Take a look at those photos. What was your gut reaction? I don’t mean the politically-correct supportive remarks, I mean the OMG exclaimations.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a size 3 or 3X, you may have the same response, “No way fat people can do that”
“Fat women in yoga pants!
“Breasts resting on bellies!” YUP, that’s exactly right.
We all know it takes guts to show up for the first day in a new school–whether it’s kindergarten, first day of college, or first day at a new gym. Now imagine doing that as an obese person. Imagine walking into a yoga class where most students weigh half your weight. It takes guts and there’s very little glory in it. I know I don’t have that kind of courage. I’d be looking for a yoga class with “people like me” where the teacher has the knowledge to understand the bodies of overweight people and I’m going to have some kind of success.
Well, there are classes of “Yoga for Round Bodies” “Heavy Weight Yoga” but they are few and far between. Even the world of anonymous TV Exercise on Demand has no such programs. And “Biggest Loser” doesn’t have yoga in its program.
If you are trying to develop a program at home I highly recommend Dr. Erdwinn’s article on Yoga at: http://www.expandinglight.org/free/yoga-teacher/round-bodies/introduction.htm It has practical suggestions for yoga teachers and yoga students. As a medical doctor, Dr. Erdwinn’s information begins with a premise of “first do no harm” and as an obese woman her suggestions are based on experience and common sense.
There are other programs and DVDs out there. Yoga: Just My Size With Megan Garcia is a good one. Megan is bright, young and overweight herself. She’s elegant, cheerful and motivating. There’s a New York studio, Buddha Body that has an informative blog. It’s at http://www.buddhabodyoga.com/blog/
If those sites don’t interest you, just do a search on “Yoga Overweight” on your search engine or Amazon to find other resources.
Yoga is a union of mind and body, it’s for every body. If you are timid about stepping into a yoga class, even one for overweight bodies, check out those websites and if you want to know about other websites, email me.
Ah, yoga!
