Yoga Teacher Gained 40 Pounds to Make a Point About Fat Yoga Teachers

Remember last summer when that personal trainer gained (then lost) 70 pounds on purpose in order to better identify with his overweight clients? Well, I’ve got another for you. It’s kinda the same deal, except in this case we’re talking about a yoga teacher and her decision to pack on 40 pounds to prove a point.

In a recent post on Yoganonymous called “The Fat Yoga Teacher,” yoga instructor Trina Hall details how—and why—she gained 40 pounds in four months, on purpose. “I wanted to use my own body as my art piece to start a conversation about identity, self-image and beauty, so I made my canvas heavy and gained weight,” she writes. “I want to slay the notion that people who do yoga need to look like the beauties on the cover of magazines.”

In the process, of course, she uncovers some of her own insecurities about weight and body image. In her own words:

The stories I made up about what people thought of me were changing and I was emotionally affected. Suddenly, my self-worth was proving to be connected to how good I looked wearing spandex—something I completely denied giving a shit about before this experiment—and that pissed me off. Guilt from eating foods I typically considered bad for me were constant companions in my thoughts. Shame did cameo appearances in my mind’s movie reel daily.

You can read the full post for yourself here, but I want to hear your thoughts on the premise of the experiment, namely: Do you think there’s a stigma against overweight instructors (and, maybe, students) in the yoga community? Would you have an issue taking a yoga class from someone who’s not stick thin? Is it something you’d even notice? Share your thoughts in the comments.