By guest author Anna Guest-Jelley, Curvy Yoga When I first started practicing yoga, I never, ever, ever saw another bigger-bodied person like me. Never. Most days, I thought I was the only one. But I secretly dreamed of finding others -- people who also longed for a yoga practice where no one said Lay your belly on your thighs Because, hello, if I move a centimeter, I'm already there. Wave your hands in the air Now, I know I'm mixing song references here, but I hope you'll forgive me. Because … [Read more...]
Search Results for: Anna Guest-Jelley
Five Ways Yoga Improved My Body Image
By guest author Anna Guest-Jelley, Curvy Yoga When I began practicing yoga in the late '90s, it didn’t occur to me that yoga would have any impact on my body image. In fact, I wouldn’t have wanted that at the time because I was spending my days bouncing between diets, waiting for the day I’d finally have the perfect body I’d always wanted. Who needs a positive body image when they have the body of their dreams, right? Ha! What I got instead, much to my initial chagrin and later delight, was … [Read more...]
Because Yoga is for Every Body – Right? Not just the Young, Slim, Bendy and Gorgeous
by Kara-Leah Grant I'm casting my mind back to Auckland, New Zealand in 1995 and it seems a long, long time ago. I had just dropped out of my second year at Uni - ostensibly because back issues and serious sciatic pain made it impossible for me to sit for lectures, but there were other, deeper reasons too. (i.e. my habitual response when facing serious challenge - run!) Regardless, I was in chronic back pain. A good friend suggested we go and do a ten week beginners Iyengar yoga course that … [Read more...]
Where Are All the Fat Chicks in Yoga Media?
by Kara-Leah Grant Polarizing headline, no? Am I allowed to use the word fat? How about the word chick? Or would you prefer I lead with something along the lines of: Why are most yoga images of young, slender white women? Also appropriate. But I like the first headline. I like the way it sounds and the way I say it. How you read it and what judgement you place on it is up to you. I pass no judgement on fat. Or on chicks. This is a valid query - as one of my readers pointed out … [Read more...]
The Release of Yoga and Body Image: 25 Personal Stories About Beauty, Bravery + Loving Your Body
By guest author Melanie Klein, Yoga and Body Image Coalition. Anna Guest–Jelley, founder of Curvy Yoga and the co-editor of Yoga and Body Image: 25 Personal Stories About Beauty, Bravery + Loving Your Body, and I both struggled with a distorted body image, our perception of ourselves, from early childhood on. In the process, we tried countless diets and experimented with a variety of fitness trends – all of which left us feeling shame, guilt and punishment for the bodies we lived in. Our … [Read more...]