Stanley - Every Body Yoga

every

BODY

yoga

Let go of fear, get on the mat, love your body.

Jessamyn Stanley

Workman Publishing New York

For Jesse the Jet.

Because youve always believed in meeven when I didnt believe in myself.

Every Body Yoga was written with the belief that absolutely anyone can build a smart and safe yoga practice. However, if you have any concerns about yogas impact on your physical health, please consult a physician before attempting any of the poses or sequences in the book. The publisher and author are not liable for any complications, injuries, loss, or medical problems arising from or in connection with using this book.

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I n the summer of 2012, I was an unemployed grad-school dropout and relatively new to yoga. I enjoyed going to classes, but like many other yoga students who look different, I always left the studio feeling a vague sense of discrimination at the hands of my teachers and fellow students. I was also strapped for cash and could barely afford the occasional drop-in class. So I turned my focus to developing a home practice. I began photographing and documenting my yoga asana practice and posting the shots on Instagram. At the time, Instagram was a fairly new kind of social media, but there was already a small community of yoga teachers and practitioners who were using the app to share their home practices. I quickly found my place in this virtual community and with it, a sense of inclusion and encouragement that Id never felt in any live yoga class.

Thats when everything changed. I became ravenous for information beyond the physical poses Id encountered in studio classes. I studied anatomy, the history of yoga, and the evolution of various yoga lineages. I got certified as a yoga instructor. Today, I have the incredible privilege to travel the world teaching the practice I love so much.

As much as social media has given me, it shouldnt be the only source of inspiration for people who dont fit the typical yoga mold. Thats why I wrote this book. Because all yoga bodies deserve to be represented in print, not just those that are slender, female, and white.

I wrote this book for every fat person, every old person, and every exceptionally short person. I wrote it for every person who has called themselves ugly and every person who cant accept their beauty. I wrote it for every person who is self-conscious about their body.

I wrote it for every human being who struggles to find happiness on a daily basis, and for anyone who has ever felt overwhelmed by the mere act of being alive. Ive been there. We all have.

Yoga is for everybody and EVERY BODY . You dont have to be thin and you dont have to be fat. You dont have to be a specific color or commit to a specific diet. You dont have to earn (or have access to) a certain amount of money.

You dont have to embody anything other than your truest and most honest self in order to practice yoga. You dont have to omit the sadness, the anger, and all of the other ugly emotions that flavor our lives.

You dont have to be anyone other than yourself.

And I think its high time that someone shouted it loud enough so everyone can hear.

PART I

Lets Get Warmed Up

Hey Jessamyn How Do I Start Practicing Yoga?

L ets just say that if I had a nickel for every time someone has asked this question within my hearing/reading/breathing range over the past five years, I would be ballin Bill Gatesstyle. Apparently, when you show the internet your fat ass in a yoga pose, everyone wants to know how the hell you managed to do it.

Usually, people ask me this question in situations where I couldnt possibly give an adequate response, like while Im waiting for my date to finish using the bathroom at a friend of a friends cocktail party, or while Im at the grocery store after spending all day in line at the DMV. And even though I want to enter into a completely serene and helpful dialogue that starts with something along the lines of, Oh my God, thank you for asking! Of course, I can ABSOLUTELY explain to you in thirty words or less every single bit of information you need to know in order to start practicing yoga, Im not really serene and I dont have much of a poker face. My honest answer is just too vast and long-winded to be adequately summed up even in the most nightmarish DMV line, and Im usually too overwhelmed to formulate an appropriate shorthand response. Therefore, Im sure the look on my face betrays what Im thinking, which is basically HOW THE FUCK DO YOU THINK I COULD ACTUALLY ADEQUATELY ANSWER THIS QUESTION IN THE MIDDLE OF WHOLE FOODS RIGHT NOW?? The question asker usually backs away slowly, leaving me standing there with the grimace of a gargoyle while the Whole Foods cashier tries to pretend they didnt just witness the worlds most awkward human interaction.

If you and I have had this interaction, I apologize. I know you were just trying to get clarity on a topic that a lot of people seem to have questions about. Its probably why you (yes, YOU, the person reading these words right now) decided to flip through this book while hiding from your Tinder date in the back corner of Barnes & Noble. Or maybe you saw an Instagram picture of me turning my body upside down or bending my spine in a way that seems as though I should definitely see an exorcist and thought to yourself, Damn, if that fat bitch can do it, I bet I can too!

Perhaps youve tried yoga in the past and it proved to be an absolutely wretched experience. Maybe youve given up faith in the potential for your own yoga practice. Maybe you thought it was boring, or just WAY harder than you expected. Maybe youre thinking that you and I share some common ground that youve never been able to find with other yoga teachers. Because your takeaway from seeing a picture of mea fat girl practicing yoga in her underwearis that it cant be that hard. So maybe you can do what I can do. I mean, itll probably take a little effort and sweat, but youll be headstanding and deep backbending in no time, right?

Um, yeah.... I think you are absolutely correct. I think that if you have body issues, or if youve got shit raging in your head about your body shape, size, or condition, particularly as it pertains to yoga, then I do think you can learn a lot from my experience. Because youre totally right: I am fat. I am not the person you would typically imagine teaching or practicing yoga. Or even sitting behind a reception desk in a yoga studio. I know how it feels to be an outsider. I know how it feels to be discouraged and excluded in an environment thats meant to foster calm and serenity.

The truth is that you only need to attend one drop-in class at your local yoga studio to notice that the modern Western yoga world is very diverse and practitioners come in every color, shape, and size in the flesh-toned rainbow. But if youre only paying attention to the medias idea of a yoga practitionerone that mirrors the stereotypical image of physician-approved Western health: slender, long, and youngits easy to see how you might feel a little alienated and lost.