FAT PEOPLE CAN'T DO YOGA!!! Say whaaat??? Also Krishnamacharya and the 'big man'.

Came across the wonderful video below by accident this morning, love this women... she has a beautiful downward dog too.

It reminded me of an old post of mine on Krishnamacharya and the big man, practicing yoga while carrying extra weight.

Here's Tae-marie comments/info concerning her video.

"Hiya :) I told you a while back that I would make a vid talking a little about being a big person doing yoga... here it is! I also show a few poses that I like and discuss moderation and staying within your personal comfort zone! Maybe yoga isn't your thing, but don't write it off just because your packin the pounds! Try it at least. The list of benefits to adding yoga to your health regiment goes on and on! Enjoy :)
Much love,
Tae-marie"

And here's an old post of mine from October 2012

Practicing Yoga while carrying a little extra weight

I remember a picture in Kausthub Desikachar's The Yoga of a Yogi, which showed Krishnamacharya teaching a rather large gentlemen. In the picture the student appears to be struggling to even raise his legs, the caption to the picture on page 69 reads

"Krishnamacharya teaching yoga as cikitsa (therapy) to one of his students".

Yoga of the Yogi is, as it happens, is one of my least favourite books on Krishnamacharya, it seems a little too concerned with positioning Kausthub as the heir apparent for my tastes.

I prefer TKV Desikachar's Health Healing and Beyond

...and the excellent Krishnamacharya His life and teaching by AG Mohan

However, one still waits in hope for the first objective and scholarly biography of Krishnamacharya, .

But back to that picture. Oscar just sent me a link to a slideshow video on Youtube (Thank you Oscar) that includes more pictures of the the same student and Krishnamacharya. it seems the student knew his way around a yoga mat, that's a fine lotus he has there, and perhaps he wasn't struggling to raise his legs after all, check out his headstand, I like his practice.

 As the saying goes...

Anyone can practice yoga, except the lazy, the lazy can't practice Yoga

Actually I don't know if I agree with that completely, practice can develop discipline, the will is like a muscle, but then of course once you develop that discipline perhaps your no longer considered lazy, in which case it still follows.

NB: caution is advised for the inversions if your a big person (in fact for anybody), that's a lot of weight on your neck, discuss it with an experienced yoga teacher.

I almost feel these pictures belong in my previous post called What was it like to study with Krishnamacharya

Now if your carrying a lot of extra weight you might not want to begin with a full on Ashtanga practice but a Vinyasa Vrama practice in the style of Krishnamacharya's later teaching might be a good place to start as well as perhaps preparing you for a more vigorous practice later, if that's something that takes your fancy.

It should also be pointed out that Krishnamacharya suggested an  alternative approach to the breath which may be more suited to a big person, switching around the inhalation and exhalation in certain postures, so from Brahmana to Langhana.

Here's a nice story from TKV Desikachar

Health Healing and Beyond p.127 TKV Desikachar 

from Yoga beneath the surface p.70 Srivatsa Ramaswami and David Hurwitz

"In each section for each particular asana, we have included a description and an enumeration of its vinyasas. The vinyasas in which the head is raised are to be done with puraka kumbhaka (retention of inhalation) and the ones in which the head is lowered must be done with recaka kumbhaka (retention of exhalation). Uthpluthi (raising the body from the floor with only the support of both hands on the floor is called uthpluthi) should be done on recaka kumbhaka for a fat person and on puraka kumbhaka for a thin person...." 
from Krishnamacharya's Yoga Makaranda p28

from Yoga for the Three stages of Life Srivatsa Ramaswami

 Some examples of postures in which the breathing pattern may be switched

Makrasana

from The Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga p.138. Srivatsa Ramaswami

Cobra pose

from The Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga. Srivatsa Ramaswami

Viparita Salabhasana

from The Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga p.143 Srivatsa Ramaswami

Dwipadapitam (desk pose)

from The Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga p.109 Srivatsa Ramaswami

 Salabhasana (locust pose)

from The Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga p.142 Srivatsa Ramaswami

Throughout his Complete book of Vinyasa Yoga, Ramaswami gives indications where Langhna breathing may be an option to consider if you are attempting a posture while significantly overweight.