We were in LA for meetings and our friend Alex invited us to go to yoga at her favorite spot in Brentwood. We were running late, real LA late, as in the class started at 6pm and the Google Maps said that we were 11 minutes away at 5:52pm. So like any true New Yorkers, we were freaking out. She said not to worry, but we were still freaking out. Little did we know.
We show up and the place is like recess for good looking people in Lululemon. People are in this studio, music is blaring, some are starting poses, some are talking, and some are still on their iPhones. And some of them stayed on their iPhones during the entire class. I couldn’t find Toto, but we certainly weren’t in New York anymore.
The class went on and it was really solid, the normal poses and stuff you are used to, but in a hot room with everyone going at their own pace with great music blasting throughout the studio. I realized at that moment that going to yoga is a lot like going to Synagogue: the more advanced the people are, the less structured it is.
Except our teacher wasn’t a Rabbi – he was a porn star.
Yes. He was a porn star.
At the end of the class I asked Alex, “I have never really seen a straight, good looking guy like this teaching yoga in New York.” That’s when she told me. Apparently it was a pretty big controversy when someone first found it on the Internet.
But the signs are everywhere and the insights can come from anywhere so far be it from me to discriminate on a guy’s profession when he is offering up words of wisdom on how to live your life better.
So after a tough, sweaty, and unique (to say the least) class, he imparted some wisdom as we came to sit.
It went something like this, “you can sit here for a while and one of two things will happen. Either you will go insane or you will embrace the stillness. If you want to go insane, it’s actually pretty easy. Just believe your thoughts, follow them wherever they go, whatever your mind makes up, and you will go insane. Or you can embrace the moment, the stillness, quiet your mind and be in the present.” It has stuck with me since…If you want to go insane, it’s actually pretty easy. Just believe your thoughts…Or you can embrace the moment.