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Rodney Yee, famously dubbed the "stud-muffin guru" by Time magazine (for the record, he hates that), is the most sought-after yogi in America, with disciples who travel thousands of miles just to downward-dog in his presence. He's made over thirty videos, appeared on Oprah alongside Christy Turlington and is the subject of countless gushing magazine articles. A 2002 USA Today profile of Yee headlined "Look at This Man's Body" led with this: "Startlingly beautiful with his bronzed, supple body and pigtail, Rodney Yee . . . has become the 'it' boy of American yoga."
Yee is also known for his past affairs with a few of his students — one of which ended in a lawsuit and another of
promotion
which ended in marriage (to Colleen Saidman, another well-known yogi). Despite this, the resilient yogic master remains wildly popular, an icon of the sport. He spoke to Nerve about the yogi-student relationship, falling in love with his wife Colleen (in a hot tub!), and why skin-tight clothes beat baggy every time. — Arianne Cohen
So, run me through your day. What does a yogi guru do?
[Laughs] A yogi guru! First of all, I would never call myself a guru. I'm a lover of yoga. Usually, [Colleen and I] wake up, we do some breathing exercises for half an hour. That usually segues into some kind of meditation. Then sometimes we'll get a little snack, we'll wait for a bit, hang out and talk, and then we'll either go to a class or do a class here at home. This week is an unusual week, we're getting ready to do all kinds of things for a big Vanity Fair party with Donna Karan.
It sounds like yoga is pretty ingrained in your relationship.
I can't say how much we love yoga. It's really not just part of our external lives but also part of our internal thinking. It's almost like, Colleen will be gazing off into the distance and I'll ask her "What are you thinking?" And she'll go, "Does this pose go well with this pose and this pose?"
Is yoga a sensual practice?
It's of the body, you know? In some ways you use the body as a way to go deeper into the spirit. Initially the doorway may be through the body, the sensual body, but it becomes detached. It becomes more, "I'm feeling these feelings, I am these feelings, but at the same time these feelings are impermanent. And because of that, I'm looking for something that is of a more permanent nature." So yes and no.
Is yoga a sexual practice?
Again, there are branches of yoga that have used sexuality as a way to go deeper, to channel those energies.
Such as?
Tantric yoga was a whole revolution from classical yoga, beginning to use sexuality as a means to go deeper into spirituality. Like the Rumi poem: "Anything that comes to your doorstep is a guide from beyond." Instead of thinking you have to stay away from certain things, it was a whole revolutionary thought — Tantric yoga basically uses anything that comes. And, of course, as human beings we are sexual beings. To pretend that you're not is, in some ways, a lie. So basically in a lot of yogic practices you begin to use that aspect of your nature to explore the nature of the spirit.
I have definitely found myself inadvertently aroused in the middle of yoga class. How is a student supposed to deal with that?
You have that energy and you refocalize it and use it to move the energy up the spine and through, so you don't become obsessed with keeping that energy in just one chakra.
Can yoga help you have better sex?
Instead of thinking you have to stay away from certain things, it was a whole revolutionary thought — Tantric yoga basically uses anything that comes.
Anything that gets you more familiar with your body and makes you more sensitive to the rhythms of the body and concentration of the mind is going to allow that, sure. But if that's the goal, I think you're really going to twist the yoga practice. [Laughs]
Check. Is there anything inherently erotic in the yogi-student relationship?
No, I don't think so. I think that the teacher has to make sure that it doesn't go in that direction. It's much more of a peer transfer of knowledge.
You told Self magazine a few years ago that the reality is that most teachers fall in love with their students. Can you explain that?
In any situation where there is an incredible amount of respect and intimacy, I think there is a kind of love that takes place. My really great friend, Ian Swensen, who's a great violinist, was talking to [drummer] Bobby Mann, who said, "One always falls in love with the student and the student falls in love with the teacher." It's not that kind of sexual love you're talking about, it's a deep respect and intimacy that comes from the transfer of knowledge. That's the traditional relationship. I don't think that happens a lot in the United States, because people are leery of that. And that's okay, I think, because those relationships are indeed abused.
You, in the past, have had relationships with at least a couple of students, including your wife. You've said you don't think people should be crucified for that, but some people see that as an abuse of power.
I don't think my wife would feel comfortable with that. This is starting to go in areas that recently I've been trying to keep private.
You had a wedding announcement six months ago! It's not private.
Yeah, I know, I know. That's basically to tell everybody we're married, and that's just part of the life we lead. Basically at this point, I look back and think that I made mistakes, and I didn't understand the power that I was dealing with. I think that I do now, and I think those energies should be reserved for your partner. Period.
In the wedding announcement it talked about you two sitting in the hot tub, and that being the beginning of your romantic relationship. Is that
I didn't understand the power that I was dealing with. I think that I do now, and I think those energies should be reserved for your partner.
accurate?
I see that as the turning point. There was something that happened that was almost like, my third eye opened up. It was almost like having shaktiput from a teacher.
What is shaktiput?
It's like a non-verbal teaching that basically is an energy that rises in an awakening. Some type of awakening that arrives through an energy transfer.
I find that soulmates tend to do the same thing — writers, musicians, whoever. Why do you think that is?
It's a matter of understanding, I think. Colleen just totally understands my love of yoga, and I totally understand her love of yoga, and it's a huge part of our lives. And if someone didn't understand that part of me it'd be a little bit strange.
To an outsider it looks incredibly intense not just to practice yoga but to teach yoga and, in your case, make videos. Do you ever get yoga'd out?
It doesn't feel that way to me at all. My interest naturally goes there. I love this art form, I love communication, I love inspiring other people to see this and get the same benefits I'm getting from this. It's so satisfying. Same with the videos. I have people calling to say, "Hey, these videos have really helped me." Not that we're trying to proselytize the practice; we're not like that. If you do yoga it doesn't mean you're a better person at all. There are a lot of people who don't practice who are amazing. And there are a lot of people who do yoga and are really in trouble.
Tell me about the Speedo. I always see pictures of you in this very tight, Speedo-like garment that the rest of America thinks is funny. I should tell you that I'm a competitive swimmer so I am a big fan of the Speedo.
I was a classical-ballet dancer before, so if you didn't show the lines of the body, it was stupid. A lot of this new yoga clothing is really baggy — it's crazy. You can't see your body, so you can't correct the nuances of it because there is all this garment hanging down. Coming from a dance background and having shorter legs, it's about the aesthetics of showing the human body and the education of that. It literally has very little to do with the love of Speedos. There's so much that happens in the classroom and also in the videos and in education and in communication, and probably 5% is conscious. The rest is just imprinting in different ways. So I think it's really important, especially in educational videos, to show the hows and whys of the body.
What should students wear?
I think they should wear something that shows their knees. The skin of the knee is very important. Wear things that are obviously not going to inhibit movement and where they can see their bodies, especially their knees, ankles, the quadracep. Things that don't cover up the skin of the arms. The skin tells you so much about what the body is doing — when the skin is tight and when the skin is flaccid. You want to make the skin receptive and overt. When you're having coffee or tea with someone and you all of a sudden notice they're not attentive to what you're saying, how do you know that? Their eyes are going somewhere, they're making all sorts of gestures you recognize. There are all these signs that let you know whether they're with you or not. In yoga, the skin tells us a lot. How the muscles are working, how it's being receptive, how it's over-working, how it's completely collapsed.
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Arianne Cohen's work frequently appears in New York, Life, The New York Times, Marie Claire and Popular Mechanics. She is the author of Help, It's Broken!: A Fix-It Bible for the Repair-Impaired. Her latest project, The Tall Book, will be published by Bloomsbury in 2008.
, featuring curious yet marvelous infusions of cucumber and rose petal.
