Yoga Gymnastics - The Detrimental Pull of Social Media

Instagram. Love it. Hate it. A little bit of both actually.

So when I read the BBC news article, ‘Yoga teachers risking serious hip problems', I wasn’t surprised. Apart from pushing our bodies too hard and too often without changing it up with other forms of exercise I believe the yoga gymnastics we see on social media has a hand in this. To be fair, there are a lot of amazing bodies, scantily clad doing some incredible poses and when they entice you to be part of challenges, you’re ‘Hell yeah, count me in!’, hoping to bust out that pose or at least a version of it and although you may not be warmed up properly by golly you might just come out looking half bloody decent. But is it reality?

In a nutshell, no. A lot of the glorified, sometimes contortionist yoga poses we see on social media platforms are not realistic or relevant to most people that practice yoga and for the most part are not going to be part of their personal yoga journey. Sadly it can also be potentially off-putting to anyone considering dipping their toe in the yoga pond. It is important as teachers that we encourage people to understand their own limitations, leave the ego at the door and realise that just because the person next to them might get their leg around their head their own body might never get close to ever achieving it because, very simply, their body isn’t built for it no matter how strong or flexible they become.

‘Comparison is the thief of joy.’

I’m happy to say those days of comparison are gone; so are those days of trying hard to post a fabulous pose on Insta that might have rewarded me with 50 likes, (yes you heard right, a staggering 50), yet would have taken me several attempts and an hour of filtering along with trying to think of something relatively interesting to say. And to show to whom and for what gain exactly? I’m not sure I ever really knew. You get told you must be on social media, but without a message to convey simply posting daily poses held no satisfaction for me and I realised if I was getting bored of seeing other people’s purely asana (posture) focused posts then people were sure as hell getting bored of seeing mine. And what exactly was my message? I didn’t really have one.

After 9 years practicing Power Yoga intermittently with Ashtanga, my body has been quietly telling me I need to mix it up a bit. I’ve pushed and pulled, twisted and entwined, nudged and budged my body into poses that maybe it was never really built for. I am now listening, really listening and focus on what my body can do and not what it can’t.

Have you ever felt inadequate through social media posts, whether that’s yoga, relationships, holidays, homes, jobs, body image?

I have now deleted lots of Instagram yoga accounts that I used to follow for inspiration but now I find them less than useful to me and if I’m honest, sometimes brought up feelings of inadequacy. Have you ever felt inadequate through social media posts, whether that’s yoga, relationships, holidays, homes, jobs, body image? Well the list is endless. One thing yoga has taught me about our wonderful brains, which goes beyond the physical aspects, is that we can choose how we manage feelings that arise, and those that are negative or self sabotaging can be replaced with positive ones and we can start kicking those unhelpful thoughts to the kerb. This doesn’t happen overnight this is a daily commitment because sometimes the only thing that holds us back is ourselves. And if a post makes you feel shit and you can’t shake it? Stop following and focus on you - you’re the best project you can work on.

I’m slowly moving from more of a Type A personality to Type B. Less dogmatic, more softening. We all evolve, right? Do you fight it or go with it?