Christine white

Even if your intentions are pure, and you want to give me “free” body work, back off. Honestly, I’d be happiest if you stood in the front of the class for the entire 60 to 90 minutes and never left that space.

 “That’s a bit extreme,” one might think, but consider the fact that 1 in 5 college age women are victims of sexual assault while at college or that 20% of all females are survivors of sexual abuse of some sort and I say, that’s a lot of people. I’m not asking you to customize a class for one person, but a decent percentage of the population.

We may never identify ourselves as survivors, in your class, but will reward you by returning to your class, often, and telling others to do the same, and we’ll be ridiculously grateful.

Someone, such as myself, paying for yoga doesn’t want to experience a flashback or to be triggered by your not knowing that getting too close, walking from behind, moving quickly, hugging goodbye or anything too touchy feely can hijack my nervous system.

You might mean it to be nice when you rub my head or shoulder, adjust my posture or spray lavender overhead or water droplets from a blue zone, but it is not always experienced as an act of kindness.