Tammy,

At one of your yoga classes I noticed a teacher in training was shirtless. I was wondering if I should be topless too.

What will people think of my body? I’m slender but not ripped like an MMA fighter. I don’t have any cool yoga tattoos so my cred will be pretty suspect. My continuous river of sweat will be pretty visible and I’m sure that’s not an attractive feature; not to mention the slipping and sliding that will occur when we do tree, sphinx, seal or any other poses on or off the mat. I do have some body hair; is that something  I need to take care of? Do you recommend shaving, waxing, or the apparent latest craze, laser removal? Obviously I’m not up on the latest self-maintenance trends. On the positive side I have neither any body deformities nor any weird colored body splotches. I have an innie belly button. How does that fit in the scale of corporal assessment?

Does yoga actually chisel the body? If I became a yoga fanatic would I feel comfortable going shirtless? Maybe I should become a yoga teacher and then I’d get a smoking body, right? I mean you have the ideal body; can I achieve that? Well, for a guy of course.

Perhaps the real question is why I am wondering what other people will think about my body. I know yoga teaches us to be non-judgmental but you still don’t want to be the smelly guy every one avoids placing their mat near, the repulsive guy that distracts others from class, or the hairy baboon that should be quarantined in a zoo rather than taking a yoga class.

Gary Kahn