BEINGS OF YOGA PROJECT
BEINGS OF YOGA
Everyone has a story and stories heal.
When we share our authentic truth; where we have come from, what we struggle with, what we have overcome - we reach out a hand to others. We are all in this together and our similarities are often greater than our differences.
“I’m grateful to yoga everyday for the power of this practice to transmute and heal the traumatic imprints of those that have come before me. For the ways this sacred practice nourishes all of me; mind, body and spirit.”
Mission
We see so many beautiful yoga photos across different platforms these days, but what’s behind the pose? What’s inside the person taking the shape of the posture?
How has yoga touched and transformed their life?
The Beings of Yoga Project is an opportunity to share deeper and dive further. To connect beyond the mat, with our stories and testimony to the power yoga holds in transforming lives.
Larger still, it’s an effort to make yoga accessible to everyone by humanizing the people behind the pictures.
“I’ve always felt fat and strong and I have a complex relationship with that pairing. There are times when I fully lean into this dichotomy, owning my own body, feeling content, proud, comfortable in my size, allowing myself to take up space. There are other times when I wish away that fat part of this body equation. Where I would gladly shrink down and take up less space. As someone fat and strong, sports/fitness is a complicated and complex landscape. Where do I belong? How do I fit, both figuratively and literally? When I first explored yoga, these were still prevalent questions and concerns. Classes filled with lithe trim people, their long limbs folding easily into twists and binds, legs floating skyward into inversions, while my thickness kept me moreplanted, made it so crossed legs and folded torsos looked different than those elvish bodies surrounding me. All those Legolases to my squat strong Gimli.”
We need you
This project couldn’t exist without your willingness to participate.
Please contact beingsofyoga@gmail.com for more info or to schedule a shoot at your studio.
“ My practice has evolved in that I don’t get debilitating anxiety and walk away from the building I was about to step into. I was so self conscious of my body and self when I started out. It took tremendous courage to show up. I used to verbally beat myself up about not being able to get inside the door to class or do all of the postures. I was self conscious about my weight, sweating, how I looked and the list goes on and on. It’s fucked up how women are taught to see themselves in American culture. Societal expectations place lot of pressure on people to be something they’re not or could never physically be.”