Do you have a certain stereotype about the type of people who do yoga? Do you think you need to be thin to do yoga? Think again!
Are you plus size and waiting to lose weight before you give yoga a try? Do you have a vision of only thin, toned women doing the poses? It doesn’t have to be that way. Women of all sizes can have success with yoga.
The truth about yoga is that anyone can do it. You don’t have to fit the image of the women you typically see doing these moves. In fact, plus size women can also benefit from doing yoga.
Table of Contents
Plus Size Yoga
Author Meera Patricia Kerr discussed exactly how plus size women can alter basic yoga moves to fit their needs and reap the benefits in her book, Big Yoga: A Simple Guide for Bigger Bodies.
In her book, Kerr shows how women with larger bodies can adjust traditional yoga moves to make them work. Often these adjustments include the use of additional items, like a chair, towel, pillows, straps or other items that make the moves more comfortable and within the range of flexibility.
How the Book is Laid Out
The book begins with an in depth background of yoga, explains the health benefits of it and presents the idea of movement modifications for larger bodies. The middle of the book consists of exercises, accompanies with photos of each move and a list of the benefits, technique duration and considerations on how to adapt the move to fit your needs. The end of the book has a nice resource list. She tells you where to find plus size yoga clothes, suggests additional reading materials and recommends yoga CD’s and DVD’s.
Big Yoga is laid out in a format that is easy to follow. The text is broken up with lots of pictures. She walks you through the warmup, through each movement and then through breathing exercises and relation, as well.
The Pros and Cons of Big Yoga
What I really liked about Big Yoga was how the author posed for the pictures herself. She personally walks you through each pose and proves that women of any size can do this. Rather than choosing a slim model to demonstrate the techniques, she puts herself in the spotlight to show that it is realistic to do these movements, regardless of size.
My only criticism is that I would have liked to see the pictures in color and I would have liked a DVD along with the book to further demonstrate the process and walk me through an entire workout, rather than picking and choosing the movements from each section on my own. Overall, however, it is a great resource for plus size yoga beginners.
