It begins by putting a face on the other and asking "Who are you, who am I, who are we? What are we doing and why?" Those are powerful questions.
The above lines are from Sharon Gannon's focus of the month entitled Yoga and Sexuality. For the past 5 or 6 years maybe a bit more, I have been growing my hair. I was presented with a great teaching opportunity as both a facilitator of the Jivamukti Teacher Training at Omega and as Lead Mentor is Costa Rica at Blue Spirit. I truly enjoy to study and it was great to prepare for these upcoming experiences. For a few months I stopped teaching and immersed myself in practice and study and practice. After a while I started to notice a few things and one of them was my appearance. So much of a teaching experience can revolve around the way someone looks. What someone wears or what their physical appearance is, is often a clue into an aspect of their sexuality. Red and orange robes often mean one who has taken vows of chastity whereas one who is scantily clad may be of another mind. Not only our clothes or jewelry but our finger nails, skin and our hair express aspects of our sexuality. We cannot control what everyone will say or think so of course some have worn robes and been promiscuous and others have barley enough cloth to cover their genitals and live an austere life filled with only God on their mind. I have always put a large importance on my hair. I often make sure my hair is looking a certain before I go out and if I cannot get my hair to agree with me I have many fitted hats to cover it all up.
Teaching yoga I always felt my hair played a large role. Long hair said something to me. Just as if you see a religious aspirant with long hair you wil probably assume the practice has been going on a while. I felt it was time for my hair to go. Not just my beard or my mustache but also the hair on my head and eyebrows. I drew the line at my eyelashes... I knew it would be best if I did not show up bald to Omega TT and surprise everyone and not have it feel strange at least to me. Costa Rica I ran the risk of getting a sunburned head and having to come back through US immigration. So I waited until yesterday and below is the appearance pre and post hair. Would taking a yoga class be different with either hair. Would you expect something different from a person who came to teach with half his head shaved. I would definitely be interested. Is the only reason you do something to your hair in the morning because of what other people will think. How much of our appearance depends on the other person. To what extent are the choices we make rooted in the desires of our sexuality of lack thereof. To what extent are you conscious of any of it and what could you do to allow a fuller or fully expanded understanding of who you really are.
