We just finished the first series of Yoga For Guys. It’s been almost three years since the class was offered and it was nice to be back in the atypical situation of being in a yoga studio where there are only men.

There is a unique camaraderie that forms when men get together to practice yoga. Some of it I will tell you about, some you can use your imagination, and some will remain sealed in accordance with the constitution of the Yoga For Guys secret society.

You see, I’m just a regular guy in Yoga and this is just one of my stories. To understand where we are as Men in yoga today, it’s important to understand how we got here. Today is Part I of 3.

Yoga for Guys was first offered in San Francisco at Bernal Yoga when we first opened the studio in 2002. Savonn and I were trying to find a way to get more guys interested in taking a yoga class so we decided to offer a series for “Guys” only.

Back then we observed that the guys who came to Bernal Yoga to pick up their wives behaved similar to how a cat does when you bring it home for the first time. They would first timidly peer in through the window a couple times. Then they would pace back and forth until a safe time opened when they would dart to the corner of the room and hide behind a plant. Fortunately, none of them ever crawled underneath the sink and stayed there for two days as I remember one cat doing growing up. But it was curious behavior to say the least. What was so scary about the yoga studio?

Well we (and I) were about to find out. The first series was full of men who definitely did not sign themselves up. First of all, they HAD yoga mats with them. The mats were tucked under their arms with names like Lisa L. written across the top. A sharpie drawn butterfly replacing the dot above the i in Lisa.

They were polite, quiet and efficient as they waited to sign-in for class wearing the same expression one has going into a prostrate exam. “Nope, no questions for me, let’s just go ahead and get this over with shall we.” Follow me please.

end of part 1.