Alone And Vulnerable | Yoga 15

“Strength is the ruling virtue. Think how many beautiful things must have died for the lack of strength to protect themselves.” Enter The Dragon

Five mornings a week, I leave the house for boxing before the sun comes up. A few days ago, I started to notice that the only people I pass on the way to the gym are men. Now that could be because the ladies in the neighbourhood love a lie-in but it’s more likely that, as I live in an area with a lot of ongoing construction, these men are on their way to work.

As I jog past these small groups of guys in the half-light, I am under no illusion that any one of them could overpower me with little difficulty. And although it’s unlikely that any of them have malicious intent, I am aware of my vulnerability due to my size and relative lack of strength.

AN EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVE

I don’t know whether I’d have been as conscious of this had I not heard evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller, on the Mating Grounds podcast a few years ago, describing a related scenario. He said, when a woman walks into a bar, her experience is of entering an enclosed space populated by groups of men who are, far bigger and stronger than her, possibly inebriated and in a predatory mood.