In the middle of class the other day I slid my foot across my mat making the sound ppfftttttt (farting noise). The 20 students in class whipped their heads around, dropped their jaws and stared at me in disbelief. “It was my mat everyone,” I said. Now I’ve been guilty of letting one slip out before in class, both practicing and teaching, but not this time I wasn’t. Scouts honor. This brings me to a topic that I feel needs to be addressed.

When it comes to the art of the yoga class fart, I recommend you LET IT GO. With twists, breath control, coming upside down, and squeezing your abdominals with your butt up in the air, chances are gas is going to find it’s way out. Hopefully, it will be silent and scentless. But chances are it’s going to make some noise and it might have a stench, depending on what you eat prior. So be kind to your neighbors and maybe say “no” to those bean burritos prior to class. But know this. Everyone farts in yoga. Statistics say that at least one person in every yoga class lets one rip.

So when it happens and someone in class beside you lets one go, it’s your practice to understand that it happens and not make them feel bad by glaring, snickering, laughing, and at the very worst move away from them. There is an unspoken rule in yoga. And that’s to act like it never happened and to continue to go with the flow of class.

“Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras,” speaks of the five yamas or restraints. One of those is aparigraha or letting go. Through Pantajali’s teachings we learn to simply live and let go– letting go of your judgments, titles, obligations, commitments, fears, worries, expectations, and yes even your bodily gases. It’s natural and it’s really not a big deal. It’s inevitable. No one comes to yoga class to judge you. We are all human and the ego is what creates embarrassment. Come and let go in any of our classes here at Wilmington Yoga Center!

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