NOTE from Melanie Klein: When Anna Guest – Jelley and I embarked on writing and curating Yoga and Body Image: 25 Personal Stories about Beauty, Bravery, and Loving Your Body in what became a three-year project, we did so in order to highlight the complex and interwoven issues that intersect with yoga and body image as separate topics as well how they intersect with yoga and body image jointly. We hoped that by bringing forward a diverse array of voices and experiences, we could connect with a wider audience in order to inspire, heal and promote dialogue on the issues contained therein. With the emergence of book clubs examining the stories in YBI and sharing their own experiences on these topics, we feel our intentions in collaborating are being realized.Sharing Strategies to Make Yoga More Broadly Accessible – Part 3 in the Yoga and Body Image Book Discussion Series
April 23, 2015NOTE from Melanie Klein: When Anna Guest – Jelley and I embarked on writing and curating Yoga and Body Image: 25 Personal Stories about Beauty, Bravery, and Loving Your Body in what became a three-year project, we did so in order to highlight the complex and interwoven issues that intersect with yoga and body image as separate topics as well how they intersect with yoga and body image jointly. We hoped that by bringing forward a diverse array of voices and experiences, we could connect with a wider audience in order to inspire, heal and promote dialogue on the issues contained therein. With the emergence of book clubs examining the stories in YBI and sharing their own experiences on these topics, we feel our intentions in collaborating are being realized.With that, I am honored to share this guest post by Anitra Cottledge discussing the third out of five meetings in an ongoing YBI book discussion series led by Dr. Beth Berila and Elen Bahr in the Twin Cities. Details here.
Part Three: Culture & Media
GUEST POST BY: Anitra Cottledge
We wasted no time in getting right down to it for our third Yoga and BodyImage discussion. After a lovely grounding facilitated by the amazing Dianne Bondy (via Google Hangouts), we jumped right into the topic at hand: the role that media and culture play in shaping our ideas about our bodies, beauty standards and yoga.
I almost don’t know how to capture the richness of our discussion. The conversation was flowing, and everyone had a story about how media had impacted their thinking.
I could tell you about the time when someone brought up “the girl on Instagram:” the one who always seems to be in a bikini doing complex yoga poses on a cliff while overlooking the ocean. (There’s nothing inherently wrong with doing this or being this person; it’s just frustrating when that image is what many people associate with yoga.)
I could focus on the comment made by a yoga teacher and her comment that she was convinced that she didn’t meet the “yoga teacher standard.” She said, “Aren’t all yoga teachers tall, former dancers?” (FYI: she was neither tall, nor was she a former dancer.)
I could share our conversation about the commodification of yoga, and that we appreciated the part in Rolf Gates’ essay where he says: “…if we are not willing to do the work to create a healing community, the dominant culture fills the vacuum and we cannot realize the potential of our healing practices” (p. 127).
But what I want to focus on and what I am going to share is our discussion about strategies to make yoga more broadly accessible and available.
Here are some ideas that emerged from our group:
- Teach the teacher. Surface and prioritize issues of accessibility, beauty and media representation in yoga teacher programs.
- Redefine beauty. Explore the notion that in U.S. culture, beauty can be narrowly defined in the media. What are some other ways to conceptualize beauty outside of that narrow focus?
- Forget beauty. Some people argued that yoga practice and culture shouldn’t be concerned primarily with beauty in the first place.
- Yoga studio, not retail outlet. Consider not selling yoga accessories and clothes as well as doing away with mirrors in your yoga studio.
- Who’s missing? Co-create yoga spaces for/with underserved and underrepresented communities.
- Truth in advertising. When you say a class is open to all levels, be mindful of whether that’s really true. Is your class accessible to a wide range of experiences and bodies?
- Start locally. Get connected to your immediate community, and position your studio as a space FOR your community.
Those are just a few of our ideas about how to make yoga more accessible and available.
Share your thoughts in the comments!
RELATED:
- “I’m sure your story is just like mine.” – Part 2 in the Yoga and Body Image Book Discussion Series by Anitra Cottledge
- “Every exhale is an opportunity to forgive.” – Part 1 in the Yoga and Body Image Book Discussion Series by Anitra Cottledge.
- Yoga and Body Image: Raising Awareness Through Book Clubs by Erin McCloskey
- “I’ve never said this before.” – A Yoga and Body Image Coalition Workshop Weekend by Elen Bahr
- Black Yogi. White Studio. by Anitra Cottledge.
BIO: Anitra Cottledge is a higher education professional, teacher, writer, developing yogi and compassionate questioner who tweets infrequently.