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When one of Meera Patricia Kerr’s students tried to attend a regular yoga class the instructor told her to come back when she had lost weight.

“That kind of broke my heart,” says Kerr, a yoga instructor and author of “Big Yoga: A Simple Guide for Bigger Bodies.”

“Overweight people feel out of the loop. If you’re big you might be uncomfortable in a class of ‘normies,’ ” she says, even if the instructor is welcoming.

Kerr says some yoga teachers don’t know how to adapt to bigger bodies.

“There’s fitness yoga with the bendy girls in their cute little outfits, then there’s the more mystical side, which attracts a lot of people, then there’s the plus size, which is becoming more visible,” she says.

With almost two-thirds of American women either overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control, and more than 15 million people practicing yoga in the United States, according to Yoga Journal, that comes as no surprise.

Kerr, who lives in Michigan, started teaching yoga 32 years ago.

“I was young and plump but not as big as I am now,” she explains. “I got bigger and I needed to adapt my practice to the belly and the boobs.”

She says that while you don’t have to be thin to do yoga, you do have to modify the poses to suit a more curvaceous body. In her book, Kerr demonstrates classic yoga poses using a chair or a wall to provide additional support.

“Most people who are bigger can’t start from a lying down position,” Kerr says. “I’m 64. I do a modified headstand. I don’t go all the way up.”

On the plus side, she says people who are bigger didn’t need a lot of cushioning.

Kerr also says the yogic practice of pranayama, or breath control, is especially beneficial for bigger people.

“We store toxins in our fat cells, and these toxins are eliminated through the breath,” she says. “It’s subtle but powerful.”

Jessica Matthews, from the American Council on Exercise, says practicing yoga regularly has been shown to increase muscle strength and endurance, upper and lower body strength, flexibility and balance.

But she says an ACE study found that yoga alone may not be enough for optimal fitness or weight loss.

“Yoga is not this all-inclusive thing,” Matthews says. “It doesn’t provide the cardiovascular benefits.”

Matthews, who is a yoga instructor at Core Yoga in San Diego, California, says she attempts to create a noncompetitive, nonjudgmental environment in her classes. But she acknowledges that overweight people may feel vulnerable.

“In an ideal world I want to see everyone interact together,” she says. “But when we hear of celebrities and Hollywood actresses doing yoga, it does attract a different crowd.”

Matthews says she would like to break that stereotype.

“Yoga is a place to encourage people to feel a posture, not to worry, ‘When I twist is my stomach hanging over my pants?’ ” she adds.

Matthews says yoga can encourage overweight people to change their relationship with their bodies, and can lead to weight loss.

“Running on a treadmill might not resonate with everyone,” she explains.

Kerr, too, stresses the spirit as well as the flesh in her yoga classes.

“Yoga actually enhances that self-esteem and self-love because it’s more meditative,” she says. “You’re not really tuning into your body on the Stairmaster.” 


Reuters