How I Move
Jessamyn Stanley
Balancing act: Jessamyn Stanley says yoga is not just about striking the right pose, but finding a balance to everyday life
Muller Grand Prix
Birmingham, Sunday
Triple European champion and
Telegraph columnist Dina Asher-
Smith headlines a star 200 metres
cast that includes double Olympic
champion Elaine Thompson.
Katarina-Johnson-Thompson
faces Nafi Thiam for the first time
since being pipped to hepthatlon
gold at the Europeans last year.
TV: BBC One
Tickets: 2.theticketfactory.comWomen’s Super League
2019-20, starts Sept 7-8
What a way to ring in the top-flight
campaign, with Manchester andLondon derbies kicking off
proceedings over the opening
weekend.
Last year’s runners-up
Manchester City will host
newcomers Manchester United at
the Etihad Stadium, while
Stamford Bridge will stage
Chelsea’s clash with Tottenham
a day later.
TV: Man City v Man Utd, Sept 7,BT Sport 1
Tickets: tickets.mancity.comSolheim Cup
Gleneagles, Sept 11-13
Norway’s Suzann
Pettersen will look to
justify her surprise
selection by Europe captainCatriona Matthew. Pettersen
(left), has played in only two
tournaments since
November 2017 following
the birth of her son last
year. The United States
have won 10 of the 15
editions played.
TV: Sky Sports
Golf. Tickets:
solheimcup2019.com‘It needed a
motorbike
accident to
hit message
home: your
life is bigger
than your
pant size’
‘I didn’t know fat people
could do yoga’ – Instagram
star who teaches all body
shapes and abilities is busy
proving that people should
not be defined by their size
I went to my first yoga class at
16, and it was the worst
experience, so f------ hot and the
postures were hard as hell. It’s
wild to think about it now. I felt
very alienated because I was the
only fat person. I was like: “If I was
supposed to be doing this, I would
be good at it.” That’s what stops a
lot of people, not just in yoga, but
in so many other things. It wasn’t
until my early twenties that I went
back. I really wasn’t pushing
myself outside of any boundaries
in my day-to-day life. The reason
the postures challenge us so much
is because they’re trying to push us
beyond our comfort zone. It made
me understand I need that to see
this other side of myself. It became
like a medicine for me.
We’re all so obsessed with our
bodies, they become such a
huge part of how we see our
self-worth it’s ridiculous. I was
in a motorbike accident a few
weeks ago and I wish it didn’t take
something catastrophic happening
to hit the message home: your life
is bigger than your pant size. We
need to get to a place where you
don’t need to be thinking about
your body apart from how well it
runs. It’s not something that has to
form our entire identity.
When I started posting on social
it was so I could log my practice
in community with others. I
recognised that the responses I
was getting weren’t alignment tips,
it was mostly people being like:
“Wow, I didn’t know fat people
could do yoga.” Fat people can do
all kinds of things, we just clearly
have a visibility issue.
Social media does the complete
opposite of what yoga is about.
Yoga asks us to look within
ourselves for the answers, social
media is literally looking for likes.
So much of yoga Instagram has
nothing to do with yoga: people
selling coconut water, mats and
glorifying headstands on the
beach. I almost deleted everything
but then I recognised that there’s
an opportunity to show what a
yoga practice really looks like:
complicated and messy and it’s not
just about postures – it’s about
finding balance in everyday life. I
exercise – I do spin, I lift and enjoy
hiking – but that’s very separate
from my yoga.What kind of world are we
living in that a fat, black, queer
person living their lives happily
is considered a revolution? I
really don’t try to promote a
positive outlook or anything like
that. People take what I say as, “girl
power”, “fat power”, “love
yourself ” and it’s literally all
because I do not hate myself, and
am not showing only specific parts
of my life or body.When I go in to teach, they
think I’m not the teacher even
now. You rarely see fat, black,
queer women do anything, let
alone a yoga class. I’m so used to
being “the only” that it’s almost
something I don’t note, but it’s
lonely, you’re constantly pushing
up against someone who does not
believe in you. They ask: “Are you
the teacher?” And they look p-----
off like: “I haven’t paid this fat
b---- to teach me yoga.” It’s always
that person who at the end is like:
“I had the most amazing
experience.” That’s what you get
for having assumptions about
s--- you don’t know about.I can’t think of any athlete who
hits me as deeply as Serena
Williams. To have a body type
that is now totally fetishised –
where everybody is now trying to
have a thick ass and thighs – but
she had to, and still has to, deal
with so much discrimination
because of how her body looked.
She makes it look effortless – but I
know that it is not, and it is
magnified for her. I bow down to
the queen.Jessamyn Stanley was speaking to
Molly McElweeTHREE EVENTS YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THIS MONTH
CELESTE SLOMAN/REDUX / EYEVINEom
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Catriona
(left), has
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so10 ***^ Friday 16 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph
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