Antidote to..intimidating yoga!?
Oh no, I don’t want to be next to her, the girl who does all those amazing handstands and inversions.
Huh, she’s got some of those leggings on, the ones that cost more than I earn in a couple of days.
Who’s she, hugging the teacher? She must be their favourite student.
Oh, they’ve brought their own mats? Should I have done the same? They must be really serious yogis.
‘Just’ spring back into plank? What does she mean? My knees can’t do that.
‘Try not to wobble’ What? Oh, I must be bad at this as I can’t help wobbling.
‘If you can’t do the full version of the pose, here’s a modification’ Oh, this obviously isn’t as good as the full version, I’m rubbish at this.
Can you relate to any of these?
Of all places, you would think yoga studios and classes should be welcoming, open, non-judgemental. And of course, some of them really are. But sadly many are just cliquey, smug and intimidating.
Of course, if we’re feeling threatened by someone who we perceive to be thinner, more toned, ‘better at yoga’ than us, we do first need to look within ourselves and why on earth we’re thinking that. And that could be another whole post of its own.
But I’ve been to studios and classes where the receptionist or teacher literally didn’t even say hello, or even smile. Where it took over half an hour in class before any mention of ‘It’s your body, your practice, do what’s right for you’. Where I’ve been told (angrily) that I was ‘doing it wrong’. And countless, countless times where I’ve heard daft phrases such as ‘If you don’t have the flexibility..’, ‘if you’re not doing the full version of the pose’, ‘if you can’t do xyz, just take a rest’, ‘come into an easy seat’ and so on.
What does language like that tell us? That we’re not good enough, that we need to work harder to ‘achieve’ whatever pose it is, that we’re bad at yoga if we can’t do something or don’t have the flexibility. The reality is that 90% of normal humans DON’T have the flexibility for most yoga poses, and I’m not even talking feet behind heads, or handstands. For the majority of people, the ones who don’t go to yoga because they feel threatened and that it’s not for them, it’s challenge enough to sit on the floor comfortably, to touch their toes, to hold a warrior 2. So actually when they say ‘Oh I can’t do yoga, I’m not flexible enough’, they’re RIGHT! But where is the fault with this scenario, with them, or with the way yoga is offered and taught?
Our modern, Western version of yoga revolves around poses that were designed as exercises for young Indian boys, and that are only easily achievable by a tiny percentage of the population. It’s of course possible that someone can be physically able to make difficult gymnastic shapes and still be practising yoga - going within, practising awareness of their mental state as they move physically, working on stilling their mind - but I’d hazard a guess that the more focus someone is putting on achieving the ‘perfect’ (frankly unrealistic) shape, the less likely they are to be practising what I would consider real yoga. And the more that the industry of yoga focuses on this aspect, the more people who actually could really benefit are missing out.
The thing I strive for is to make my classes truly accessible and open to all. I’m sure I don’t always succeed and it’s a learning process for me too. And I know that it will even put some people off. But I can only teach what I feel is right. So I believe in offering an antidote to intimidating yoga classes, a space where you feel safe to explore body, breath and mind, secure enough to go within and really ‘be’ with yourself, an opportunity to spend a precious hour discovering pure awareness.
Come and practise with me this week?