You look at all the yoga magazines and all the women are skinny. Not just thin but skinny. There are lots of women who are naturally thin, who are healthy and strong and eat real food. But if those magazines are the guidelines for doing yoga, women who are not naturally thin feel a stab of insecurity and the thought of entering a yoga studio seems an insurmountable challenge. So what’s a woman to do, a woman with breasts, a belly, thighs made for climbing mountains, hips made for birthing babies, arms made for carrying the weight of a family?

Many of the women I know have these kind of curvy bodies. And most of the women I know, even the slim ones, suffer from some sort of body dysmorphia, which is preoccupation or excessive worry about a minor or imagined physical imperfection.

It is nearly impossible to be unaffected by the culture in which we live. Even if you’re a forward-thinking free spirit, free in your mind, you are steeped in the culture around you. Like a teabag in a cup of hot water, you can’t stop your environment from seeping in. But the truth is, you can start to free yourself a little from the insanity. This is where yoga comes in. Yoga is about many things, and one of them is separating your mind from clinging to what it perceives as reality.

In olden days being thin was a sign of poverty, and the painters (the old-fashioned media) depicted women of girth and curve as our cultural beauty figures.

Today, we get so many negative messages about a bit of extra flesh that some people won’t even enter a yoga studio, let alone commit to a serious practice, because they think they are “too big.”

But yoga is far bigger than any plus-sized negative view of yourself. Yoga can hold us all, and can hold all of us.

What’s more important: What your body looks like, or what it can do?
As an average-sized woman, I suffered for years from body dysmorphia. I tried every diet on the market, I wore overlarge clothes to try to hide myself, I teetered on the edge of an eating disorder. It took moving out to a mountain town and learning how to snowboard for me to overcome my insecurities. I finally moved into a world of what my body could do versus what my body looked like. It was a powerful transformation and I swore I’d never look back. But inevitably, my culture would seep back in (usually after spending some time with a fashion magazine!) and I would have to remove myself from those undue pressures. The points of study for me were this: What can your body do for you? How much does your body support everything you do? How strong are you? How capable? How sexy or beautiful do you feel from the inside? Continue Reading

It’s easy to assume yoga is expensive. Classes may set you back 20 bucks each; $90 stretch pants may tempt you; and the cost of all that equipment — mats, rolls, bolsters, straps, eye masks — may resurface the very stress you calmed in your last $20 yoga class.

Relax (Remember those deep breaths.) Yes, depending on which route you go, yoga can be pricey. But there are many ways to cut costs. For one, consider dropping a few of those classes and practicing downward dog on your own.

Another money saver? Make your own yoga props at home. Below, Abby Lentz, founder of the HeavyWeight Yoga classes and DVDs, which are aimed at yogis who are overweight and obese, shares a few of her favorite homemade yoga props.

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