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Yoga Classes For Big People Only?

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Maulleigh
05/14/09

In reply to Yoga Classes For Big People Only?
Yes. I am a part of a minority (woman) and sometimes I love just having women-only groups. It's more comfortable.
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oh.geez.
05/14/09

In reply to Yoga Classes For Big People Only?
So many of you on here do yoga. Do none of you have attention span problems? I just ask because yoga seems to be something that you can only participate in if you're really calm & low- key already. I think I'd be found asleep on my mat- in the first 10 minutes.
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thesciencegirl
05/14/09

@oh.geez.: I've only ever tried tapes, and yoga seems to calm for me too. I like hyperactivity when I exercise.
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CherriSpryte
05/14/09

In reply to Yoga Classes For Big People Only?
I'm not the biggest fan of yoga (seriously messed up ankle from soccer days makes me fall over easily), but if there was a pilates for fatties,(it rhymes!) i'd be all over that shit. I'm okay with being the largest person in a class, but when my own boobs nearly suffocate me as I go into the jackknife position, I'm going to need some modified poses, people. Or perhaps an anti-gravity suit.
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missbananafish
05/14/09

In reply to Yoga Classes For Big People Only?
I would sign up for this class in a heartbeat. I wonder if there's one in Chicago...
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SunburnedCounsel
05/14/09

@missbananafish: Kate Harding teaches yoga (or taught, she may have stopped when her book came out) in Chicago.
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jetztinberlin
05/14/09

In reply to Yoga Classes For Big People Only?
I'm a yoga teacher with giant thighs, and I still get intimidated and insecure. Then I remember I'm still a good teacher b/c yoga is not actually about skinny thighs, really and truly, and isn't why I do it or teach it. But even after years of teaching, I'm still very conscious of stereotypes and expectations. So I am all kinds of for whatever practice is going to keep you safe and make you happy.

For those wondering about the yoga farting etiquette: There is a pose CALLED "Wind Expeller". Just sayin'.
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Pizza!Pizza!Pizza!
05/14/09

@jetztinberlin: I had a teacher who was larger than the yoga stereotype, and she was ridiculously limber and talented. To the point where I think she almost got off on having newbies gawk at her size before being blown away by her skills.

I, on the other hand, am pretty thin and can barely touch my knees.
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TuesdayCamel
05/14/09

In reply to Yoga Classes For Big People Only?
In this society only those people considered "minorities" or "supressed" can get away with things like this. For example, having a Big people only Yoga class would be fine, but if someone tried to have a skinny person only class, there would be outrage. Comparitively, there can be "black alliances" on a univeristy, but heaven forbit there was a "white people alliance".
IMHO the double standards are ridiculous.
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thesciencegirl
05/14/09

@TuesdayCamel: Yeah, when's white history month?!

/sarcasm

Your privilege is showing.
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Evie Havok
05/14/09

@TuesdayCamel: These are the same arguments white nationalists use over there at stormfront.org. I think you missed your exit. Tada!
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Alexis
05/14/09

@TuesdayCamel: Your privilege is giving you shitty advice.
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hippichx sez PEACE PLEASE
05/14/09

In reply to Yoga Classes For Big People Only?
yoga would really help my mom out with her back problems. it has been great for me... but as a thin, former ballerina, when we do yoga together she just gets horribly frustrated. i thought she had given it up, but i spied a yoga dvd out the last time i was over. she is doing yoga alone, behind my back, because she knows it is good for her but she gets upset with her progress when i'm around. rather than focusing on larger people, i think the class should be focused on people with challenges in movement. the more you practice, the better you get... and eventually the idea of practicing with people who can move isn't so frustrating.
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sarathelaundress
05/14/09

In reply to Yoga Classes For Big People Only?
I want to take a yoga class, but I'm intimidated by the skinny yoga people. I'm about 15 lbs overweight. So far I'll probably stick to following the DVDs at home. I'm sure in a class a cat won't walk by under you while you're doing downward facing dog trying to get attention by dragging his tail across your face. Or have a 75# dog lay on you during the corpse pose because since you're on the floor he thinks you want to snuggle.
Even reading yoga magazines makes me feel self-conscious! (I know, how sad is that?!)
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Cicada
05/14/09

@sarathelaundress: Ha! My cat totally does the same thing when I do downward facing dog.
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Cicada
05/14/09

In reply to Yoga Classes For Big People Only?
Yes yes yes yes yes!

My mom is heavy and her number one fear about working out is being around thin people who are going to judge her. She has a number of health problems complicated by her weight and sedentary life style, and her doctor suggested yoga as a good way for her to strengthen her core muscles.
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thesciencegirl
05/14/09

In reply to Yoga Classes For Big People Only?
I think this is a good idea, both because it can be crazy intimidating to go to a gym or yoga class as a large person, and also because the instructor can tweak the poses to ones that are comfortable for people who have more weight to support, etc. in balancing moves.

I admit that I haven't had a gym membership since college (I went to an all women's school, so my gym was usually full of only other women, and thus a comfortable place for me). I could have a super cheap gym membership to a ritzy gym that my school comps for the med students, but the combo of expensive downtown gym plus huge population of med students and doctors (who tend to be slimmer on average and extra judgy in my experience as a fat med student) keeps me far, far away. I exercise regularly, but not in a gym. I definitely understand the idea of feeling like you have to lose weight before you can comfortably join a gym (as silly as that sounds). My only group exercise now is salsa classes, which are full of all ages and body types.
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Eric Northman is mine
05/14/09

In reply to Yoga Classes For Big People Only?
This is great, there's thing worse than not being able to exercise as vigorously as you'd like because you're self conscious and embarrassed (by either men/or fitter women). Cheers to good health, I can't fault anything stresses self-acceptance and noncompetitiveness in a comforting environment.
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TheFormerJuneBronson
05/14/09

In reply to Yoga Classes For Big People Only?
I'd go to it. I've had it with being stared at in gyms. Yoga is this province of the skinnies around here, even if I could find a class.
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Flackette Goes Retro
05/14/09

In reply to Yoga Classes For Big People Only?
I quit going to yoga partially because it seemed that all the other people were lithe 19 year olds. I think this seems like a fine idea. (I took up bellydancing instead, which turned out to be very body-positive with lots of differently sized women in the class, shaking it with glee).
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Beat Girl
05/14/09

In reply to Yoga Classes For Big People Only?
I do think this is a really nice idea, especially since yoga is so much better when it's tailored to your physical strengths and attributes, and comes in many forms for many functions.

My only query - if you're in a 'big people only' yoga class for some months, and you lose weight as a result of your exercise regime, do you have to leave that class? Where's the cut off?
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morninggloria
05/14/09

In reply to Yoga Classes For Big People Only?
I hate being around others while I work out, so even if there was a class full of people who were exactly me, cloned, I would not like it. Chalk it up to my weird, irrational aversion to group exercise.
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merv
05/14/09

@morninggloria: Really? I hate working out in front of others but somehow I feel better at a yoga studio (or any group exercise facility) than a gym because I feel there's less surveillance at a gym. Like, when I'm on my own it's more obvious when I don't know what I'm doing or that I don't belong.

In a room full of treadmills I can't stop thinking, in the voice from Carrie, "They're all gonna laugh at you!"
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oh.geez.
05/14/09

@merv: (and I didn't mean it to sound like I didn't believe you in my other remark- I just wanted to suggest that maybe other people look at everything that moves, too. I'm like one of my cats in that respect...quick move+run= my darting eyes
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merv
05/14/09

@oh.geez.: I know people aren't staring at me, I do. But in the moment I tend to be less rational and insecure.
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