Sit Down, Be Quiet: A modern guide to yoga and mindful living. Michael Wong James

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      ‘Yoga is the practice of self-enquiry, through the control of movement and breath. It is an entirely subjective experience.’

       MEET THE BOYS

      JASE TE PATU

       NEW ZEALAND

       WORDSMITH. WARRIOR. P.L.A.Y.ER. YOGI.

      What’s your story? I’m from humble beginnings. I was raised with my younger bro by my grandparents. My parents split when I was two years old. I only met my mum in 2014. Not knowing your real parents creates some pretty deep self-belief from a young age. I was raised in both the Māori and Anglo-Saxon ways, as my grandparents were native speakers and steeped in the traditional ways of our indigenous people. I was encouraged to try anything and everything. My ‘A-type’ personality meant I achieved quite a lot at a young age. I represented New Zealand in three sports and won a scholarship to school.

      All of those achievements left me exhausted, though. I remember being at my 40th birthday and my friend said to me, ‘What are you good at now?’ I realised I had been DOING life rather than BEING it! Two years later and I’m enjoying life much more, having taken my foot off the pedal – more yin and less yang!

      What do you most value in others? I admire ‘presence’ in a person. That to me is true connection, true yoga off the mat. Please put your iPhone/iPad/laptop down before you talk to me. I will give you my full attention if you give me yours.

      What would make you skip practice? If the All Blacks are playing, I’m out. I’m in front of my mate’s big screen, losing my voice, yelling the house down – shameless!

      What advice would you give to someone stepping onto the mat for the first time? Breathe and drop the judgement. We land on our mat with so many expectations – of ourselves, of the teacher. Once we drop the judgement, we are able to be completely in the body and breath.

      Which pose do you really hate? Gomukhasana (Cow Face pose). Trying to wrap these big Māori Rugby legs into that posture is not ideal.

      People think that, as a guy, I’ll be less interested in the traditional philosophies and prefer doing handstands. When I speak about the Gita or Patanjali’s Sutras or teach a Yin class, people lean in to listen to what I have to say. There’s more to this guy than my tattoos, muscles, handstands and splits.

       @warriorjase

       Read more at boysofyoga.com @boysofyoga

       MEET THE BOYS

      LES LEVENTHAL

       CALIFORNIA

       PAIN IN THE ASS. CHURRO EATER. SPORTS JUNKIE. YOGI.

      What’s your story? I’m officially a gypsy nomad – I’m American and I taught in San Francisco for a decade and then Bali for over three years, and now I’m teaching all over this amazing world, from Australia to Europe to the Middle East – places that have small communities and need the yoga as well as those crazy, large festivals.

      What did you want to be growing up? A gold-medal-winning Olympic swimmer because I was good at it and I was raised to believe that winning equals happiness.

      What do you value most in others? The truth – it doesn’t waste anyone’s time.

      What does a male yogi look like? Like every man that walks this earth. Guys don’t do yoga because they think it’s light and fairy. Not with me. We’re gonna dig deeper. That’s what we come for, to journey to those places.

      What are the biggest stereotypes about guys who do yoga? That they’re only good if the man bun looks just right. Yoga relaxes all those external expectations about what I should look like or sound like as a man doing yoga.

      What was the biggest challenge when you started the practice? I was smoking again. I didn’t like who I was. I was back out drinking and using when I found yoga. My negative body image and self-consciousness were raging. So, my biggest challenge was just to stay alive and not do further harm to myself. I’ve had some brushes with suicide and this was not a happy time in my life, and the gift and the challenge was that there was no one for me to lay blame on.

      There is hope. Transformation is possible. But I can’t just pray for God to do that for me. I have to put in the work.

       @lesleventhalyoga

       Read more at boysofyoga.com @boysofyoga

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