CandiDates take note: it's difficult for me to imagine dating anyone who isn't at least willing to try down dog (and my ideal future boo is already Namaste-tuned). Yoga is important to me, and I look forward to meeting someone I can practice with regularly. It's for this very reason that I envy Darrin Zeer. The Lovers' Yoga author met his lady Daisy at a meditation in Maui. They've been downward dogging together ever since. Now the duo is teaching others to enjoy the immense benefits they do. Looking to get your special someone something other than chocolate or flowers for Valentine's? Zeer's book could be the perfect solution.
303 Magazine sat down for chai with Darrin Zeer to discuss the pluses of meeting your lover on the mat.
How did you first discover yoga?
DZ: I discovered yoga two decades ago in India. It was love at first stretch.
What are the biggest benefits of doing yoga with a lover?
DZ: Lately, I've been thinking about the stress on our bodies and emotions. The effects of electromagnetic radiation from cell phones and other devices. The business of life. Stress these days is extreme. I've been teaching for over 20 years. I've seen myself and my students get more and more stressed. We're getting so tight. When you're feeling tight and stressed out, it's hard to connect with your partner. In fact, you don't even want to, because it's like poking a sore spot. If you do a little bit of lovers' yoga, the body starts to unwind. I sometimes call it couples yoga therapy, or couples stress management. To be able to stretch and breathe, but also to have two bodies touching. You just kinda fall in love. You might've walked in feeling disconnected from yourself or your partner, but, by the time you leave, you're in love. As important as connecting with your partner, we connect with ourselves. The biggest challenge we face is getting couples to do it not just on Valentine's, but to integrate it all year.
What's the most moving transformation you've personally witnessed?
DZ: We feel the benefits for ourselves when we do it in our living room. When we teach it, everybody will walk in a little grumpy and even growling a bit at their partner. They may even be trying to resist the process. The pranayama, the breathing, the physical stretching, a little massage, the physical contact of two bodies, most couples start to give each other a little smile or a little peck or a little hug at some point. It's funny. It's magic. It's that yoga magic that we experience by ourselves on our mat. It's almost quantum, though. And the group. We'll have 50 people in a room, and we're all kinda falling in love with each other. It's just so sweet, that community feeling.
For further information on Lovers' Yoga, visit LoversYoga.com
