Yoga for EVERY body
Courtesy of Unsplash
By Sarah Holman
In Western culture, the term ‘yoga’ generally refers to a type of posture-based Hatha yoga. This is just one of many forms of yoga practiced around the world, but it tends to be what we picture when yoga is mentioned. “Westernized yoga has sold this image of a white, thin, able-bodied woman wearing expensive yoga clothing doing a really advanced pose on the top of a mountain,” says Jess Fairclough, yoga instructor, Reiki practitioner, and doula. “Yoga is for anyone with a body and breath.”
When Jess went to her very first yoga class over fifteen years ago, she was excited. She envisioned finding a zen experience and connecting with her body. As a woman who lives in a bigger body, she expected to be larger than some of the other people there, and that didn’t bother her. Once she got there, though, she found it difficult to safely do the postures. The class was meant to be for all levels of experience, but the instructor was clearly teaching to the most advanced. For those who couldn’t get into the pose, the instructor offered a lower expression of the posture. “As a person in a bigger body I have always felt like I needed to prove my worth,” Jess says. “There was no way I was doing the lower option!”
The instructor didn’t offer much explanation of the options either, or give encouragement and reinforcement that all variations of a pose are beneficial. As a result, Jess spent a lot of time checking her reflection in the mirror and observing how other students looked in a shape (another term for a yoga posture). “I felt shame, frustration, and anger towards my body,” she says.
Despite her less-than-ideal introduction to yoga, Jess went to the class again. She had a different teacher but a similar experience. After the class, Jess chatted with another student who was also an instructor. The student explained the anatomy of yoga and that all the poses don’t need to look the same on all bodies. The information helped, but Jess didn’t go back to yoga for several years.
When she did go back, Jess joined a class called “Yoga for All Bodies” taught by Katie Beane-Lewis at Bridge Studio in South Portland. It was a very different experience. First of all, Katie looked like Jess. “She is also a woman in a bigger body, and so I felt safe and comfortable being taught by her,” Jess explains. Katie offered options for all the postures, which helped accommodate Jess’s body and where she was early in her practice. Katie also explained the reason for each posture, so Jess understood the goal of each shape, not just what the pose was supposed to look like. “I loved it so much I began recruiting everyone I knew to take the class,” Jess says.
“Often people who have experienced trauma have also lost their sense of agency or connection to their bodies and may have traditionally silenced feelings with substances.”
Eventually, Katie approached Jess and suggested she join the Yoga Teacher Training Katie was co-teaching. At first Jess laughed at the idea, and then she decided to do it. At the time, she wasn’t planning to teach, but she thought the class would be a good way to learn more about yoga. “It was one of the hardest and most life-changing experiences I’ve had,” Jess says.
During the training, Jess learned about the subtle body and chakras, which are energy points in the body. She grew up with a mother who was very into energy work, crystals, and herbs, and as she moved through her yoga training, Jess felt drawn to learning more about Reiki, a form of energy healing. She began sessions with a practitioner in Portland and went on to take Level 1 training with Katie, who is also a Reiki Master. Since then, Jess has become a Level 2 Reiki practitioner and plans to pursue her Master Level next year. She uses her Reiki and yoga experience in her doula practice as well. “I don’t even see them as separate jobs,” Jess says. “I hold an energetic space for folks. Being a calm, grounded, and supportive energy is part of all I do.”
Jess began her Yoga Teacher Training the same month she was laid off from her corporate job. She had spent 20 years working in Human Resources with a focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for most of her career. It ended up being a blessing from the universe, Jess says, because it allowed her to continue her social justice work in a different way. During her training, Katie had mentioned Sea Change Yoga, a non-profit that provides trauma-informed yoga to underserved and marginalized populations. “I knew my goal would be to become a teacher with them,” Jess says. As a practicing doula and newly-certified yoga instructor, Sea Change Yoga was the perfect fit for her personal and professional goals. Jess hoped to teach yoga at Southern Maine Re-entry Center and the Maine Correctional Center and to provide doula services to pregnant residents at MCC. She has been with Sea Change Yoga for almost four years now.
One of the founding principles of Sea Change Yoga is the belief that everyone deserves yoga. Trauma-informed yoga creates a safe, empowering environment and promotes choice so students can emotionally, physically, and spiritually engage in a way that meets their individual needs. It also considers the variety of lived experiences and cultures of its students. According to the Sea Change Yoga website (seachangeyoga.org), “We modify the elements of traditional yoga to facilitate mindfulness, maximize tolerance, build empowerment, and cultivate a more positive relationship to one’s body.” The goals of the program are to reduce stress and anxiety and support the addiction recovery process, and to help break the cycle of substance abuse and incarceration.
“I teach with a trauma informed approach whether I am teaching through Sea Change Yoga or a community class,” Jess says. “All people have trauma and all people deserve to feel safe, connected, seen, and have choice.” When Jess teaches, she doesn’t walk around the class or offer physical assists. These common practices can feel intimidating to some students. She also uses language that is invitational, gives clear explanations, and reminds students they are always in control of their practices and their bodies.
Currently, Jess teaches at Spurwink’s Adult Residential Treatment Program, which provides integrated residential treatment to adults with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders, and at Southern Maine Re-entry Center (SMRC). She always starts her classes by checking in with her students before transitioning into postures. Jess asks how everyone is
feeling physically and emotionally and finds out if anything new or big is going on for them since she saw them last. “I take this information and use it to guide the class and any readings I share,” she says. Jess also makes sure every part of the class is an invitation to participate. Students control the degree of sensation and whether or not they want to do a pose or opt out. “If they want to lay on the mat and rest, that is yoga!” she says.
Often people who have experienced trauma have also lost their sense of agency or connection to their bodies and may have traditionally silenced feelings with substances. Jess invites them to notice what they’re feeling and listen to their bodies without judgment, and then respond to that information with love and kindness. “One of the residents I work with shared that they are just now learning their body and who they are,” Jess says. Yoga is an opportunity for students to reconnect with their bodies and emotions, and Jess’s goal is to make the class accessible and understandable rather than complex and choreographed. She likes to offer explanations for each pose, why it might be helpful, and how to do it ‘off the mat’, like when residents are in their rooms. “I love hearing residents share when they used yoga off the mat [to work through] a difficult time,” Jess says.
In all her work, Jess is passionate about providing body affirming yoga to all people and spreading the word that yoga is for every body. Although the term ‘body positive’ is used often to describe this philosophy, Jess has moved away from that phrase. “We don’t always need to feel positive about our bodies,” she says. “Bodies do not need to be labeled good or bad. Maybe we can just be in our body, as it shows up that day, and work with what our bodies need in that moment.”
One way Jess is helping spread the message of inclusive yoga is by teaching a course at the University of Southern Maine. This fall will be her fourth year presenting Body Affirming Yoga as part of the school’s Feminism in Yoga class. When she teaches, she offers many options for each posture to make sure everyone can find something that works. She starts at the entry point of the pose and offers options for more sensation, as opposed to starting at the most challenging expression of the pose and then making it easier for those who can’t achieve it. “I explain that it’s less about how the shape looks and more about how it feels,” Jess says. She also reminds students that how their bodies feel today may be very different from yesterday or tomorrow, and that’s okay. “Yoga is a personal experience,” Jess says. “A union with mind, body, and spirit.”
Working with people of every size, shape, color, and gender has helped Jess become clear about her mission. Awareness and education are critical, she believes, in allowing people to make informed choices about their bodies. “I want to help people remember their power and intuition,” she says. “I want to remind them that they are good and worthy and deserving, and that health and wellness is their birthright.”
Jess Fairclough is an owner and doula at Portland Doula Co, a Reiki practitioner, and teaches yoga at Rosemont Wellness Center. You can find her online at jessfaircloughradicalhealing.com