"yoga is hot" or... "my own butt"
I am both a yoga practitioner and a writer. And let me tell you, I have been waiting YEARS for the opportunity to write a piece about my own butt. (That's my butt. I don't care what you say.) There just never seemed to be an appropriate context for such a subject. Until, I think, right now.
My story starts one spring evening in Vermont. I was walking through the tiny town of Burlington to attend a yoga class at Yoga Vermont. I had my mat in hand, my chakras were more or less aligned, and I was confident that the crisp, spring air would make my Ujjayi breath all the more ocean-y. My calm was interrupted, however, when a young man yelled out to me from a moving car.
"Yoga is hot!" he called out into the night, like some sort of aggressive mantra.
Unfortunately, he sped away before I had time to really delve into the details of his statement, let alone agree with him. Regardless, his simple words held a simple truth.
When people are asked why they practice yoga, their answers can vary greatly: peace of mind, increased flexibility, balance, etc. Most people don't say that they practice yoga in order to achieve a greater level of hotness. (Well, unless you're Adam Levine. Oh hayyyyy.)
Adam Levine aside, there are few yogis who would deny that one of the nicer side effects of regular practice is a nicely toned bod. Which brings us to the real topic of this post: my butt. Okay, fine. Maybe this post isn't about my butt, exclusively--but yoga butts in general.
Like it or not, the idea of a "yoga butt" has become something of a pop culture phenomenon. There are entire (kind of sexist and gross) websites dedicated to these butts. I would argue that the obsession with yoga butts is a little...much. Hey, even the ever-hot Adam Levine admits that while he started practicing yoga for physical benefits, emotional and internal benefits became equally important to his practice. Here is a quote from a recent Yoga Journal interview:
"I won't lie: At the beginning, it was 100 percent physical for me. I had lactic acid from working out. I couldn't touch my toes. People who say that they don't do yoga for the physical benefits are full of it. It makes you look great, which is cool, but it also makes you feel great. Both are awesome. It puts me in a completely different place mentally now. The practice slows me down. I have to focus so intently, I'm not thinking about anything else. My mind is free of the typical thoughts. Yoga really revolutionized my life." - Levine
The truth is, while that "Yoga is hot!" kid in the car may have been on to something, we yogis are probably better served focusing on our breath rather than our butts. So the next time you find yourself stressing about whether your behind looks okay in your yoga pants, remember this: it probably looks awesome. Fuggettaboutit!
A toned bum is something that is going to happen naturally from practicing yoga. HOWEVER, if you want to focus your practice on toning your glutes, take a look at this 12-step sequence. You'll have a butt just like mine in no time.
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