After we finished the pose, we hugged, looked each other in the eyes…and kissed. This is when I got hard, and it was no anxiety boner: This partner pose was extremely sexual and arousing. The bent-over person then twists his body, looking back at the “top” person, who stabilises the bent-over person by grabbing his butt and chest. Together, with Phillip’s guidance, we entered into a pose where one person bends forward while the other stands behind him, like in a standing doggy style position. Mind you, this was someone I hadn’t met before. Phillip told us all our first partner would be the man whose mat was across from ours. The partner portion of the class, was-and I’m just going to say it point blank-very gay. Up until this point, the class didn’t feel explicitly queer. In that regard, MMX does work hard to foster a friendly, queer, and sex-positive community. After creating an account online, you create a profile, à la Tinder or Grindr, and can message other men to see if they’d be interested in meeting up to massage or something more. Now, even though MMX’s website doesn’t use the word gay or queer once, the language and imagery of the site make it clear that this is a studio for men who are into other men. At this point, I’d completely forgotten we were all naked-that is, until we moved into the couple’s portion of the class, which had very intimate partner poses. I’ve tried it countless times on dates, with friends, and family members, but I’ve never liked it.Īfter about 45 minutes of hell, the hard part of the class was over. As someone who lifts weights five days a week and derives joy from being at the gym, yoga has never been a thing for me. I was sweating bullets, trying to keep up, and failing miserably.Īt this point, I remembered, Oh yeah, I hate yoga. Immediately, any reservations I had about being nude or getting hard with a bunch of men were gone. RELATED: Death Metal Yoga Is The 1000% Intense Workout You’re Not DoingĪfter a brief warm-up, Phillip transitioned us into an intense, quick flow between positions. We then went around, said our names, and replied “fine” or “good.” “And essentially, it’s about being in your body and allowing your body to experience its natural evolution.”Įventually, the instructor, Phillip, came in naked and quickly broke any tension (and my fear of getting an erection) with his big smile and booming voice. So don’t worry about that,” is what he tells them. “You’re going to be working far too hard to maintain it even if you get it. Seneca had previously told me that getting an erection is one of the biggest worries of men who enter the studio. There’s just too much excitement going on. Every time I do a nude photo shoot, I get an erection. It’s because I know I shouldn’t be getting hard, and for some reason, that gets me hard. It’s not because I’m getting aroused by the other naked people there, though there surely were enough hot dudes at MMX to get me hard at the studio. I also get anxiety boners when I’m naked in public. RELATED: Xavier Rudd Shares His Tips On Mindfulness The relative quietness of the studio sounded piercing. Other men started trickling in minutes before the class, removing all their clothing before they began stretching.Įven as someone who’s been to countless sex parties and nudist resorts, I always need a moment to settle into my public nudity. It turned out to be the right thing to do. So I did, placing my clothing in the cubbies toward the entrance of the room. I figured, What the hell, I’ll just get naked. I was the first one in the studio, and didn’t know if it was an “Alright, you may all proceed to strip now” type deal, or if you were meant to come in and get naked on your own. I grabbed a mat…then realised I wasn’t sure if I should get naked right there. I met Seneca, who showed me around and told me I could enter the actual studio to start stretching. When you walk in, people aren’t naked yet. It has the ambiance of any other yoga studio: calming music in the waiting room, dim lights, and Buddhist statues and other decorations paying homage to yoga’s Indian origins. Located in the heart of Chelsea, MMX is a cute studio on the fourth floor of a nondescript building.