Does Size Matter?

The vast majority of yoga imagery shows slender people doing seemingly impossible pretzel poses.  I know many people see these images and say to themselves “I could never do yoga.  I’m not flexible enough. I’m too heavy.”  This could not be further from the truth.  

I am a large, heavy woman.  Yes, poses became easier when I started to lose my excess weight but I was able to start a yoga practice pretty much at the same level as any other beginner.  Yoga poses are meant to condition the body; to make it stronger and more flexible.  The support from the props used in Iyengar Yoga made the process easier for me.  I have found, through the four years of studying yoga, there are people who do decide to try more challenging poses and classes and there are those content to stay at a level they are comfortable with and work at poses that are familiar.  Some people will never do inversions and some people will attack them with relish.  All of this is OK.  

You can be you.  Do not worry about what your size and ability is.  It is simply important to do the work.  Sometimes the biggest challenge you will face is to walk into the door of your first class.