turn around---something I've done hundreds of times since I started having my students set up facing one another.
Well, the class went on without much of a stir. I was doing my usual mix of teaching, DJing, and adjusting. I've never been a big adjuster---or I should say, corrector of poses. People in general come to yoga to feel good and if someone is harping on how they're not doing a pose correctly, it doesn't make them feel good. There are always workshops, intensives, and teachers much more qualified than me out there to help people who have a desire to dive deeper into the world of yoga alignment.
So the adjustments I like to give are mostly "feel good" adjustments: like pressing on the lower back during child's pose, or helping to open the hips further in half moon pose. It's very limited. I tend to not be very touchy-feely in my yoga classes. And I don't really know why. My teaching just hasn't gone in that direction.
Anyway, I'm teaching and sporadically adjusting. I think I may have given green shorts one of those child's pose adjustments. I like to give a little special attention to my newer students just to let them know that I know that they are there. But she seemed to have a good enough practice. I also remember giving a tall sweaty guy one of my half moon pose adjustments.
As I'm walking around instructing the students to sweep their arms out and up, I notice one of the members facing me from outside in the weight room, looking at me in a very intense and anticipatory manner. He was wearing an all-white workout getup.
Now, the fact that someone was staring at me was not that out of the ordinary. There's a glass wall between the classroom and the weightroom, and people stand out their and gawk at the classes between sets all the time.
It was his strange look that I found odd for a split second. I turned back around and continued to tell the students to fold forward over their legs in preparation for a vinyasa, almost immediately forgetting about the man in white.
Later, the class is beginning to wind down. Everyone worked hard and most people were sweating a lot. They deserved a deep stretch and a nice long rest at the end. We did a frog pose, which is the deep hip-opener where you face the floor, stretch your knees as wide apart as you can as if you were trying to straddle your mat, and fold forward, sliding your arms out in front.
In order to really feel the pose, it's best to get the shins parallel to the side so the mat. I walked around and helped the people who looked flexible enough to get their shins out a little more. I nudged green shorts and a few others on their ankles, and suggested that they could take their feet wider if they wanted to go deeper into the stretch.
After that, and a couple of last finishing poses, the students dropped into a nice quiet savasana, the resting portion of the class. Anyone who's taken a yoga class more than a handful of times has probably had their shoulders gently pressed down during savasana. It can feel so good and take you much much deeper into rest. That's the standard savasana adjustment and one that almost all teachers do, or at least know how to do.
So I'm walking around giving the gentle shoulder press. I like to get all of the new people and those looking a little tense first, then go to everyone else. Eventually, I give green shorts the adjustment and noticed her shirt said "get present." I see a lot of sayings on clothing and tattoos while giving this adjustment.
As I continue to the next person, I feel such a beautiful and peaceful energy in the room. I was playing this hypnotic Thomas Newman song---a soft, slow piano solo. When all of the sudden, I hear someone banging on the glass wall.
I turned around to see what the emergency was, and it was the man in white looking angry. He motioned for me to stop touching people. I thought for a moment that he worked at this place, and their new policy was for yoga instructors to cease touching people during savasana. Then I realized that this was ridiculous and walked over to the next person.
Knock Knock Knock again. A little louder this time. I turned around and the man in white, still angry, pointed to green shorts and was telling me through the glass not to touch her again. He was her boyfriend, he had been watching me, and apparently I had crossed the line. I was dumbfounded, but I motioned back that I wouldn't touch her again and moved on to continue adjusting.
All of these thoughts began whirling through my mind. Was he going to confront me after the class and threaten to kick my ass? Did I do anything inappropriate? What if he came in during savasana and confronted me in front of the whole class? How funny of a spectacle would that have been?
I managed to shake it all off temporarily and continue to lead the class out of savasana and into the closing meditation, not really even looking at green shorts again. I noticed in my periphery that the man in white was still standing outside and staring at me, as if he couldn't wait for me to come out of the room. The absurdity of the whole situation made me smile inside. I was at a loss.
Anyway, class ended. I walked with some of the students outside of the door, because there was another class getting started. The students filed away one by one and there was only one guy left, who was busy checking his cell phone. The man in white was behind me.
I turned around and immediately began to let him know that I meant no disrespect by adjusting his girlfriend. He informed me that he was from Brooklyn, and had we been in Brooklyn, I would've gotten my ass kicked for pulling some shit like that. And then he proceed to tell me that he knew I wanted his girl, because that's how he would feel if he noticed a really hot girl in front of him.
I assured the man in white that I am quite satisfied with my female situation and that, again, I intended no disrespect or harm. And I meant it. I told him that I could relate to how he felt, that some yoga teachers have a tendency to be inappropriate, but that was not my intention. And then I asked him to come and take my class one day with his girlfriend, and he would see for himself that everything was cool.
We exchanged some niceties to be certain that everything was fine, and as I walked away, cell phone guy was walking behind me. As it turned out, he was waiting there with me in case the man in white was going to try to attack me or something. I thought that was really nice of him and felt very supported by him and the rest of my students.
This has never happened before and I doubt that it will happen again anytime soon. It's just one of those things that if you do something long enough, you're bound to experience some funny, sad, crazy, interesting behavior both in yourself and others.
It's definitely added another level of awareness to my teaching, and for that I'm grateful.
