I heard my friend Anna say, “telling students to love their body is not enough….” and I responded with, “please be a guest on the podcast so we can talk about this!” I wanted to ask her, “How can yoga teachers better support their students to be in a loving relationship with their body?”
Anna Guest-Jelley is the founder of Curvy Yoga, an online yoga studio and teacher training center that helps people of all sizes find true acceptance and freedom, both on and off the mat. Anna is the author of Curvy Yoga: Love Yourself & Your Body a Little More Each Day and the co-editor of Yoga and Body Image: 25 Personal Stories About Beauty, Bravery & Loving Your Body.
In today’s podcast episode Anna and I talk about:
- What Real Body Love looks like for her right now.
- Anna’s favorite practical ways to take care of herself.
- How Anna’s yoga practice changed her relationship with her body.
- How teaching yoga changed her relationship with her body in a different way.
- The kind of language that’s important to keep in mind to make sure group yoga classes are inclusive for people in all bodies.
Find out more about Anna at her website, and connect with her on Facebook and Instagram!
Thanks so much to both of you for this! I finally listened yesterday and it was PERFECT for everything I’ve been thinking about in the past month:
1) Overscheduling & what the ongoing practice of self care looks like. (for me — slowing down, doing less when possible, scheduling time with nothing on the schedule)
2) How to not just say “love your body” but to actually LIVE it — and the power of modeling:
a) a positive or at least neutral perspective on your own body as a Yoga Instructor
b) that we make mistakes and continue to find new ways to be loving to our own bodies.
3) Reinforcing that teaching poses in a way to make them more accessible ALL THE TIME actually makes a better yoga class even for students who don’t “look” like they need modifications.
LOVE LOVE LOVE to you both!
— Ganga
And we love love love you too Ganga! I love hearing what resonated for you; your students are so lucky to have you as their teacher! <3