Yoga for Body Neutrality: Embracing Respect and Acceptance in Your Practice

Hello, my friends. It has been a long time since I've updated this blog. Today I want to share a little bit about my teaching style and how I incorporate Body Neutrality in my yoga classes.

My Experience with Body Neutrality

In my own words, body neutrality means viewing your body through a neutral, non-judgmental lens. It would mean not feeling pressured to either change my body's appearance or to feel pressured to love my body's appearance at all times. It means simply acknowledging my body and respecting my body through nourishment, rest, and movement. I found this mindset to be very healing to me as I've journeyed through healing body image and disordered eating. It also has helped me work through a lot of the shame I used to feel about my body. From about age 4 to age 13, I was a dancer and I was acutely aware of how my body looked being around mirrors all the time. And of course, the girls would make comments about each other's bodies. It was hard not to pick out my flaws. A couple years after I quit dance, I began attending a school that was very strict on what girls could wear and lectured us a lot on not "causing boys to stumble" by what we chose to wear. Looking back, none of us were scantily clad in the least bit. But I was terrified of causing a male to look at me in a "wrong" way. I began to view my body as wrong. I internalized a lot of those feelings, along with the negative body image from my earlier years, and believed that I needed to make my body smaller. I needed a smaller, less noticeable body.

Eventually, as I grew up, got married, and had kids, I bought in to the idea that I needed to stay as "fit" as possible despite growing an entire human for 10 months. I needed to make sure I "bounced" back and didn't gain too much weight. The disordered eating really hit me in full swing right before I got pregnant with my third baby. I told myself I needed to get to a certain scale number before I could have another baby. I did. And I had another baby. And I spiraled into more disordered behaviors. Finally, right at the start of the Covid pandemic, I began to meet with a Christian registered dietitian. She introduced me to the idea of body neutrality.

Part of what drew me to body neutrality is that it allowed me to learn to respect and accept my body without making me feel pressured to love my body all the time. The reality is, I didn't love my body. I held a lot of strong and overwhelming feelings in my body, and I needed to process through that without feeling like I had to swing the pendulum completely over from hating my body to loving my body.

I don't think there's anything wrong with loving your body. Many people are very comfortable in their skin and view their bodies positively. That is wonderful. But that is not something that comes easily to me yet. And I think that is okay. I prefer to move through body neutrality to body respect and acceptance. I know that my body is my body and it carries me through the day. I feed myself, I care for myself, I move my body in ways that feel good. And that is enough.

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What does Body Neutrality Have to Do with Teaching Yoga Class?

When it comes to teaching yoga, I believe in holding space for all of my students to come to the mat just as they are. If you have experienced much of the American yoga scene, you have probably seen the pictures of very thin white women in leggings and sports bras doing forearm stands with some kind of "inspirational" caption. The marketing may often center around how yoga can "tone" or "sculpt" the body. In fact, the focus is often on ONLY the body and the asanas (physical yoga poses) without including the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual aspects of bodies. The focus is often rather on fitness, weight loss, building muscle, etc.

Now, I am a straight-sized white woman living in America who teaches yoga. I acknowledge that. And I want to do better. I believe that yoga is so much more than a physical practice. There is a quote I love by Rolf Gates that says: "Yoga is not a work-out, it is a work-in. And this is the point of spiritual practice; to make us teachable; to open up our hearts and focus our awareness so that we can know what we already know and be who we already are.” I tell my students that there are a myriad of physical benefits to yoga. Yoga can improve mobility and flexibility. Vinyasa, or flow yoga, is wonderful for building strength in the body and flexibility. Yin yoga is wonderful for promoting healthy joints. Restorative yoga is amazing for recovery from physical activity or emotional stress. Notice that these physical benefits I list have nothing to do with how someone's body looks, but rather focuses on the functions of the body.

So, to get to my point, how body neutrality applies to teaching yoga is simple: using body neutral language and teaching cues, and taking the emphasis of the class off of aesthetics. In every class, I tell my students that it's not about how the pose looks, but how they feel in the pose. There is no discussion of body weight or body size in my classes. I don't say things like "time to work on our swimsuit bodies" or other such phrases.  I avoid telling students how a pose "should" look. I don't make statements such as "this is the fullest expression of the pose". Often, I remind students that their bodies will vary from day to day. There are some days that I can straighten my legs and touch my heels to the ground in downward facing dog. Other days, it just doesn't happen that way. That is perfectly normal! Teaching through a body neutral lens allows me, as a yoga teacher, to help students understand that they can accept their body just as it is at that moment. I avoid calling students out or highlighting certain students during class.

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Body Neutrality and Student Choice

As a yoga teacher, I am also trauma-informed in my classes. This goes hand in hand with body neutrality. This particular blog post is not specifically about trauma informed yoga, so I won't go in to all the details of that. However, I can say that, even if I am teaching a "general population" class, it is likely that many students have experienced traumatic things in their lives. And often, people hold trauma in their bodies. I strive to be careful with how I teach my classes in order to hopefully prevent activating someone or bringing up stress in their body due to something I told them to do in class. Therefore, I always give choice. I demonstrate multiple options for poses and I strive to use invitational language in teaching. Personally, I prefer to use the word "option" rather than "modification" because "modification" can have negative connotations and perhaps make some students feel like they are not able to do the pose the "right" way. Often, in the fitness world, people can feel shame about modifying movements. That is something I want to avoid in my classes.

Again, yoga is not about getting a hardcore workout or pushing ourselves to the limit. If I have a student in class who wants to push as far as possible in a pose, I will not make them stop. However, I am going to make sure that I create space filled with options and choices, giving students freedom to see how the poses feel in their bodies. It allows students to move at their pace and to "challenge" themselves when they want to, or slow down when they feel that is what their body wants and needs. Often, I will say "If it feels comfortable for you today" or "if it feels accessible for you today" when giving different variations of poses. When it comes to meditation or savasana (resting pose at the end of class), I remind students that they are free to take any shape that makes them feel safe and supported. I make closing the eyes optional, always. My desire is that my students can feel safe to explore how the yoga poses feel in their bodies and what comes up for them during their practice emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Also, I make physical assists optional. I will always ask a student permission before giving a physical assist for a pose.

Taking off the Body Shame

“If we make self-love or body acceptance conditional, the truth is, we will never be happy with ourselves. The reality is that our bodies are constantly changing, and they will never remain exactly the same. If we base our self-worth on something as ever-changing as our bodies, we will forever be on the emotional roller coaster of body obsession and shame.” — Chrissy King

Body shaming, whether it is said explicitly to an individual or implied by poorly chosen fitness/yoga instructor cues, is rampant in fitness spaces. I have even heard comments about "earning" calories during a yoga class! It is very common for the messaging in fitness or yoga studios to be influenced by societal standards to meet certain body ideals. I personally know it can feel discouraging when you are made to feel bad for not "pushing through the pain" or "feeling the burn". Again, I don't believe that it is always intentional for these statements to be harmful. In fact, I think there is often the idea that they are supposed to be motivational. However, not everyone who is taking a fitness or yoga class is there to change their body or "get gains". A lot of people just want an enjoyable way to move their bodies. I want to honor and respect that. I want my classes to be inclusive and welcoming to anyone. I don't want someone to feel ashamed of their body because of something they heard in yoga class. I have no idea what things my students may have heard about their bodies in the past. Some people are shamed for their size. Some people feel ashamed of their bodies because of past traumatic events. Some people may have grown up in homes where their families expected them to look perfect all the time. The reality is, we have all likely felt body shame to some varying degree throughout our lives. I believe that yoga teachers can be a part of changing that in our society. Any body can be a yoga body. Yoga is for everyone. While I am not a personal trainer, I also believe that "fitness" is for everyone. Everyone deserves to move their bodies in the way they choose without feeling afraid of judgment or being ridiculed.

A Final Word...

I hope that this summary of body neutrality and how and I why I value it as a yoga teacher was helpful and informative. I have said many times, I believe all beings are wonderfully made by a loving Creator. That is ultimately what motivates me to love others and to desire to provide a yoga experience that helps them feel safe and welcomed. I don't personally believe that yoga is meant to be used as a way to shrink one's body or to change aesthetic appearances. I believe that yoga is a tool to help people go inward and connect with their bodies physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. My hope and prayer is that one day, people will be able to know their worth and feel supported and loved, without the need to conform to societal beauty and fitness standards. If my yoga classes can help just a little bit toward making this possible, then I am so honored to be a part of it!

Feel free to reach out to me with any comments or questions. I am also happy to share resources that help me as a trauma informed, body neutral yoga teacher. Also, I am happy to share resources related to body image. Don't hesitate to reach out, since I love hearing your stories and sharing whatever knowledge I can.

With light and love,

Julia