Can Yoga Help Your Body Image? Here’s How You Can Embrace Body Positivity Through Yoga

If you’ve read any of my posts about body image before, you might know that I’ve had a long and complicated relationship with exercise and my body. And I’m not alone. It’s estimated that around half of Americans have a disordered relationship with exercise, food, and their own body. My views around movement and my body had become so warped that for years I hated exercise because of how it made me feel about my body. That was until I discovered yoga – and all the wonderful ways that yoga can help improve your body image. I’ve finally found a form of joyful movement that helps me feel strong, healthy, flexible, and calm – without hating my body in the process.

But why has yoga helped my body image so much? And how can you use your yoga practice to help your body image too? If you’re ready to embrace joyful movement and all the physical and mental benefits of yoga, read on!

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What is Yoga?

Yoga has been popular in the western world for more than a century. But many people are still confused about what yoga actually entails, and how the amazing benefits it can have for your mind and body.

Yoga is a physical and mental practice that includes physical poses, deep breathing, and concentration. It started as a spiritual practice rooted in Indian philosophy. Modern, americanized yoga still takes inspiration from its spiritual roots, but mainly focuses on physical and mental well-being.

There are many different types of yoga, from gentle stretches to intense and challenging flows. Yoga can be practiced anywhere, but some studios offer unique experiences like aerial yoga, or hot yoga that is practiced in a heated room (my personal favourite).

Yoga can be enjoyed by almost everyone in almost every body. Whether you are practicing handstands and back bends or engaging in breathing exercises from bed or your wheelchair, everyone can benefit from a yoga practice that works for their body and mind.

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Benefits of Yoga

Some of the physical and mental benefits of a yoga practice include:

• Improved flexibility and strength
• Pain relief
• Enhanced balance
• Improved breathing and cardiovascular health
• Stress relief

How Can Yoga Help Your Body Image?

All of these benefits of yoga are already enough of a reason to try your own yoga practice. But one of the benefits that has impacted me the most is one I never see talked about online – how much yoga can improve your body image and self-esteem.

I think there is a perception about yoga being a trendy workout mainly practiced by already strong and skinny yogis (the “I’m So Good At Yoga” song from Crazy Ex Girlfriend comes to mind if you’re in need of a good laugh). As a curvy midsize woman, I felt intimidated and nervous the first time I walked into a yoga class. I worried that my body type wouldn’t be accepted there, or that I wouldn’t be as “good” at yoga.

But the more I practice and understand yoga, the more I realize that this is not the case. I worried that practicing yoga would harm my body image like many other workouts had. But in fact, it had the opposite effect. So, how can yoga help your body image?

Yoga Helps You Focus on What Your Body Can Do Instead of How It Looks

So many exercise classes focus on how many calories the class can burn, or how certain moves can slim your waist or sculpt your butt. One of my favourite things about yoga is that the value of a pose or a practice is never found in how it might change your appearance.

Through my yoga practice I have noticed my body change in so many ways – but the number on the scale hasn’t gone down. And for the first time in my life, I’m okay with that. Seeing myself grow stronger and more flexible than I ever dreamed was possible has become so much more meaningful to me than any changes in my appearance.

This shift in perspective is an important part of joyful movement – and one of the many monumental ways that yoga can help your body image.

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Yoga Can Be Practiced (And Taught!) By People of All Body Types and Abilities

Yoga’s philosophy of inclusivity, self-acceptance, and non-judgment means that the yoga studio is an inclusive space for people of all abilities and body types.

The best yoga teachers offer modifications for each pose that help make them more accessible to different body shapes and abilities. And the personalized nature of a yoga class means that each yogi can make their own adaptations to poses or the class in general if it better suits their abilities. If you need to lie on your mat and have a mini shavasana in the middle of class, that’s okay too. No two bodies are the same, neither are any two yoga practices.

There are lots of yoga teachers with more slender body types. But one of my favourite teachers at my local studio is also a curvier woman. Seeing someone in a similar body to mine stand on her head and do the splits was such an inspiring moment for me in my body positivity journey. There is no one body type that can do yoga – it is inclusive of everyone.

Yoga Teaches You to Focus on Practice, Not Perfection

There’s a reason that your yoga routine is referred to as a “practice”. The benefits of yoga come from the act of practicing it, not perfecting it.

In a world where we are constantly pressured to be perfect, participating in an activity that celebrates imperfection can feel so freeing. There is no “good” or “bad” yoga practice. You will never reach a point where you become “perfect” at yoga. Instead, you will learn to find joy, peace, health, and movement in the never-ending practice. There is no performance or test at the end – the focus is on the journey!

This principle can be valuable in so many aspects of life, on and off the yoga mat. Letting go of expectations and perfection is another way that yoga can help your body image.

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Yoga Encourages You To Let Go Of Comparison To Yourself And Others

Yoga is all about bringing your attention inward instead of focusing on external worries, stress, and comparison. As you flow through movement, breath, and meditation, you become honed into your own body’s abilities and limitations. The practice becomes about honouring yourself and where you are at on any given day rather than trying to move or look like anyone else in the class.

Practicing yoga also teaches you not to compare yourself to the person you were 10 minutes, 10 months, or 10 years ago. Sometimes a pose might be effortless on one side of your body but feel impossible on the other side. Sometimes you will have a great, mindful practice but the next day you won’t be able to focus at all. Yoga encourages you to honour these changes… And then let them go.

I sometimes look around my yoga class and think, “wow, there are a lot of very fit people in here”. But it doesn’t bother me anymore the way that it once would have. Through yoga, I am learning to appreciate my body for what it is and can do instead of comparing it to others.

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Yoga Promotes Mind-Body Connection Which Can Help Your Body Image

For most of my life, I didn’t feel connected to my body. Feeling like my body was a separate entity from myself made it easier to hate, and wrecked havoc on my body image.

But yoga is an amazing way to facilitate the connection between your body and mind. As you match your breaths and thoughts to a series of meditative movements, you really begin to feel at home in your own body. That connection is one of the most powerful ways that yoga has helped my body image.

Thanks to my yoga practice I finally feel at home in my own body. It is no longer just a part of me. It is me, and needs to be treated with all the love and respect that it deserves.

How to Get Started

Interested in transforming your body image through yoga? Here are some of my top tips and resources to start your yoga journey:

Try an online yoga class

I love Yoga With Adriene’s accessible and inclusive yoga content. This self-love inspired video is a beautiful celebration of self-love to get you started!

Find local classes

A local studio will not only give you all the benefits of practicing yoga, but will also give you a supportive community to flow and grow with. I have a membership at my local Modo Yogo Studio which I highly recommend, but there are lots of amazing studios and classes out there. It is all about finding the environment that works best for you!

Get the gear

Yoga doesn’t have to be complicated! You already have everything you need in your home to start practicing yoga. You can get all the benefits of yoga with nothing but a towel and some pillows on your living room floor. But if you’d like upgraded gear, check out some of my recommendations in the slideshow below.

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Has Yoga Helped Your Body Image?

Do you practice yoga? Has yoga helped your body image? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Hope you’re having a great summer and staying cool in all this heat!

Namaste,