In a recent interview, I was asked about my personal yoga practice, a question to be expected of someone who’s a co-founder of a certain well-known yoga festival.

I think I managed a relatively cogent answer—and heck, it was for a business TV show anyway—but after a moment of reflection, I knew that I had to get some thoughts down on digital paper, both about me personally, and because I think of myself as a relatively regular guy, for men in general.

I’ll lead with the personal.

The truth is this: yoga is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.  

It’s more physically taxing than the construction work I did with three burly German guys in Bavaria back when I was 18. I feel like my natural aptitude for it is way, way below my aptitude for basketball, a sport that I’m uniquely bad at (5′ 8″, can’t jump, hands of wood). I can get so flummoxed in class that I can’t tell my left leg from my right, leaving me in the curious position of finding myself in a reverse pose from everyone else in the class—and wondering why they’re all on the wrong side.

And mentally, it’s taxing too—quieting your mind when your tendons are screaming at you (real pain, like the unhappy, crying face you see in that chart in the doctor’s office), while a teacher is guiding you through pose after rapid pose, and all you want to do is slip into a delirious savasana, or at least less painful child’s pose, doesn’t leave a lot of room for mindfulness.

For the full article, find your way on over to The Wanderlust Journal. And if you’re interested in joining a live Q&A with some of the leading men in the yoga world—including our very own Waylon Lewis, alongside awe inspiring yoga teacher Eoin Finn, Dan Wilf of Yoganonymous, and the author of this piece/founder of Wanderlust Festivals, Sean Hoess—start compiling key questions and meet us here in the comments section tomorrow, June 26 1PM PST/4PM EDT.