by Dianne Bondy
Despite decades of personal practice, as a person of color I’ve often felt like yoga practice was not for me. More than four years ago I was compelled to share my experience in the groundbreaking anthology Yoga and Body Image: 25 Personal Stories About Beauty, Bravery & Loving Your Body. My hope was that I might connect with yoga practitioners (or those considering a yoga practice) who were struggling with similar feelings of inadequacy, shame, and fear, as well as those who felt excluded from the practice and/or those not represented in yoga media. Frankly, this is most of us.
As the Yoga and Body Image Coalition—an organization that works tirelessly to advocate for accessible, body positive yoga—and I constantly proclaim, “Representation matters.” This representation includes the stories that are told, the images that are created, and the work that is shared. Representation matters because diversity is what gives us all a broader and more well-rounded perspective on what it means to be alive and human, as well as how we can coexist together and reach our fullest potential individually and collectively. It matters because together we rise. Together we uplift one another, as well as society as a whole.
Yoga and Body Image, the first book in this important series of personal narratives, was offered as a healing balm filled with inspiring stories about lives transformed by mindfulness practices, specifically yoga practice in all its diverse forms. It provided a glimpse into the lives and experiences of yoga practitioners that exist outside the conventional perspectives of what a yogi looks like, challenged the notion of a “yoga body,” and expanded our definition of what “yoga” is while inviting readers to connect, become introspective, and step on the mat.
The newest celebration of our yoga stories, Yoga Rising: 30 Empowering Stories from Yoga Renegades for Every Body, continues that mission, with the intention and purpose to share the diverse voices and experiences in our collective struggle for understanding, compassion, healing, and equity. It explores the power of the human spirit and the strength of community.
Yoga Rising celebrates the spirit of connection through our collective storytelling. Our stories intersect at a common path, revealing that we all belong on the mat because we are all vulnerable, we are all capable and worthy, and we all deserve to be witnessed and valued. It is this connection that reminds us that we are one. We can come to recognize that our differences are meant to be celebrated as a part of our collective consciousness. Each story in this collection (and each of our own personal experiences) represents the larger landscape of what inclusion looks like, from the mat to the studio to representation in media.
Being a yoga renegade means we resist and, more importantly, we persist in challenging and changing the limited narrative of who does yoga and #whatayogilookslike 1 is represented by the dominant culture—and far beyond the practice, culture, and business of yoga into the culture at large. I believe there is a renegade in all of us, a renegade dedicated to truth, justice, and equality in all forms. It is through the collective spirit of rebellion illustrated in the stories throughout this book that allow us to move beyond the limited, one-dimensional, and exclusive representations of beauty, health, worth, and value that flood the culture. The stories in this book demonstrate to the world that we are all worthy and valuable as we are. It is our collective mantra that we all belong here; all bodies are welcome; all beings are welcome; come and be at peace in and with this practice, free of shame and judgment.
I’m honored to be part of a series of books that have laid the groundwork in changing the mainstream narrative of yoga as merely a function of corporate standards of “beauty” and “fitness.” Throughout, this book illustrates how yoga may be used as a tool for empowerment, self-love, and raising our collective consciousness. Throughout, we see firsthand that bodies of every race and ethnicity, gender identity and sexual orientation, age, social class, and levels of abilities can practice alongside each other. In the end, we discover that all our stories carry a common sutra, or thread, of bravery, beauty, and self-awareness.
We are living in a uniquely powerful time, one in which the world is watching as body-positivity and yoga continues to grow in interest and influence. As these ideas continue to rise, more and more people are invited to come to the mat, share their practice and their stories, as well as affirm and reaffirm that this practice has a sacred place for them.
Yoga Rising inspires us to share our practice and our stories in the ways that connect with us, both as individuals and as a community. Together we rise, and together we understand that the world has room for all of us. Yoga can lift our hearts, our souls, and our humanity. Yoga has the power to change our perspective, and by changing our point of view, we can change the world. May we be rebellious in our acts of inclusion and love.
—Dianne Bondy, June 2017
Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada
1. #whatayogilookslike is the Yoga and Body Image Coalition’s social media hashtag used to unite body-positive yoga practitioners around the world.