I hope you will allow me a little whinge. I’ve been keeping it to myself for a while but I think it’s about time now to vent a bit.
This is my complaint: I’m tired of the media image of yoga that shows youngish, pretty women (and sometimes attractive youthful men) doing advanced poses in designer clothing.
There. It’s out. Now you know that I can be a judgmental person.
Actually, now that I’m freely expressing, I just realised that it’s not that I resent the young people looking good on Yoga Journal calendars, magazine covers and YouTube videos; it’s just that I find older folks (like me) are underrepresented in the media. I crave seeing images of people of advanced age – and I know there are a lot of them out there – doing yoga.
One benefit of representing aged people in yoga media is that it would give more old folks the space to take up yoga. They might realise that yoga really is for everyone, and they would get the opportunity to experience improvements in all the areas in which yoga excels: flexibility, strength, posture, mental balance and relaxation, to name a few.
For those who are long-term practitioners (like me), our practice would demonstrate how well yoga contributes to health and well-being when it is made a life-long companion. And, I imagine this would be encouraging to young and old alike.
Maybe things are shifting. The Boomer Yogis are making their presence felt. Ultimately though, we know yoga isn’t about photos and film. It’s an individual, inward journey that reveals our true nature.
Still, it’s inspiring words and beautiful images in our culture that often get people onto their mats or meditation cushions, so let’s just get everyone there.