About The Red and Black (Athens, Ga.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 6, 2014)
AMPERSAND | FEB/MAR 2014 31 PICTURED VINYASA TEACHER SJ URSREY BY MEREDITH THORNHILL • ' PHOTOS BY PENN HANSA Although one may not initially think that a relationship exists between yoga and sex, recent studies prove that the connection of breath with movement is highly beneficial to the sexual perspective. William Broad, the Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer for The New York Times, explains to NPR’s Terry Gross in his interview on Fresh Air that a prominent benefit of yoga is an increase in sexual plea sure and feelings. “And just recently, there were studies in India where they looked at married couples who took up yoga and surveyed them before and after. Across the board, it’s improvement in desire, arousal, orgasm, overall satisfaction,” he says. Men and women can even integrate yoga into their lives as an outlet to channel their sexuality, instead of relying on their partner to fill the void of feeling alone. Often times, they crave sex because they crave intimacy. Yet if they can find an intimacy within themselves, they can avoid the entrapment of dependency. Instead of succumbing to one’s desire for a “quick fix,” yoga can be an avenue for awakening the inti macy within oneself. SJ Ursrey, a dedicated yogi for six years and Vinyasa teacher at Chase Street Yoga and Five Points Yoga, admits this understanding of yoga’s beneficial power took her the past two years to acknowledge, accept and embrace. A big part of Ursrey’s life right now is discovering outlets to channel her sexuality, whether that comes from yoga, zumba or music and not sleeping with her lover for a “quick fix.” “I was very stuck in the idea for a long time that it was not possible to find it any other way. And it is. A lot of times it’s a ‘quick-fix,’ but it doesn’t feel as good as creating or getting in touch with your own body first. And then sharing it,” she says. Since 2011, her yoga practice expanded in strength and self-aware ness both mentally and physically. Ursrey found an intimate presence within herself, who she truly was, including all her perfections and im perfections, on the mat. She feared the personal challenge of allowing her yoga practice to apply to her life off of the mat. It required a bigger effort both mentally and physically to move beyond her comfort zone, such as getting a “quick fix” to feel fulfilled or empowered, which pro duced a short-term high. “It’s been really beautiful. You know you can feel trapped in a way that we’re like, ‘I need sex,’ and we’re not able to get that in a healthy way. After waiting for a while, you’re able to see there are other ways to get the same feeling, which I really didn’t buy at first,” she says. Ursrey gets really creative when she prepares the sequence for her class now, making sure to include any pose that requires her students to root down and draw energy up. She wants them to feel their bodies on their own mat working independently in this world. A result of this instruction is they will recognize they don’t need to be dependent on another person to verify their ability to feel intimacy off of their mat. “Once you’re able to get in touch with that knowledge, you no lon ger rely on that person. There’s this thought the other person is going to give me pleasure, is going to give me something I need. But if we can get that from ourselves and then share it with the other person, than if something happens to the other person, we’re not devastated. We have our needs met,” SJ says. SJ hopes her students will, like her, allow the process of yoga to be come something they individually create, and they will ultimately listen to their minds and bodies, asking themselves, “What do I need right now?” Prosper Hedges, one of Ursrey’s students, agrees that there is a rela tionship between sex and yoga. Hedges’s practice helps her distinguish those artificial prescriptions for sexuality from those raw sexual feelings. “For me, yoga doesn’t satiate a sexual need, but brings me closer to the wild thing. It clears my head and helps me ascertain what exactly I want. Sexuality is myriad and protean, expressed through the act of sex, but also baths and art and eating bagels with cream cheese. By com muning with the self,” Hedges says. Ursrey acknowledges that she is in a better place now with herself, thanks to her yoga practice. “I am no longer laboring under the illusion that someone else has the keys to my happiness, my sexuality, my creativity,” she says.
