Yoga & Body Image: The Grand Finale (For Now!)

And people wonder why so many women hate their bodies!?!? Imagie via persephonemagazine.com

As of last night, I have officially completed Tranquil Space's Advanced Teacher Training (my 500-hour certification). Can you hardly believe it!? I can't! It's been a year in the making and it feels surreal to actually be done. As you know, I finished the coursework/weekend time commitments back in July, but yesterday afternoon I finally presented my final thesis paper & workshop on "Yoga & Body Image," and now I'm finished. Phew. 

If you've been reading Starr Struck for a bit, you've probably seen some of the various posts about the work that has gone into this paper and presentation: there was the initial decision to focus on Yoga & Body Image, the survey that I put out to the yoga community (thanks to all who filled this out!), and the interesting findings from my survey about the yoga clothing brand, Lululemon. All of this went into a longer paper and presentation that allowed me to delve deeper into this topic--and although I thought that once I was done with the paper and presentation, I would just move on, yesterday, I discovered that this is just the beginning of a journey into this topic for me...

During my presentation, I was overwhelmed by the need for a conversation about this topic. There was an amazing amount of sharing, a number of questions, and some very interesting discussions and points of view that came up.  I felt that the workshop could have been 4 hours long, and that we could have had a number of very deep conversations about where the yoga industry is headed and what this means for us as students and teachers of the practice. The group was made up of a wide variety of yogis, all of whom had some sort of interest in this topic--some had personally struggled with body image issues or an eating disorder, some were teachers who may be teaching students who have body image issues, and some were yogis who simply want to become more aware of how these issues are affecting our yoga community as a whole. 

But do you know what was my biggest takeaway from the workshop? This issue is even more important and more prevalent than I realized. We ALL struggle with body image issues in different ways, and as a teacher of yoga who is passionate about this subject, I have a responsibility and a calling to help others who have struggled with learning to love, appreciate, and take care of their physical selves. The conversation on Yoga & Body Image has just begun for me, and I am definitely going to take it further.

What does this mean? Here's what I'm mulling over:
 

1. Creating a "Love Your Body" workshop or afternoon retreat for students based on what I learned from my thesis. The workshop will focus on healing, sharing, and growing, by using our yoga practice and yoga community as a support system and method of empowerment for those struggling with body image issues of ANY kind.  
2. Creating a workshop for yoga teachers that will help them learn how they can be more aware of these issues and in turn, how to make their classes more accepting and inviting for all body types, shapes, and sizes. 
3. Trying to further develop my paper and work to get it published somewhere/somehow, so that more people can become involved in this oh-so-important conversation. 

I'm excited to begin putting my work to use helping others (although I must admit, I'm not planning on getting to any of this until after the wedding)--I hope you will join me in this journey!

Again, a BIG thank you to everyone who attended, supported, helped out, and contributed to my study of this topic along the way. You are *fabulous* and I'm so thankful to have you in my life!

Namaste,
Mary Catherine