om body
he Accessible Yoga Foundation and its pioneering work with disabled yoga students.
By Jane Lambert
T
he challenge for diversity,
across all industries, has
become a deining theme of
recent times. While some may
consider it to be a millennial
bugbear, the push to see a diverse range of
faces, bodies, and viewpoints represented
more widely can only be a good thing. The
world of yoga is no diferent. Though the
traditions of the practice can be found inIndia, a very speciic image of a slim, white,
able-bodied woman has become prevalent,
in the Western world at least, across both
traditional media and the social networks
with which we are obsessed.
With barely a month going by without the
media proclaiming another health beneit
of yoga, it’s not surprising that people with
all diferent body types want to reap those
beneits. But is it an accessible practice
for all...especially when you look at who is
representing the practice online or in the
media – and don’t see yourself there? For
many with physical disabilities, yoga is a
great way to relieve pain, or to connect with
the body. Nichola Selby-Allen is the co-
founder of the Accessible Yoga Foundation,
along with her friend, Caelia Butcher. As
a child, she was drawn to anything that
involved moving her body. “I danced, I sang
and as I got older and the call of the theatre
died down, my love for yoga was found,” she
tells OM. “No one I knew really partook, and
it was very much an exercise-related concept
back then in my part of the UK. But I loved it
and couldn’t wait to see how far I could take
my body.”
As she got older, she found herself living
with chronic illness. “As I got older, and my
health deteriorated, I found it extremely hardto ind any yoga teachers, DVDs, or books
that I could use to help me continue on my
personal journey with yoga in a physically
and mentally manageable way. As such, for
many years, yoga became a distant memory
that was always there in the back of mind as
something else I longed to be able to do. As
more time elapsed it became more apparent
to me that increasing my knowledge was the
only way that I could ind what I was looking
for. So I read and read and read. Any yoga-
related book I could ind from the library,
or online shops. Anything to help me see a
way to continue with as many yoga-related
disciplines as I could, especially asana for
disabled bodies. It wasn’t until a decade
later, and when I met Caelia, that I felt I
had the conidence and knowledge levels
I needed to be able to truly announce and
accept that I had an asana practice suitable
for any bodied student as well as myself.”
As a teacher working with a disability,
Nichola Selby-Allen has faced unfairness.
“At times, I have unfortunately experienced
terrible discrimination for being disabled, let
along a yoga teacher. My teacher training
nearly broke me, both physically and mentally
due to the unfortunate discrimination I
experienced from one of my teachers.
One even failed my main assessment asThe Body Positivi+y Blog
Access all areas