I started doing some yoga at Sac State this week. I don’t have any ambition of bending like a pretzel but I really enjoy the practice of connecting my breath with movement, having guided stretching, and challenge my movement.

My initial experience with daily yoga was as a freshman in high school after breaking my collar bone wrestling. I was given permission to do stuff without contact and was lucky to have the option of doing yoga with my Mom (who at one point was an avid yogi). Working back from an injury it was a great practice for me and now 20ish years later with some injustices I think it will be a good practice as well.

Today was a nice insight into my self consciousness. The class was only women and as we began I started to wonder…. Is this a ladies only class? Am a supposed to be here? I don’t know if other people were thinking the same about my presence but for a few moments I questioned my involvement in the class. The other day there were a few guys so I didn’t think twice but today was different.

In the same streak of thoughts, I thought about all the women who come and try a jiujitsu class or try out for the wrestling team. Women who join in on these male dominant practices probably have similar moments of doubt toward their sense of belonging as well.

Even though I see yoga, jiujitsu, and wrestling as gender neutral practices that are wonderful for everyone to do, there’s such a thing as a group identity. Maybe group identity isn’t the right word, it’s more like a clan.

I hope this experience gives me a better sense of understanding for women who come and try our jiujitsu and wrestling classes at El Dorado Hills Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I’m also interested to see my sense of belonging to the clan change as a result of time and involvement with the yoga class.

Namaste