Homo Yogis

So, its been being drawn to my attention a lot lately the fact that yoga is an area in which not much is said about homosexuality, me being a homosexual and having addressed this a lot lately I've felt led to type some words on it.

In the Kundalini Yoga Yahoo group there has been a discussion lately about gay marriage and how the 3HO feels about it, how Yogi Bhajan felt about it, etc. I am reading his book The Mind; Its Projections and Multiple Facets, right now and in it I would feel obliged to point out that he is not trying to get us to comply with any Sikh rules or any rules involving what anyone else thinks at all. He is trying to get us to do his exercises, use the meditations he has taught us to simply come to ourselves and the Guru that is within and form our own patterns of thought of things. Not to worry about what anyone else thinks at all, but to formulate our own lines of thought around any and every subject that comes up in our lives. I know in America we are mostly taught to be followers and consumers, told on a daily basis what to buy, what to wear, what to eat, what to think, what not to think, etc and it would seem that the teachings he is laying down or was laying down before leaving his body were to liberate us from those trains of thought, to liberate us to create our own ideas of things and even then to liberate ourselves from those self-created trains of thought eventually. Constantly evolving and growing, preparing us for the onset of the Aquarian age.

When I first began with Ashtanga and went to Boulder to study with K. Pattabhi Jois for a week I wondered at this. There seemed to be many gay men there, and a few lesbians, but that subject was never brought up, not once. So I was asking about it and was responded to about how India looks at homosexuality as a whole, so why ask about something that his general upbringing had made him prejudiced against? Certainly I guess, but then the guy talking expounded a bit, saying how it really made no difference what Guruji thought because yoga was about your union with your divine self, not his union with his divine self, and so what really mattered was how I felt about it, right? Duh!

So then on to Anusara, they being Tantrically rooted were more accepting and would talk about it and basically told me the same thing--why does it matter what we think, what do you think? Its all about your connection to the divine, not mine! Duh!

So all of these paths of yoga, different, yet leading to the same goal have said the same thing, to my heart anyway, not necessarily straight from each teachers mouth but from the teachings to the openness of my mind and the connection I've created for myself to the universe, it only matters what I think. Because I create my reality right? You don't, nor you, nor you, just me and my mind create it.

So next week my gay friend who is also a yogi comes to town to teach some workshops on building ones inner fire through a yoga practice, burning the learning into oneself through the physicality of it all. It will be great to have him (check out his blog at www.yogiinthecity.blogspot.com) and have fellowship with another being trying to use yoga to create a better life and connection for himself. Also having met another gay yogi in St Louis recently I've found it nice to be able discuss yogic ideas and trains of thought with other gay men. My roommates as well, they are on their own path but are the kind of people who love to discuss this stuff too. It is nice to have that, something I've wanted for many years, gay people in my life who in it for more than just the partying, smoky bar, hook up lifestyle.

I've been wanting more for a while and put it out there long enough that now I'm open to it and drawing those like minded individuals to my life, and saying to the universe thanks for leading me to these teachings just so I could become okay with myself feeling how I feel, diving deeper into me and not worrying about what anyone else thinks of me. It only matters what I think of me and ultimately that doesnt' even matter, because the soul that uses this body for learning and teaching and growing, is already a piece of the greater soul out there and is okay with whatever comes out of me, because it is divine in and of itself.

So lets be gay, straight, bisexual, whatever we may be, just be the best, fullest, happiest, most loving versions of ourselves we can be and walk down the street with our heads held high, even as our beards get bigger and bigger (speaking of myself there! lol) and hair gets longer and longer and let the brightness that is our souls shine out through our skin, through our bright eyes and inspire others to want that same connection we have, to look to their own hearts to find it and become it.

Lets defy everything we're taught and be happy and peaceful and full of life and go forth into the world and Be Yoga!

Sat Nam, Sat Inder Singh