Why I teach yoga continued….
I’ve been practicing yoga for around 15 years-ish. It’s got me through some tough times. My 1st class was at my local leisure centre. I enjoyed it, but didn’t really gel with the teacher. A couple years later I found Yoga with Adriene on YouTube. At this point I was travelling a lot and finding a class wasn’t always easy, so online was great for me. And Adriene’s monthly challenges were awesome!
When things get tough I turn to yoga. I know that for that hour I can put my problems down, and just ‘be’. I’ve been to loads of in person classes in different places, but I never really felt like I fit in. I’d leave a yoga class feeling ‘not enough’. I’d be surrounded by skinny bendy people, flowing through the sequences with ease, and not sweating! While I was falling over in the back,I felt embraced. But I kept going back, because I freakin’ love yoga! While I was falling over in the back and not getting it, the teacher would usually be in the front of the room declaring how you could always opt for child’s pose if the pose ‘wasn’t in your practice’. A teacher once singled me out in a class and asked, “ and what are youuu doing?”. I turned redder than I already was! I didn’t know what I was doing !
I was always the largest person in the room. And always larger than the teacher. It never occurred to me that I could be a yoga teacher. Until I went to this one class in London, and the teacher had the same body as me! She must of thought I was so weird , I kept sneaking glances at her. I was in awe . I felt this sense of connection I’d never really felt in a yoga class. She gave lots of variations, didn’t assume everyone could do a pose and was quite frankly awesome!
After that class scoured the interwebs and instagram for felow fat yogis and stated following them. I also unfollowed a ton of accounts that made me feel less than. I started seeing larger bodies doing awesome things. It took a long time before I even considered being a yoga teacher. But finding people who looked like me doing things I wanted to slowly got me there. I trained over a year with some of the loveliest people I have ever met! My teachers were lovely too! I got pushed way out of my comfort zone, but in a kind and supportive way.
I want to be the teacher I never saw, and always wanted. A teacher in a larger body that teaches inclusive yoga with lots of variations and no judgement.
Thanks for reading , and I’ll see you here again soon!
Some links to pretty awesome yoga people;
Jessamyn Stanley - https://www.instagram.com/mynameisjessamyn?igsh=bHZjOWljdTZ1dXo=
Reyna Cohan - https://www.instagram.com/reynisima?igsh=MWN4cncxdDc4aXhzcg==
Yoga with Adriene - https://youtube.com/@yogawithadriene?si=pnaq-mIAVhrwmpsw
Laurent Route - https://www.instagram.com/yogalaurent?igsh=bWs2N2hyOWg1aHBn
Scottee is fat - https://www.instagram.com/scotteeisfat?igsh=MTFjOGFpeDZzcGxzNw==
Lucy Bishop - https://www.instagram.com/lucybyoga?igsh=MmtjNWNtaTY4NjFn
(There’s so many more ppl but I’ll leave you with these for now)