“I’d love to come to your yoga class, but I’m not flexible.”
“I want to try yoga, but my body just doesn’t bend like that.”
“I am definitely too old to get into yoga.”
“I am too stressed for yoga right now.”
I have heard them all — every reason people come up with for why they can’t show up on their mat. I used to say some of them myself over the years of my practice before I went to yoga teacher training and woke up to what yoga is truly about. I only started teacher training because my life had hit rock bottom. I know people say that flippantly, but my rock bottom looked like this: waking up in a pool of my own vomit, after yet another whiskey bender, just a few months after my son died. I was surprised to be waking up, not just because of the vomit on my face, but because I was hoping I took enough painkillers the night before that I wouldn’t. That was a rock bottom lower than I’ve ever imagined. I signed up for yoga teacher training that same day after seeing a post from the studio I used to go to. And then my fear set in.
Fear is holding us back.
All of those reasons people give me for why they can’t “do” yoga have a thing in common: fear. The fear of age, body type, ability, or mental state that’s preventing them from practicing yoga in the way they think they should. The image we have of what yoga should look like, or what kind of person does yoga, tends to feed into this fear that we don’t fit in or have no business. So, this was the first thing I needed to drop, or rather the first thing I needed to wake up to. After becoming a yoga teacher and teaching for years, I think a lot about the most important thing when it comes to practicing yoga. For me, it is this: the knowledge that yoga is for every body.
The fear I had walking into the first day of teacher training nearly paralyzed me. I don’t look like a stereotypical yogi, and this nearly prevented me from showing up in the first place. I am 185 pounds, give or take 5 on any given day. The weight I gained when I was pregnant with my son stayed after he was gone. I am Bipolar, and I have sustained brain trauma. I wondered what business I had there; my body didn’t look like any of the people I saw when I walked into the room, and my brain doesn’t work the same anymore. My body was certainly different, but not like I thought. It didn’t look like the 6’2” Iraq veteran. It didn’t look like the 17-year-old college student. It didn’t look like the 75-year-old grandmother I set my mat down next to. And it certainly didn’t look like the 60-year-old leading the training, nor the person on the other side of my mat with a boot on her foot. I was certainly the “biggest” body in that room, but that was just my fear. Everyone around me had their own personal fear for why they didn’t belong in that room. And that we showed up meant that we were ready to break from that fear in order to gain what yoga has to offer.
Yoga is the great unifier.
The fear of being too big, too old, too inexperienced, too stressed, too anything - it prevents us from doing so much in life. Yoga should be the last thing it prevents us from, because truly all of us need it. I’ve found that in the moments we feel fear that we can’t do yoga are the moments we need it the most. I look around me in the classes I take and the ones I teach, and I know with certainty that yoga is a great unifier. I’ve practiced next to bodies that are both bigger and smaller, that are different colors and move in different ways, that are younger, older, and every age in between. I’ve practiced next to someone in a wheelchair, and taught a class full of people over 75 years old. I’ve set my mat down in the middle of 800 people in a field and meditated in absolute silence with them. Yoga is a mirror; the way we show up to practice, despite fearing whether we belong or if we are good enough or if we will fit in with everyone else in the class, has a ripple effect for how we show up in life. That we show up at all means we are open to all the benefits yoga has to offer.
There is an abundance of literature and research to support the benefits of a regular yoga practice; there are many styles of yoga for every kind of physical, spiritual, and mental growth. The reason this post isn’t about those things is because the biggest reason people don’t show up, despite all of the known good that comes from practicing, is the comparison and the fear. This is what we must overcome to realize that yoga is for all of us. Once you walk in the door or get on the mat at home, it doesn’t matter what you look like, what you’re capable of, how long you’ve been on the earth, or what your mental state is. What matters is that you’ve prioritized the time and energy to show up for yourself, despite fear or anything holding you back.
If you have a body, you can do yoga.
Yoga is for every body. What I mean is that yoga is accessible for every human…for every kind of person, for every body type. Practicing yoga has the ability to positively impact every aspect of a person’s life - it certainly has for me. After wishing I wasn’t here anymore after losing my son, yoga reminded me why living is a gift. The ability to move our bodies, in any capacity, is a gift. That we get to show up together next to every kind of person, no matter who we are, is a reminder and a little piece of hope that we are all in this together. I don’t just wax poetic about it as a teacher, but as someone who has been profoundly changed by the practice. It’s not too far of a stretch to say it’s changed my life. If you’re willing to show up, despite your fears, it could do the same for you. And trust me when I say this - you’re absolutely worth it.
There are some amazing and accessible classes right here in Berks County! Linked below are some of my favorites; I’ve attended these classes with every kind of body.
Tula Yoga Center - Gentle Yoga for Everybody with Sue
https://www.therestorativecenter.com/tula-yoga-center/
BLDG 7 Yoga - All Levels Community Classes, Vinyasa Mellow, or Restorative
https://bldg7yoga.com/schedule/
Soul Centered Wellness - Kundalini Yoga with Willie
https://www.facebook.com/soulcenteredwellness/
Alli is a local storyteller, creative professional, and book-nerd who grew up loving Berks County. She is a communications professor at Alvernia University, and the Director of Marketing for a national project management firm. When she isn't reading, writing or teaching, you can find her practicing yoga with her husband, hiking Nolde Forest with her pup, or hanging out with family in a local brewery.
