Yoga is definitely good at bringing out body-image issues.
There’s nothing like a magazine cover photo of someone with their body folded in half or twisted in an apparent knot to make us turn our gazes away from our own bodies.
I can’t wear that.
I can’t put my foot there.
My belly will be in the way.
My butt is too big.
My butt is too small.
My feet have bunions.
My thighs are too thick.
They don’t make tops for my boobs.
There aren’t any tops to make me look like I have boobs.
I hate my boobs.
I can’t do yoga.
I don’t have a yoga body.
WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP.
By all accounts, I don’t have a yoga body.
I’m short, thick, busty.
I’m way past 40 and have a ton of yoga postures I can’t do.
I catch myself still today with the same chatter cited above when I see skinnier, stronger or more accessorized yogis than me.
I tell myself: WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP …and snap out of it.
You have a yoga body if you are working on a mindful connection with your spirit.
Yoga bodies are round.
Tall.
Thin.
Short.
Brown.
Not brown.
Deaf.
Blind.
Paraplegic.
Yoga bodies are ….the vessels that carry your spirit.
You have a yoga body when you’re willing to find grace within the frame you’ve been given, honoring its limitations and its gifts without pride or disappointment.
You have a yoga body when you turn your gaze from the shell to within, letting the glorious YOU shine out.
You have a yoga body when you are in a pose and find bliss in a quiet mind and full breath regardless of how it looks.
You have a yoga spirit when yoga has nothing to do with your body at all.