Type “yogi body” into Google images and you’ll be confronted with endless images of slim, toned, tanned women (and men) in various poses.
This search alone is enough to tell us the myth that we’ve created surrounding yogi bodies. In the Western world at large, (yes, there are authentic studios and yoga practitioners out there, of course), we have cultivated an idea that those who practise yoga should or will look a certain way.
Social media and the digital world that so many of us spend a large proportion of our time on is largely to blame for what we think a yogi body looks like.
When I first went to India I saw firsthand what a yogi is, and trust me, it’s certainly not the airbrushed model you’re seeing holding a downward dog on your Instagram feed. I had never really looked into yoga or properly practised it before my trip to India, but after spending time more immersed in traditional yogic culture and being around yogis, I realised just how powerful this practice is in every aspect of life.
However, when I returned, eager to continue my yoga practice, locating a yoga studio that didn’t have a Western woman with the “perfect figure” plastered all over their social media or finding an online practice that encompassed every aspect of yoga rather than just seeing it as a great way to tone up, was incredibly difficult.
This is the issue that I’m sure many people can relate to: the true meaning and essence of yoga has been lost in the Western world (in most places), and we’ve perpetuated this idea that yoga is a great way to lose weight, tone up, or become more flexible, rather than a more holistic lifestyle that centres around spirituality and awareness.
What did I think a yogi body looked like? A man practising breathwork whilst moving his body by the River Ganges, deeply immersed in a powerful spiritual practice. What did I think a yoga body looked like after returning to the UK, due to social media and unrealistic Western body standards? A slim, toned, young woman who spends her mornings at yoga practice to get her workout in for the day before grabbing a green juice.
We’ve created the myth of the yogi body, but the reality is, true yogic needs to be upheld and appreciated. True yoga can be done by anyone and everyone, without even the thought of what their body looks like.
