In Our Bodies

"... seeing a healthy body as one that is vital, sensual, at ease, regardless of its size and shape."

This blog continues the discussion regarding our Plus Size Yoga class. This time we look at what happens in the class, why it's women only, and how students have responded.

Yoga for Different Sizes

Yoga for larger bodies follows much the same pattern as other yoga classes. There are some slight variations according to need, but only in the same way that needs are accommodated for injuries and other conditions. For example, we have a stage that can be used for sitting and lying if getting up and down from the floor is difficult.

Yoga for Women's Bodies

We live in a “sexualised” society. All around us we see women’s bodies used in advertising for their sexual pull. Always those bodies are beautiful, and often unnaturally so. It’s easy as women to develop a sense of insecurity about our bodies. This might manifest as simply feeling a bit self-conscious in a pair of tights. But it could be much deeper and greatly limit the activities we feel comfortable to try.

Yoga is undeniably, unavoidably and unashamedly about bodies. But not about sexualisation, and not about an external image of the body. We use the body to access the mind. We use the body to look inward. If we get stuck in the sexuality of our bodies, we tend to be stuck on the external.

A yoga class is an opportunity to say let’s put aside any discomfort that we have with our bodies as external shapes to look at. It’s a way of saying let’s effectively close our eyes and feel our bodies. But more than that, let’s open our eyes and look at our bodies, without the judgement that sometimes entails. Let’s look at our bodies in order to genuinely aim for a healthy body in the most complete sense of the term healthy – not limiting healthy to meaning slim and trim; rather, seeing a healthy body as one that is vital, sensual, at ease, regardless of its size and shape.

What Happened to the Plus Size Yoga Class?

We used to run a Plus Size Yoga class, and for a time it was popular. It was not uncommon when women first came to yoga to start with the Plus Size class. Many women began with the thought that the Plus Size class was the one for them, and that would be that. Some women did stay in this class and it was a class in which they could make significant changes. Increasingly, we found for many women it was more a matter of building confidence, and we had many students who moved from the Plus Size class to Foundations classes and General classes. It is a joy to teach a class where such progress can be witnessed.

Eventually, we had so many students who had moved from the Plus Size class to regular classes, we found the Plus Size class became quite small. The philosophy behind the class is still inherent in our teaching. Yoga is for all bodies of all shapes, sizes, genders and sexuality. The need to set aside the external picture of our bodies and experience our bodies fully - emotionally and spiritually as well as physically - is not a gendered need.

This blog was originally written in October 2018, updated October 2021.