SF yogi-men defy nudophobia

Yoga devotees shed their clothes
in practice's latest trend


by Matthew S. Bajko

08/17/2006
Copyright © 2006 Bay Area Reporter
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http://ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=1087

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About a dozen men roll out blue mats and stretch their limbs in Mission Yoga's third floor studio space on a recent Sunday night. Twilight filters into the warm room through large windows lining the wall overlooking 20th Street as soothing music spills out from a speaker situated in a corner.

Instructor Darren Main, 35, sits cross-legged on his mat in front of the room leading the male participants, mostly white men ranging in age from early 30s to 50s, in meditation to block out the traffic sounds from the street below.

"Feel the heat of this day, how different the body feels," said Main as he instructed the men to
close their eyes, regulate their breathing, and relax their muscles.

Over the next 90 minutes Main leads his class of yoga practitioners in a series of balancing poses and stretching exercises that progressively tax the legs and body with increasing strain and resistance.
The regimen is not unlike the multitude of yoga classes held at other studios and gyms across the city, except for one main difference:
all the men are nude.
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Main's class is believed to be the first weekly nude yoga class for men held in a commercial setting in
San Francisco. It is part of a growing trend in yoga where practitioners from coast to coast seek out venues where they can shed their clothing and practice yoga in a freer environment.

"There is something very healing about men coming together, practicing yoga, and being naked together in a way that is not Blow Buddies," said Main, who runs both gay men's and co-ed yoga retreats
in Hawaii and Costa Rica and authored the 2001 book
YOGA AND THE PATH OF THE URBAN MYSTIC.
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Clothing optional co-ed classes have been held in the Bay Area,
and naked yoga for men has been offered at private settings in the past,
but Main wanted to start a men-only class
at a commercial yoga studio where longtime yoga devotees to newbies could feel welcome.

"I have always practiced [naked yoga] on my own and practiced at the [ clothing-optional] beach.
I love it, it is so freeing and liberating to move your body without clothes on," said Main,
who grew up in the coastal town of Mystic, Connecticut and moved to San Francisco 13 years ago.
He has been a yoga instructor for the past 15 years, teaching classes locally at Gold's Gym and
Yoga Tree. "I heard about [naked yoga] classes in New York and L.A. and decided I would give it a shot and see how the energy would go."

Mission Yoga was the only studio that didn't have qualms about hosting a yoga class with
a mandatory no-clothes rule.
Main admitted he, too, had some reservations at first that people coming to the class would not be serious about practicing yoga.

"I wanted to start a class but I was concerned it would turn into staring at some guy's ass while in downward dog [a yoga position] or some creepy lecherous feeling that would take away from the yoga," said Main. "I have had no problems whatsoever. It has just been beautiful energy in the room.
A lot of the same people come."

Main, who identifies as queer, began the classes in April and posted ads about them on Craigslist.
Some straight men do attend, though Main said it is mostly gay men who regularly come to classes.
For newcomers, Main said any initial discomfort at being naked in a group of strangers
quickly wears off once class begins.

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For more information about Main and his classes, visit

http://www.darrenmain.com

or call Mission Yoga at (415) 401-YOGA
or visit its Web site at

http://www.missionyoga.com

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[ For the rest of this story,
please see

http://ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=1087 ]

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BAY AREA REPORTER:
  17 August 2006
Serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities since 1971
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Copyright © 2006, Bay Area Reporter, a division of Benro Enterprises, Inc.
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