Who is yoga for?

Who is yoga for?

Yoga was developed in India and the first practitioners where men, mostly young boys. A lot has changed since then.

Let’s start by looking at what a yoga student in the US looks like. Typically they are female, in their mid-20s to mid-30s, white, fit, financially well-off enough to afford to pay the fees, and have spare the time.

My journey to yoga started when I was 22. At the time I was in graduate school at the University of Washington and needed to relieve stress. I checked all of the boxes of the mainstream yoga practitioner. Today I realize my body is slowly changing and that one thing is certain, we will all die at some point. Before we die, our bodies will change. For most people, this happens slowly, but change can also happen abruptly. Let’s say in a motorcycle accident, or you might catch a really bizarre, unknown virus and start losing control of your vestibular (balance control) system –which happened to my friend and colleague Juli.

When I started teaching yoga I knew that I wanted to be able to serve all bodies –and not just serve the people that are able to come to a yoga studio. As I was setting up my online presence for Recharge Yoga I wanted to choose marketing material that reflects the diversity of people around us. Imagine you are riding the bus –these are the kind of people that I was hoping to find practicing yoga. As it turns out, Shutterfly only shows photos of the typical known yoga demographic and then the senior community. There does not seem to be any images of people ages 40-60, people that are in larger bodies, or people who are experiencing limited -mobility for various reasons. The idea of the always healthy and perfectly-fit person was an image I did not want to project in my work and when marketing of Recharge Yoga. Everyone, everybody, deserves to be recharged. I knew I had to learn more and immersive myself in a community of accessible yoga.

Then the adventure began! In May 2019, I was admitted to the Accessible Yoga Certification program in Madison, Wisconsin. The program was led by Amber Karnes, a person in a very large body –or in her words –in a fat body. Amber never thought that yoga was for her –until she realized it was! Since then she has become a leader in the body-positive yoga movement and helps people in all kinds of bodies to enjoy the benefits of yoga and to feel at peace.

The workshop finished with a special kind of party, a headstand party! Amber taught all of us teachers how to get anyone into a headstand. People internalize what they are being told – you can or you can’t do this. With Amber’s method, we are able to help anyone kick themselves into a headstand. One of the participants in our class was wearing a prosthesis on one of his limbs from the knee down and he was able to join the party as well. It was the first headstand of his life and I was humbled and touched to witness it. When people realize that they are suddenly able to do something that they always thought they couldn’t do, it unleashes power and helps them realize the true potential that lies within them. That’s when people can take the lessons from the mat into the rest of their lives and start taking ownership of the things they are passionate or curious about.

I am proud to serve the yoga students of tomorrow, yoga is for everybody.

Accessible Yoga is holding a workshop in Seattle in September, learn more here.

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This post was written by Elisabeth Rabusseau