I am going to lose my job. I told Riya. “No Deepti, you are not!” Riya was an optimist. I have been a pessimist since birth. I had difficulty concentrating during work. I wanted to spend the entire day just scrolling through Instagram instead.
The list of pending tasks had reached the height of Mount Everest. I needed to calm myself down. I had earlier tried to do meditation. But my brain never allowed me to do anything which gave me peace. I was again doing one of my favourite activities, scrolling through reels and saw a reel on yoga.
My brain realized that to tame itself, I needed to join yoga classes. I quickly told my plan to Riya, who gave me a thumbs down. I ignored her and started searching for yoga classes near me. I found a place and called a phone number mentioned there.
A man’s voice replied. He sounded calm and composed. I expressed my interest in joining the classes, and he informed me that I should come at 6 am tomorrow. By evening, I forgot that I had to go to yoga classes. I was awake till 1 am scrolling. Then it hit me that I had to wake up at 5:30 am.
I wanted to skip it but kept an alarm at 5:30 am just for the heck of it. The alarm rang promptly, and I snoozed and snoozed till it was 6:15 am. Riya laughed at me as she already knew that I was going to miss it. She was my roommate in this PG, and I hated that she knew me so well. I wanted to prove her wrong.
I woke up and quickly got ready in the bathroom. I wore a tshirt and a track pants. I did not have a yoga dress, so I thought I would see what other girls would wear and buy something similar. I kicked Riya on her butt on my way out. She screamed and cursed me.
I took the scooty to the address. It was already 6:45 am now. The class was on the 4th floor of the building. I climbed the stairs and saw that there was only one room there, which was closed. I went and knocked, and I heard the voice come in. I was surprised by what I saw.
It was a group of men in the room. There were no women. The men were old in their late 40’s, 50’s and even 60’s. They were sitting in the meditation pose. They were equally surprised to see me. I looked at the instructor, who happened to be in his 40’s. He smiled at me.
He told me to come and sit with the group before I could change my mind and leave. I saw all the men were now staring at me from top to bottom. I was around 5 feet 6, not fat, and had a flat stomach and decent boobs and butt. I felt butterflies in my stomach as all the eyes traced my movement.
I sat towards the back. The instructor told me that the class was coming to a close today, and we all had to be in Shavasana. All the men were all sweaty after the yoga session. The instructor told everyone to lie on the floor, which was covered with green carpet.
He told us to be comfortable, loosen the tight clothing on them, and be perfectly relaxed. He then went a opened the windows, which let in cold air into the room. Some men removed their wet t-shirts and became half-naked. They loosened the nada on their pants and lay on the floor.
I was a little rattled on seeing so many shirtless men. But then I realized that they really were doing it so that the cold air would evaporate the sweat and they could relax.
The instructor came near me. He told me to close my eyes, try not to think of anything, and keep my mind blank. If there is any tight clothing, I can loosen it to be more comfortable. I was wearing a bra and a T-shirt. The T-shirt was not tight. I nodded but did not do anything.
I just lay on the floor and closed my eyes. I realized that my track pant was tied very tightly around my waist. I opened my eyes and saw that everyone was lying down with their eyes closed. There was pin-drop silence in the room. I quickly lifted my t-shirt and undid the knot.
It loosened the grip the elastic had on my stomach. I then lay and closed my eyes. I felt the cold air hit my face hard. The wind was very strong. I felt cold on my arms and exposed part of my feet. I wanted to stop thinking, but my mind kept me occupied with thoughts on my pending work at the office.
After some time, I felt the cold air all over my body. I felt good. I decided to bring happy thoughts in mind. I did not know how much time had passed. I was enjoying the feeling of being cosy. I suddenly heard a whisper near my ear. I opened my eyes, startled. The instructor was near me.
He told me that he did not want to startle me, so he woke me up gently. I saw that the other men were already up and looking at me. I had gone into a state of sleep. The instructor told me not to get up fast but to take my time before I stood up. I felt something was off, but I couldn’t wrap my head around it.
I lay still, but as I looked around, many of the men were staring at me. That’s when it hit me. It was the wind. The wind had pushed my t-shirt upwards. I realized that my entire navel was exposed for everyone to see. The good feeling I had while meditation was the cold air caressing my bare navel.
I was suddenly very conscious of my body. I decided to slowly wake up so that the t-shirt slid back down, which meant that I acted unaware of my mistake. I slowly got up but realized that the men there were shamelessly ogling at me. I stood up and corrected my clothing.
I saw all the men were now looking elsewhere as I was clothed properly. The instructor asked me to introduce myself. I told everyone that my name is Deepti. I am a computer professional working in an IT company. The instructor told me to call him Guruji and told me to come at 6 am tomorrow.
I nodded, not sure if I wanted to come back again. After the class was dismissed, some men came forward and introduced themselves to me and gave me a shake hand. I smiled at everyone and spoke to all those to came to me with respect. There were smiles everywhere as we parted for the day.
I went back home and soon got ready for work. The day went fast due to the workload. But somewhere in my mind, there was a thought about the amount of attention I got today. At night, I decided that I would go for one more day and check if yoga was truly for me or not.
I woke up at 5:30 am the next day. I got ready. Yesterday, because of the loose t-shirt, the wind was able to lift it easily making my navel exposed. Today, I wore a very tight, thick t-shirt hugging on my body. It was not a long one but reached till the track pants.
The shape of my breasts was clearly seen in this t-shirt. The track pants were of the same type as yesterday. I reached the location at 6 am sharp. I went into the room and was greeted by smiles. I could see that they were checking me out at the same time.
Was it just my paranoid mind that was making it up? They might be considering me as their daughter for all that I know. I smiled back. There were close to 12 men in the room. There was a space in the centre of all of them. Guruji was already there, and he closed the door. The windows were all closed as well.
Guruji started the session with a small speech on eating the correct food to avoid bloating in the stomach. Also, how to avoid flatulence, etc. I realized that considering the age of the men, the topic was of interest to many. Due to stress, I even had cramps in my stomach and digestion issues.
I listened carefully as Guruji started with exercises to push out gas from the body. I realized that as the windows were closed, I was already sweating. The asanas were difficult. I had to stretch a lot. But I was adamant that I would not give up. I did the poses with sincerity.
One pose required me to lift both my hands in the air and stand. I looked around and realized that some men were trying to turn back and look at me. Were they checking if a young person could do the asanas better than them? I smiled back at them. Guruji was going to everyone and correcting their posture.
When he came to me, he asked me to stretch my hands further up to the maximum extent possible. I saw that the men in front of me were turning back and looking at me. That’s when it struck me. As I had my hands stretched up, my t-shirt had risen, exposing my navel again.
The men were looking at my exposed midriff. I was standing with my navel exposed again. Guruji asked me if I felt the stretch on my ribs and stomach. I nodded. He told me to relax. I lowered my hands, which brought my t-shirt back down. I acted like I was unaware of the fact that I had exposed my navel.
I decided to be careful. I did not stretch more than needed for the rest of the asanas. But I was getting tired, and I was sweating like a pig. Guruji made us do some more asanas. I thought I would pass out now. When he saw tired faces, he told us to stop by doing Shavasana.
As soon as Guruji said that, many men started removing their tops and loosening their elastic. Guruji opened the windows now, and like yesterday, a gush of cold air came in. I felt my body cooling as the cold wind hit my body. I wanted to remove my T-shirt like the men.
All of them were slowly on the ground. Guruji again instructed us to loosen our clothes and relax the body and mind. I felt sticky as the T-shirt clung to my body. I looked around and saw that some men had their eyes opened and looking in my direction.
Guruji came to me and told me to relax like yesterday, and he would wake me up. He told me to loosen any tight clothes and left like yesterday. My heart was beating fast. I lay on the floor. I untied the tight knot on my pants and loosened it a bit.
Guruji told us that our bodies would be stiff. He asked us to stretch our hands on the floor above our heads one last time. I adjusted so that I had enough place to stretch my body on the floor without touching anyone. I was now used to seeing men without shirts and stretched.
I also stretched my hands as much as possible. But I realized that my t-shirt was lifting as I stretched. My pants, which were loose around my waist, also slid a bit. But I was unsure how much. I acted very seriously and stretched as much as possible.
I was aware that my t-shirt had slid up, exposing most of the skin of my navel. I felt the cold air hit my navel, and it felt heavenly. Guruji told us to go back to Shavasana. I brought my hand back but did not correct my clothes. A shiver went up my legs.
The feeling of lying and exposing my navel to so many men was overwhelming. My heart was hammering in my chest. I was feeling horny. I knew my entire navel was visible to everyone, especially to Guruji. I felt that my track pants had slid down, and the elastic of my pink panty must have been exposed as well.
This was the first time that I felt this state of vulnerability, and I loved it. My mind was like a drunk monkey, but my body was still like calm water. I did not flinch. The cold air was doing wonders on my body. I realized that men were waking up slowly, but I acted like I was in deep meditation.
I waited for Guruji to come. After some time, I felt Guruji’s hand on my shoulder. I opened my eyes. Guruji was smiling at me. He told me to take my time and wake up. I rubbed my palms to heat it and pressed on my face. I slowly sat up and saw many men glancing in my direction.
I realized that most of them had seen my exposed navel. I got up, unaware, and stood up. The t-shirt slid down, and I just tied my pants back. Guruji told everyone that the class was done for today and to see you tomorrow morning. He said that tomorrow, more stretching asanas will be taught.
We should wear comfortable clothes to enable smooth motion of the body and avoid any tight clothes. As I walked out of the classroom, many men came forward and asked me how the session was. I told them that I was really tired and I felt pain all over my body.
I pressed my hand on my stomach and told them that my stomach hurt a lot. They related to my feelings and told me that, in time, it would be ok. They were also in the same state as mine when they joined. I waved them bye and left for home.
Next Part: Jingbang in Yoga Classes – Part 2