Can't Do Yoga?!

“I can’t do yoga! No one wants to see me bend over!” That has got to be one of my absolute favorite things to hear from people. “No one wants to see me bend over!” It’s yoga! It’s about so much more than bending! Why is it such a big deal? “People are going to look at my butt.” For me, when did it become so sexual and why?

I’ve been doing yoga since I was in third grade. I was never the best at anything until I started it. What, not everyone can touch their toes without bending their knees?! It was a shock to me! I was never amazing at something that my sisters or my friends weren’t just as good at if not better. That changed when I picked up this physical activity. It was never anything sexual. Of course, not at third grade, but even thinking back I don’t remember it being anything people thought sexually about.

Nowadays, you say you do yoga and people picture different things. Quite a few of my friends (male and female) say the same thing. When they think of yoga they think of an attractive woman in tight pants or really short tight shorts and a sports bra bending over. I think this perception really came about within the past 5-10 years due to the rise in popularity of yoga itself and yoga pants. It became popular. It was getting more press. How do you gain even more popularity? Sex.

This is America. Sex sells. Sports and physical activities are not exempt from that lovely fact. Something about relaxation and finding peace along with finding strength and power has turned into sex. If you are going to market a physical activity for things like health and weight-loss, it needs to have an edge. People look for an edge. Are you dripping with sweat at the end? Do you climb walls during class? No. Then how do you sell yoga? You can get fit and look hot doing it. Sadly, it works.

I used to work at a women’s athletic/lifestyle clothing company (I will not share which one) but this came up a lot more than people think. I sold yoga pants that were upwards of $98 per pair. It did not matter how it was structurally better than others and how it might actually be worth the high price for the pair. It didn’t matter! All that the customers seemed to focus on was, “will the pants make my butt look good?” I always thought what does it matter? You’re doing yoga. You’re working out for you. You want to improve yourself. It matters because that is how the pants are being marketed. That is how women are talking about the pants with each other.

I guess we need to change the marketing and change the conversation.