Most every day, I receive emails from women who resonate with the Curvy Yoga message. And more days than not, I talk with at least one person who is interested in or in process in Curvy Yoga certification.
And here’s what I’ve learned from these conversations: NO ONE thinks their body is “right” for yoga. No one!
The Not Quite Right List
Of course, these conversations often begin with the two of us discussing a shared experience of feeling “too big” to be in a yoga class. Many, many people have this experience! The funny thing is that people of every shape and size feel this way.
And then the even funnier thing happens — people also aren’t sure if they’re curvy “enough” to take or teach Curvy Yoga.
And after hearing different iterations of this over and over, it hit me: we really do all have body baggage. Too many of us (myself totally included!) spend our time worrying. If we’re not worried we’re too big, we’re worried we’re too small (especially in the “right” places). If we’re not worried we’re too old, we’re worried we’re too young to be taken seriously. And the list goes on and on and on.
The Flip Side
When I first had this realization, I felt a little sad. Really? We all feel this way? No one gets a break?
But then I realized how liberating it is: if we all feel this way, in some ways it makes it easier to just drop it. We can look around, like I have recently, and see that — if almost literally all of us feel this way, it makes it even more obviously untrue. It just doesn’t make sense. We can’t ALL have the wrong body for yoga; it’s just not possible!
So what that really means is that we all have the right body for yoga — because there is no such thing.
Boiling It Down
I just feel all kinds of stretchy expansiveness knowing this. We’re all good! In fact, we’re better than good — we fit in exactly as we should.
All that’s left to us now is finding our own right-fit yoga practice. Discovering the pose options that work for us. Listening to our bodies and exploring what pace feels good. Experimenting with different teachers until we find the ones who resonate with us.
Finding and maintaining and reminding ourselves of the freedom within and without.
Credits: This is a post by Anna Guest-Jelly. Visit her at her website Curvy Yoga and on Facebook and Twitter. This has been reposted with permission. You will find the original post here.
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When I was a young child, around six I think I would lay in my grandmothers back yard on a blanket under the oak tree. It was in the Shavasana pose always.When asked what I was doing I would reply “Going inside.” I couldn’t explain what that meant, only that I would go inside my head is what I said. I would also show off what I could do with what my moter called “elaborate contortions.” Later in my life I would come to realize what I was doing was advanced Yoga and meditation. I was raised to not believe in reincarnation, that never sat well with me because I knew in my soul that I was reincarnated and the more time I spent with this truth, more was revealed to me. When I began Yoga and meditation again in my adult life I was significantly over weight, I had osteoarthristis in both knees and terrible eating habits. Just as “A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step” so did my journey to wellness. I started Yoga using a chair,sitting down, standing beside it for support, downward dog using the seat instead of the floor. I soon realized that I had to change my way of thinking to adopt this life style change. I spent alot of time in prayer and medition and listened to my soul. It was the same soul of that little girl that would lay on the blanket under the old oak tree. It was the same soul that was reincarnate in me. I came home.