Wrestling a yogini, good karma through shared energy
by Zeke
Can a yoga instructor be aggressive on the mat?  Ohhhhhh ya.


Woke up, got out of bed, heard a drumming in my head. Nooooo, it never rains
in southern California - unless I'm here. Now I'll have to drive instead of
jog. It's hell to find a parking place on nice days - worse in the rain trying
to find streets I'm unfamiliar with. But session opportunities this convenient
are too good to pass up.

Sara White. A yoga instructor. Tall, pushing 6', weighing something around 135
lbs. That gave her several inches on me but I'd have 15 lbs on my side. With
the height of course would also be reach and legs. Might be tough to get into
her body which I assumed would not be as strong as many of the wrestlers I'd
faced. The two short reports I'd seen made her out to be very flexible, with
dangerous legs, and a punishing headlock. They also mentioned her ability to
maintain pinning holds, a huge plus in my book. Of course such reports must be
taken with many grains of salt, since you rarely get a clear picture of the
client's ability and must adjust for the positive impression men come away
with if they've had a good session.

Normally, I don't chance sessions with wrestlers I know so little about but I
knew when I scheduled it I'd be following up an energetic session with Kristie
the night before. And of course it had been a battle. Kristie doesn't have a
half speed. So I wanted someone a bit less challenging than Olga or Joanna -
both of whom outclassed me with ease and tended to act somewhat like a cat
playing a friendly game with a captured mole.

Time to make the call. Like many of the session women, Sara didn't want to
give out directions until the last minute. She answered on the second ring,
the same soft, pleasant voice I'd heard in my other two calls, but not much of
a conversationalist. Josephine or Malibu should offer a telephone skills class
to session wrestlers.

Finding a parking space at 7:20am was easy. Finding one that wouldn't be
hauled away after 8:00am was a much greater task. Wound up running four blocks
from the spot I finally found. Definitely on the damp side even with my
umbrella. The place was easy to spot but I'm always nervous knocking on doors
early in the morning. Sara kindly helped me out by opening the curtains enough
to see me coming.

Looked like her picture in WB's list - the fully clothed one. She wore an
oversized sweatshirt or maybe a sweater and jeans. Never pay much attention to
clothes. A very natural look as appropriate for a yoga instructor. We chatted
a bit as I toweled off a little and stripped down to my reasonably modest
shorts. She was much more outgoing in person. Pulled a sheet and a blanket to
lay over the tightly woven carpet. Space was limited and I anticipated
problems staying protected from carpet burns. For a few painful moments I
thought she was going to wrestle in her jeans and sweatshirt as she delayed
stripping to a modest two piece until the last minute. But then the test and
the learning began.

We started from our knees, which I always like but which was absolutely
necessary in the space we had and the furniture/equipment surrounding it. As
I'd worried, I had problems getting by her arms and eventually settled for
clasping hands or wrists. Normally this is adequate for getting a taller foe
to lose balance as you push and twist and pull, but Sarah had excellent
balance and used her long legged base to provide stability.

"Oh no, another wrist wrestler" she said after a few minutes of stalemate.

"If you let me get past your arms, I'll be happy to go for your body," I
replied.

A moment later I was able to pull both her hands down to the mat and pivot to
her side trying to get a half nelson on her. She responded by going over my
arm and pulling me into a side headlock. I circled with her in an effort to
stay on my knees but she used the leverage she had with the headlock and the
upper position to turn me on my back. I managed to scissors one of her legs so
that she couldn't move into a better pinning position with the headlock or
switch to a cross body. But there was no question who was piling up the
points.

This was going very well. Sara was by no means a pushover and seemed to relish
the body to body contact and the matching of wits, strength and skill. She was
clearly capable of making me work and quite likely able to pin me. At the same
time I was reasonably sure that if I managed to mount her, I would be able to
use my upper body strength to force her to submit. The sense of equality made
for a perfect match. I'd be forced to wrestle as hard as I could and still
might wind up submitting - especially if her legs came into play.

We were both sweating by now, starting to get a bit slippery. I tried to roll
her by rotating my hips into her but she countered nicely with more pressure
than I could match. I rotated back the other way and over she went - and over
I went as she continued the roll and brought us back into the starting
position but on the opposite side of the floor. I loved the power and body
control she brought to the battle, not to mention the teasing about why I
seemed to be stuck on the mat.

I changed tactics and tried to pull her hands apart so I could escape the
headlock. Success! I was free! But so was Sara and she immediately grabbed my
arms, pulled them over my head and flattened herself into a full body press.
My scissors now was useless as it only served to hold her tightly to me - a
pleasant sensation of course but not one that was going to facilitate an
escape. I let the scissors go and tried some hip thrusts, hoping to throw her
off balance. Again those long legs perfectly positioned outside mine provided
way too much stability. I was able to open some distance between our torsos
but then she'd fall right back in place.

"You sure are an aggressive thing," she said.

"That's my intention, but it doesn't seem to be getting me anywhere." I
answered.

"Ready to give up?" she looked down at me from a very dominant position.

"I've just been setting you up. You should have realized that by now."

"Setting me up to pin you? Thanks, but I thought I sort of did that by
myself."

She had a most pleasant way of trash talking and a very unintimidating twinkle
in her eye as she did it.

OK. It's now time to show the benefits of my weight training. I could bench
200 lbs, so the sixty pounds or so that were above my chest shouldn't be that
hard. Of course I wasn't in a proper bench pressing position with my arms
stretched above me. I went into full panic escape procedures, flailing away
with every body part that was capable of flailing. Helped by the sweat now
greasing my body, my arms popped free. I managed to get them under her
shoulders and pushed hard. Her upper body rose above me and I rotated my
shoulders pulling her left side toward me while pushing away her right side.

I rolled with her and now I was on top, legs on her right side and arms on her
left. After a delightful struggle to maintain control I was able to slip her
right arm between my legs, position my hip against her cheek and stretch out
her other arm in a classic cross body pin. Now I was feeling Sara's efforts to
move me gradually weakening.

"OK. I guess you got me."

I rolled off and went straight for the water she'd set out.

"That was a great set. I was about ready to give up myself."

"You are such a resistor. Are you that way in everything you do?"

"Nope. If anything I'm a compromiser. What I do is all tied up in making our
interests fit with the interests of the international partner. There can't be
a loser. If I don't see a way that we both come out ahead, then I resist, if
you want to put it that way, but really I just lay the groundwork for some
future activity."

We talked quite a bit. More than I would have wanted perhaps - not because it
wasn't interesting but because I wanted more wrestling. She was pretty open to
questions about her interests, and curious about what attracted me to
wrestling. When I asked her about the frequent breaks later, she said she was
worried cuz I was sweating a lot and looked tired. She was nice enough not to
add that I looked old.

As it was she went way overtime. We remained evenly matched. She used her legs
well to control me and probably had at least an equal amount of advantage
time. I escaped some close calls and got a second pin - holding on to her left
leg while letting my body weight rest across her chest with my legs stretched
to either side of her head to maintain balance. Sara found it to be an unusual
hold, but wasn't bothered by it.

We then went to submission wrestling - allowing use of pressure with the
headlocks and scissors holds to gain the victory. Neither of us were
knowledgable enough to be comfortable with chokes, armbars, or other common
submission moves. After a lengthy set ended as we went off the rug, we
restarted. Sara faked a leg attack and as I lowered my head to ward it off,
she caught me in a front head lock with her elbow closing around my throat. I
submitted immediately. She was jubilant in victory, especially enjoying the
perfect execution of her strategy and the dominance of the submission hold. I
had to admit she'd sucked me in perfectly and finished the move with
authority.

While we were way over time, I had the nerve to ask her to critique a little
yoga routine that I have incorporated into my training. She eagerly accepted
and gave me some excellent tips to improve my form and gain significantly more
benefit from the moves. Finally, she gave me a lovely hug, said she really
enjoyed wrestling with me and sent me off into the rain.

So will I see Sara again? Every chance I get. Part of the attraction is
convenience but she is also an excellent match for me. I'd recommend she try
to expand the space a little and definitely get more or larger blankets to
eliminate the need to regularly stop to reposition the floor covering. She's
not for the serious competitors who want to go all out with joint locks and
chokes. Hers is more like the backyard wrestling most boys did when they were
growing up (but without the additions of the highflying professional moves).
It's two people struggling hard to come out on top but capable of going away
defeated in sets but successful in finding mutual respect and admiration.

Sara's convinced she'll pin me next time. I wouldn't be surprised. In fact I'm
quite sure I'd enjoy it.