I’ve been thinking about yesterday’s post, and I feel the need to add this:
Honestly, I think there is a western preoccupation with getting our ass kicked, and I don’t mean always in the physical sense.
After writing this post, it occurred to me, that many people – and dare I say, especially women – are taught that personal gain somehow comes through feeling inadequate.
The entire media machine works to make us feel that way… we’re never thin enough, healthy enough, busy enough, wealthy enough, or beautiful enough viewed through the filter of the media. Reality shows based on transformation, self-improvement, and confession are hugely popular. Women’s magazines base their revenue on making readers feel like they must constantly aspire to improve their looks, lifestyle, and wardrobe. We’re encouraged at every turn to bleach, laser, cut, or inject something in the name of self-improvement. We’re supposed to feel inadequate if we don’t.
Where’s the lovingkindness in this?
And yes, the yoga media pushes this message too, although subtly: The cover models are thin and beautiful, in perfectly executed poses. The ads feature expensive clothes and accessories. The fact that the covers and ads were achieved with airbrushing and spotters standing just out of camera range isn’t publicized.
A quick flip through a yoga magazine will leave you wondering if you’re practicing the right kind of yoga, if you’re practicing enough, if you’re eating the right things, doing the right kind of work, and wearing the right kind of clothes to practice.
So is it any wonder that so many people think that they’re supposed to be pushed to the point of exhaustion and injury in a yoga class? They think that a “good” class is one they can’t keep up with, and a “good” teacher is thinner, more beautiful, and flexible than they are (and will find ways of constantly reminding them). They’ve been raised on feeling guilty and inadequate.
Let it go. Let it go completely on your mat. You deserve to feel wonderful and yoga can be the vehicle that will bring you to a place where you will. No matter what your size, fitness level, or gender, there’s a way, a teacher, a class, and a practice for you.
This year, make it your New Year’s Resolution to find as many ways of making yourself feel good about yourself as possible. Then you can spread that love to the world. It really does start on your mat.
Namasté & Blessed Be.
Thank you for this message. I’m a poor college student who can’t afford to buy expensive yoga clothes (why can’t thrifty sweatpants be yoga attire?), or yoga classes, and can only occasionally afford a yoga magazine. But when I read those yoga magazines I consistently walk away from them feeling inadequate. As an overweight woman, I find it hard to relate to the many skinny and perfect looking women and poses in yoga magazines and websites. Honestly, I haven’t practiced yoga at all since my last yoga magazine purchase.
Thank you for reminding me that the practice of yoga and loving-kindness has as much to do with what I don’t buy into, as it does with how I use my dollars to vote for what I do.
*hugs*
You tap into a really important point about our culture here. And yes, it seeps into yoga, as you point out.
These days, I stay away from most magazines. While there may be good articles in some, all the ads and the subtle messages probably outdo the good. If we pay attention to how we feel when we look at the magazines, we can decide whether they’re worthwhile. But we have to pay attention, which we’re not used to doing. I don’t watch t.v., either, so my dose of media is lower than most. What yoga is about is the opposite of what the media—our culture—tells us.
I don’t buy expensive yoga clothes, either. I consciously keep myself from falling into that trap. But then, I mostly practice with friends, or sometimes at a studio that isn’t real focused on that aspect.
Thank you for this excellent post. Let us all remember what yoga is about. And who it is for—everybody.
Very good post. Thank you!
The inadequacy phenomenon is so pervasive, and I think you are right on connecting it to our culture’s need to be driven, ridden and trampled. This is something very alive for me right now as I’m learning that strength isn’t really about being hard or having a tough girl exterior, and yoga is my laboratory for this experiment. Thank you for the beautiful metaphors (the square of land), observations and loving exhortation. Ahimsa, indeed. Namaste
tagged ya, suzi!
I agree with your essay.
I am french and discovered Yoga in Germany where the yoga practice was so spiritual that my transformation was mental before to become physical. It was a tough time as I was reading the yoga sutra and use it in my daily life.
As I move to United State the “physical” aspect of yoga blow up into my face. I discovered a new approach.
I think asanas contribute to quiet the body so we can have access to the mind. Now to quiet the body some need more than others.
The most challenging for me is to keep focus on my own needs and stay away from the overwork of my neighbor. Ahimsa start right there.
When I teach, some student ask me if I will “push them”.
I answer “it will be your decision. I will ask you to listen to your body and turn inward to know what is good for you. sometimes you need to go over some fear and discover peace in the pose, sometimes you need to back off and that a strong position to take too”. Om Shanti!