#Repost per credit & courtesy of @alexandriacrowyoga • • • • • • CONVERSATION STARTER—When you first started yoga, were you intimidated by other students and teachers? Has anyone ever told you that they’d like to try yoga, but aren’t flexible enough, thin enough, young enough…the list goes on? I hear these fears all the time. And I’ve heard from plenty of yoga students in the comments on my posts who practice at home because of their very real concerns about being judged or excluded because of their “non-standard” bodies or abilities. Unfortunately, there is a lot of very real ignorance and judgment. Even little comments from teachers and students about who has a “yoga body” or a “beautiful practice” (side note, why is it always thin people who get that compliment?) add up over time. The biggest negative influence is probably the photos and videos that dominate yoga media and social media. Most magazines and advertisements feature bodies that would be equally at home in fashion or celebrity magazine. Plus, the ease with which we can all edit our photos and videos for Instagram means that what you see online often has little to do with real life anyways. So how do we start to reverse this trend, and encourage more people to experience the benefits of yoga? A lot of it starts with our language. We can remove body comments (even “positive” ones) from our vocabulary. We can have conversations with people who tell us they don’t have the right body for yoga, and let them know that any body can do yoga. And we also need to reconsider the imagery we put out there. I’ve talked plenty over the years about the destructive power of pose photos; the more we can move away from those idealized images and instead talk about what yoga really offers, the more of a chance we have of moving away from misconceptions. How do you respond to people who tell you they can’t do yoga? #yogaphysics #yoga #yogaforeveryone #accessibleyoga #yogaforallbodies #yogaforeveryone #functionalyoga #modernyoga #yogarevolution #yoga101 #yogateacher #yogapractice #yogaeducation #yogastudent #yogaforall #beginneryoga #advancedyoga #yogaposes #yogaatanysize #yogabody #yogaforallbodies https://www.instagram.com/p/Cd8i1flrazZ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
