One of my teachers, Ariel Pavic, pointed me in the direction of Gil Hedley's work recently, and I had the great pleasure of reading his article, "How I Fell in Love with Fat" which was published in Spirituality and Health magazine in the winter of 2007.

The article was heady and wonderful, written from the perspective of an intellectual who sees the magic in the human body. His work is unique,  unlike anything I've ever seen. He offers workshops and seminars that intersect biology and energy. And in this article, he talks about the wonders of the layer of fat in the human body - of adipose tissue.

I wasn't sure what I was going to think at first, but as I read the article, I discovered that what he was describing was beautiful.

Fat is not just something we "put up with" in our bodies. No, fat does so much more than that. It serves a purpose, multiple purposes and, as Dr. Hedley points out in his article, it is what creates the body's unique shape, especially in women. 

How amazing to realize that what makes us look like us and not near clones of one another is the very thing we are so constantly at war with.

It was profound and wonderful to look at fat as a living organ of the body with a biological, and spiritual purpose.

When I read his "Parable of Fat's Creation" he'd written for the article, I was dumbstruck. It so poignantly spoke to the beauty of fat, and made me think about my body in a completely different way.  I transposed his words onto the image he'd chosen for his article to share with you all. The combination of this wonderful image by Richard Wilkinson (an image I've loved for some time) and Dr. Hedley's Parable make a powerful combination.

I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I have!

Namaste, 
Lisa

Phew! It's sure been a while since I've posted here but life has been C-R-A-Z-Y in all the fabulous ways that life so often is.

For starters, my studies are going well. I am rapidly discovering that I have heavy leanings towards becoming a major anatomy geek. I just love finding out so much about exactly how yoga moves our bodies! In particular, what I find really amazing is a really simple concept - we all have the same parts!

How cool is that? I mean, underneath my size 18, curvaceous body are all the exact same muscles, bones, organs (mostly, I mean - I am missing my tonsils and gall bladder), and nervous system any other woman! There's something really amazing about that and Yoga. It just solidifies for me all the reasons why Yoga can be so beneficial to you regardless of your size or shape.  And you know what else is absolutely amazing about the human body? Even while we share the same "parts", for reasons that as far as I can tell are not clear, each individual person's anatomy is unique as well. Everything works approximately the same way but you might have a larger or smaller, longer or shorter bone in one place in your body than someone else. Each person's muscles are different lengths and shapes depending on where they are most developed. It's pretty amazing to think that just as we are all the same, we are also all different - which underscores, again, the importance of listening to your body!

Yoga activates parts of our body that we often rarely activate on a day to day basis. Twists stimulate our digestive system. Poses that bring our chins to our chest stimulates our thyroid gland. And those are just two examples! Yoga and Anatomy = awesome.

In addition to being really into my studies right now, there are other exciting developments in the way that my future business as a Yoga Teacher is taking shape.

As I begin to network and reach out into the communities I can best serve, I have realized that Curvaceous Woman Yoga, while very exciting - isn't quite complete! :-)  In this realization, I intend to create a Gender Neutral/Queer-Friendly class offering when I begin my classes, if there is enough interest. I also am feeling drawn to offer a class for men as well.

Another exciting devleopment coming up is that I hope to offer one or two free sample classes to the greater community (all genders, shapes/sizes welcome) for those who are willing to participate in a video-recorded class. The reason for the video is to provide a medium for my own Teacher to critique and offer additional coaching and feedback on my teaching. :) Location will likely be South Vancouver or Burnaby. If you are interested in participating in this, please let me know!

Namaste,
Lisa