Is yoga pretentious?
Probably the loveliest thing I was told by my guests at the Bali retreat last week was that my yoga style is “unpretentious”. I think this means that it’s accessible, approachable, and authentic.
Because I have been practicing for so long, it’s hard for me to remember how pretentious yoga can be (although I’m often reminded by social media and stories from my students).
Here are the 3 main ways I think modern/Western yoga is pretentious and how I try to make it more authentic.
The outfits - if you’re not wearing a size 10 sports bra and tights are you even doing yoga? (The answer is yes). As I mentioned in a blog post a couple of weeks ago, the idea that you have to wear “yoga gear” is one of the ways that people get put off the practice. We can’t all look like Jennifer Aniston in our yoga gear. We can’t all afford Lululemon. Plus, yoga outfits are really just a way for big companies to make a lot of money. They aren’t necessary. And as I found in Bali, pyjama bottoms or loose pants will do the job just nicely, thank you.
The expectations from some teachers - I have heard many stories of students that have been forced to try a pose (I’m looking at you headstand) way before they feel ready, or who have been forced into a shape by a hands-on assist in a class without being asked for consent. ALL. BODIES. ARE. DIFFERENT. We will never all look the same doing downdog. As I teacher, I can’t tell what your body is capable of by looking at it, so I’m never going to push you into a pose. Never.
The perfectionism - I guess this point relates to the other two but if you follow yoga people online you might be led to believe that your poses need to look like pictures in a book, or that you should have a matching outfit on every time you practice, or that you need to be vegan, or that you can never drink alcohol. But yoga is really about self-acceptance and knowing that you can do your best and not always be perfect and that’s okay.
I’d love to share my “unpretentious” yoga with you. Click here to book a class. Or if you aren’t in Albany, you might like to come on retreat. Click here to get the 2025 dates first.
And if you have stories of pretentious yoga, I’d love to hear them. Comment below.