So I'm not skinny. Never have been, not since secondary school. I'm currently a size 16-18-20, I've got rolls on my tummy, a big butt, thick thighs, back flab and all that fun stuff. And it's something that like many people, I have wrestled with for much of my life.
As many of us will have experienced, too, people who hate those who are fat don't care how they hurt us, they just want to. They pretend they want us to 'live a healthy lifestyle', but the main times I've been called fat as an insult is actually when out doing exercise, mainly on my bike (I've been called a fat bitch, fat c word, fat f word - the one that made me cry came at the end of a 25 miler), because they hate us and our bodies.
I've known for quite a few years, ever since I really got into my swimming, that weight really has nothing to do with aptitude and ability at many sports - of course, it amends how you can practice that sport, but it doesn't mean that you shouldn't. It doesn't mean that that practice is not accessible to you, that it's not for you. But there are a lot of people who would tell you the opposite, or at least malign you for bothering.
As per usual, then, I was watching something on Youtube the other evening, when up came a video from American yoga teacher BananaBlondie (I accidentally came upon her channel tonight without realising it was her to start with. This is the video in question if you want to watch it, I won't be embedding it! https://youtu.be/TAMNGSRa41k). Blonde, slender, sun-tanned, and I'm sure extremely flexible. the video was called 'why are there still so many fat yogis'? She proceeded to discuss her lack of understanding as to why there are still so many obese people practicing yoga, when, in her opinion, yoga should lead you towards a lifestyle where everyone is slender and eating an ayurvedic diet. No dairy, no fats, basically. She herself is vegan and eats a ton of fruit and high carbs, posting regular 'what I ate today videos' (which expose the minimal calories she's actually taking in). This is what she believes is correct and how everyone else should practice.
She also then proceeded to slag off Kino McGregor, who is a very flexible and talented yogi who trained with Pattabhi Jois. If you watch her videos you will be astounded at what she can do, especially since she started yoga as rehabilitation from injury back in the day! She expressed her lack of understanding as to why Kino is still eating a diet with dairy in it, and said 'you can tell' that she still eats dairy. What does that even mean? She was properly grouchy about it.
I just can't quite wrap my head around this. It's kind of the antithesis of what yoga is about. Yoga is not about having some perfect body, about being able to flip 180 degrees in the air, or about judging other people for what they do, or bringing negative emotions into the room. It's about your own practice, about doing what you want, what makes you happy and what works for your body, about a positive and chilled out mental state - and I simply can't see this in what this woman is saying. Why care what someone else is putting in their mouth?
Talking about 'fat yogis' (and I'll happily claim the word fat here) belies the fact that you don't have to have any particular kind of body in order to do yoga, that there are plenty of plus-size men and women who can do far more advanced poses than those who are thin and long and lithe. Take Jessamyn Stanley, for instance, or Dana Falsetti!
People never expect me to say that I do four yoga classes a week, Pilates 1/2 times a week, that I do Body Pump, that I cycle and swim and when I say swim, I mean I can do you a 3k and (after lunch) another 3k round an island, not a flap about in the pool. Five years ago I couldn't even do front crawl. I was fat when I learnt, I'm still fat now. When I cycle I can do 50k at a pop (although I do hate hills). I'm a fit fattie, then, something many believe to be mutually exclusive.
While there is definitely a physical element to yoga, which this woman has clearly attuned to (she has another video where she rants about the faux spirituality often present in yoga classes), my own yoga practice is centred around strength and fitness, and was originally begun in order to rehabilitate from an injury, a not uncommon occurrence - she ignores the mental side of the practice, the fact that asana (apparently) is simply a preparation for meditation. The whole thing is so much broader than you first think.
Those of us who are not slender already have plenty to contend with when exercising, making sure things fit and don't fall off us, wondering whether our boobs are getting in the way, and worrying about what your teacher really thinks of your body shape is yet another thing we don't need to hear. The fact we're there practicing should be enough. I might be getting more out of my practice than you, lady, and yet I'm probably 100 pounds bigger than you.
I know I'm also a smaller fat comparably so it's hard for me to speak to the lived experience of those who are super-fats, as I am less likely to experience direct discrimination, but I must say that I have been lucky that I have never, in any class, yoga, Pilates, Pump, Balance, Combat, whatever, had my weight mentioned or been insulted for it.
I've got two yoga teachers who are both slender as and extremely fit, and who seem to be incredibly accepting, focused on development, giving of many adjustments, and inclusive enough that anyone feels comfortable doing their classes, whatever their state of fitness. They don't make anyone feel bad for their body when in class, and one of them is even my encouragement when it comes to building towards training myself. I certainly wouldn't want to take this lady's classes. She seems to have lost her way.
I hope that when I eventually get to the point of teaching that I can showcase the antithesis to this. Yoga is for Every Body, as Jessamyn Stanley, Dana Falsetti, Donna Noble and so many others would say.