Why We Need Fat Yoga Teachers
Picture this… you’re in a flow yoga class, the teacher instructs the students to “take a bind.” Everyone in the room reaches back and easily connect their hands…. except that one student (maybe that’s you). As much as this student reaches their arms around their body, the hands don’t connect. The yoga teacher notices, and approaches. Without asking permission, the teacher tries to pull the student’s arms to “help” achieve the bind. Realising this impossible feat, she makes a comment, “You can get there if you just lose some weight.”
Did she just fat shame? Oh yes she did!
Did she realise how harmful that comment was? Probably not.
The student leaves the class humiliated, and likely never to return again. A practice that is supposed to teach self-acceptance has triggered self-hate (and probably hate for yoga).
If we had yoga teachers in larger bodies, they would skilfully be able to help students navigate postures around their chest, belly, thighs and more. Most yoga teachers have no idea how to do this, which is why we need more fat yoga teachers in studios and out in the world sharing this amazing practice with so many people who need it.
UNDERSTANDING Fatphobia & FATSHAMING
Fatphobia is an unreasonable dislike or unfair treatment of people because they are fat. Fat-shaming is the action or practice of humiliating someone judged to be fat or overweight by commenting, criticising or mocking them about their size. Fear of fat exists because we’ve all heard the shame and blame that surrounds folks in larger bodies or congratulations on someone losing weight. We cannot escape it. Where I live, Fatphobia and fat-shaming is in the air we breathe — family members can be brutal, and even coworkers feel free to comment on their colleagues’ bodies. You wouldn’t expect it from a yoga teacher… but there it is!
DISMANTLING THE BIAS
Begin by shifting your perception about weight and health. Skinny is an aesthetic, not a state of health. Health and wellbeing is measured in many different ways: strength, endurance, mobility, balance, energy, metabolic health, quality of life, psychological state of mind, community connection, life purpose and more.
Keeping physically active is more important than size. Large bodies can be fit as long as their blood pressure, cholesterol, blood fat and sugar levels are within normal ranges. Body Mass Index (BMI) is a crude measurement and doesn’t provide the full picture of someone’s health. BMI doesn’t incorporate body composition: the ratio of body fat to muscle, bone, connective tissue, water and organs.
Having extra meat on your bones can protect against diseases and mental health conditions. A study found that overweight folks live longer than skinny people. So skinny isn’t always better. Remember that!
Show up for yourself & your students in the right way
Fatphobia is a form of oppression. How you view your own body, how you judge other people’s bodies, and how you place them on a hierarchy is not great for you, your physical and mental health, nor humanity. Take time to examine your own relationship with your body. What are the messages you’ve heard and repeat to yourself? How can you decondition this?
As a yoga teacher, you have no idea about a person’s genetics, food security, metabolism, hobbies and more. So drop the judgement and offer options to your students that are equally beneficial and don’t blindly follow aesthetics of yoga. Master the use of props, posture variations, cueing, and adjustments in a way that is inclusive and accessible to a diverse range of bodies.
Weave in the science of the mind (Raja Yoga) to cultivate self-acceptance, empowerment and discipline for your students to believe in themselves and reach their goals.
If you’re a studio owner, hire fat yoga teachers and include them in your marketing. Have them lead a teachers workshop to educate the rest of your teachers how to work with larger bodies.
Join the Adaptive Yoga Training to learn how to work with different body sizes, abilities and health conditions.
Learn to teach an integrated and therapeutic style of yoga for a diverse range of health conditions, disability and special needs. This training lays the foundation to become a yoga therapist.