Yoga: Compassion, not Discrimination

This article by Lifespan Yoga founder Beth Daugherty was published in the July, 2012 issue of Natural Awakenings Magazine, Jacksonville, FL

A woman was recently kicked out of a Jacksonville Yoga studio and the reason may surprise you. The story begins at her doctor’s office where she was being treated for a serious illness. Things were not going well and the concerned doctor recommended gentle exercise to help her healing. They discussed some options and decided yoga may be a good fit. Many Jacksonville doctors, including a few at the Mayo Clinic, refer patients to yoga for a variety of conditions including very serious and life threatening ones so this was not unusual. After plucking up her courage she entered the doors of her local yoga studio. Shortly after making it through the threshold the instructor kicked her out, telling her to come back after she lost 100 pounds. Dumbfounded, she left.

Unfortunately, this type of blatant size discrimination has always been rampant. It is still a relevant issue as our headlines warn of an obesity epidemic, and our first lady chose childhood obesity as one of her signature issues. Like all discrimination, the root cause is not hard to find. It is always an issue of justice. One group is treated poorly by another because justice and equality are not valued. This happens in every culture around the globe. When an individual favors justice and equality for all, feelings of compassion often follow. This happens all over the world as well. Research shows long term volunteers for worthy causes volunteer their time not to feel good or promote themselves, but because they value justice and equality. Our country and democracy itself is dependent on this fact.

Anna Guest-Jelley, founder of Curvy Yoga™ knows this first hand. She says, “Many people who are interested in trying Curvy Yoga™ have never done yoga before… they’ve never even considered it. They may have wanted to try it, but many have dismissed it out of hand as an option”. The discrimination is ever present and can not be ignored. Curvy Yoga™ was founded for curvy-bodied people to have an option to try yoga in a safe way and be in a body positive space for people of all sizes. Lifespan Yoga® located in theMandarin area of Jacksonville is the first local studio offering these unique classes this summer.

Compassionate behavior is rooted in equality. Compassion is highly prized but can not occur at the same time as discrimination against another person based on race, religion, gender, size or anything else. Just the act of trying to eliminate your biases enhances your compassion. Your character can be developed and improved at any stage of life. Yoga, at its core is a compassionate tradition, but it is also a practice. It will take time to root out the biases we hold. It takes time for things to fall away that do not belong. This brings us back to the yoga teacher at the beginning of the story. As horrified as we may be at what happened, we will trust the practice to bring awareness to discrimination and bias.