My Big Fat Yoga Practice

When you think about people who do yoga 3 to 7 times a week some of the characteristics probably lineup with me: I own Uggs. I recycle. I talk about stuff like “self-care.” What you probably don’t imagine are people who weigh over 170 pounds (raises hand). I run, bike, or swim almost every day and I always fit in a little bit of yoga, but my body is still big, curved, soft, and all mine.

I became a runner about three years ago and lost about 80 pounds (which also coincided with a year and a half of breast-feeding my youngest child). Since then I’ve gained about 30 pounds back, but I’ve been maintaining this weight for about eight months now. I don’t love it and I miss my old pants, but I struggle with self discipline when it comes to food and, well, I probably need to do a lot more weight lifting. Here nor there, my life is busy as hell. The amount of exercise I already get in takes and an exhausting amount of self motivation. This might just be what my butt is going to look like for a while, guys.

So what does that have to do with my yoga practice? I stopped thinking about yoga as a workout and started thinking about it as “this fun thing I do.” I started – without meaning to – focusing on how good the stretches felt and how open my big ol’ body feels when I pour myself into my practice.

I often like to record my yoga so I can check my foundation on certain poses. I want to share some screen grabs of that for all of the other big, curvy, beautiful, Yogi mamas out there. Your body is perfect for yoga, right now, as it is.

Also, you may notice Saturn in the bottom left picture on that first collage. My kid was totally using the toilet in that picture. That is mom life y’all. You do yoga while your kid poops with the door open. Just lean into this life and remind yourself: you wanted this. Ha!

Lately, my time on the mat has nothing to do with getting the best ass, it is completely about laughing at myself and loving my myself for simply being there.

I do all my yoga at home with Yoga with Adriene or Comic Kids Yoga (both via YouTube) when the kids want in on the action.

Namaste y’all.