Not saying you asked for it. But…
After the hubbahubba of the original sexy underwear video which has by now received over 4.1 million views, here’s another Equinox sponsored skivvied yogi video featuring previous underwear yoga star Briohny Smyth, this time wearing a bit more material and this time with her hubs, Dice Iida-Klein, also an Equinox yoga teacher. Hear that fellas? She’s taken.
To put it in a nutshell, Equinox is pushing these two as “Yoga’s hottest couple” which explains the choice to eschew most of their clothing and use that filtered, semi-slo mo camera effect a la Victoria’s Secret or Calvin Klein perfume commercial, because it’s just too darn hot to wear clothes and move any faster than a sexy slither! Though, to be fair, it’s like watching Little House on the Prairie considering typical Equinox ads look like this and this.
According to the yoga lovebirds, this partner practice is not about eroticism and/or foreplay (or marketing?), it’s about the intimacy of trust and balance, and is a comment on the strength and foundation of their relationship, you see. In other words, Briohny is a control freak and Dice takes pleasure in being the man, er rock.
Briohny explains:
I could do all of these poses on my own, but I’ve never been very good at trusting people, which is something that most of us women gain over time — especially when it comes to men. It was a real challenge for both of us to go from singular practices, where we had full control, and release control to one another. It was a really big thing for me because I was a single mom, and I had built my own businesses, so it has always been about having two hands on the wheel. When you’re on top in Acro Yoga, it’s all about letting go and trusting one hundred percent, because if you fight back, it’s much harder for the base. So, Dice and I went through a lot of little tiffs of, “You’re doing it wrong — No you’re doing it wrong!” and every single time it always came down to me letting go. And for Dice, who has always had a tough time expressing himself, he had to work really hard to master his duty as a base, because he has to be extremely communicative and tell me what he needs and what he needs from me. So for both of us, it was just the balancing act-balancing not only our bodies, but also our personality issues.
Dice confirms her control issues and how it’s manly to be on bottom. ahem:
I definitely think what Bri said is very true. I mean, it’s learning how to balance each other’s personalities. I would say Bri is a little more of a control freak than I am, but when it comes to being flown, she has to give up control, and I have to take over, and for me it’s very gratifying to be the foundation. It’s kind of like I’m the rock, and I think that’s how I feel with this family [Briohny and her daughter] away from Acro Yoga. I’m learning my place as being the man of the household, and I’m learning for me it’s not about directing anybody. It’s more or less the stronger I am, the stronger they’ll be. Just by standing tall, I think everything else just falls into place.
Anyway, the video is already blowing up the Youtube machine. We admit, there is a certain intrigue to the interplay, even if one could consider it acro yoga(?) porn. At least one thing’s for certain, we can’t wait for the parody!
What do you think?
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Earlier…
“Yoga is not asana.” “Love is not porn.” –R. Stryker. E. Sparks
What I don’t like so much is just that the video is broken into fragments. I prefer to see the whole body when watching asana. It seems a shame to frame the movement this way. Regarding the clothes, or that there aren’t many. Bodies are temporary, we aren’t our bodies, they happen to have nice ones, and the moment there are both of them it changes the whole thing that before was about semi-nude female. It neutralizes any ‘sexyness’ that might have been there before, any objectifying the female and it now just IS. I like it. Just the framing of the image isn’t great at all. x
Equi-noxious again?
It’s time to change the channel.
I’m inactive on Facebook for the reason Timeline. So, I will neither watch nor share nor “Like” …
While the video is fairly sexual, I don’t think it makes it any less beautiful. As a student of yoga, I often look for inspiration in my own practice, and can see the beauty in this video. There is a certain intimacy in working directly with another practitioner, particularly with “acro yoga” or “partner yoga” and being so closely connected to another energy is quite inspiring.
I thought that the video was beautiful! Not sexual at all. The shots of their wedding rings together, their loving gazes… I feel like it was the poetry of finding balance and trust in a relationship.
The point is that this is acrobatics, and not yoga.
Yoga by its nature is not meant to be an exhibition.
As with all exhibition games, I change the channel until I find what serves me.
I would go a step further… it’s not yoga OR acrobatics. If one wants to practice yoga, find a teacher you trust, spend a decade learning the practice… then practice yoga. If one wants to watch acrobatics (because it’s kind of an awesome thing to watch) then try something worth your time. Say this for instance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e8onR2TS8s
Pretty, but yes- not yoga in the traditional sense and bottom line, it was made to sell and promote Equinox, not promote acro yoga or something else.
I noticed another video of theirs that had them doing their ‘yoga show’ by a pool while others sat around and watched. This type of asana show has always bothered me. While it is interesting to watch how the body moves, when you look at the people watching them, it just seemed kind of awkward. Like ‘Wow, look at them. They must be really good” What does achievement in asana really mean or look like?As an instructor, I am very conscious of people’s perceptions that advanced yoga= advanced asana and I feel these types of displays encourage that goal or mindset. And that mindset is what bothers me most about popular yoga today. While it can be fun to play around and move our bodies into neat positions, the real inner work of yoga can be lost when these types of displays or shows keep popping up in the mainstream.