Yoga: Get into the Feels, not the looks
Whether you are a beginner or someone who has been practicing yoga for some time now, we can't help but notice the influx of yogis on social media.
Every day there seems to be a new Instagram or Facebook account to follow. Some use their social media as a platform to promote themselves, their business, their practice, but at the end of the day, it seems to me that most of them aren't promoting the yoga itself.
When I personally post a yoga photo, it's usually used to promote Strala Yoga, the style that I guide, and the classes that I guide. It will also usually be a screenshot of a video that I took of one of the classes I guided, or from a video of my personal yoga practice. Sometimes it's pretty. Most times is a quick snap of single moment from an hour (or longer) session. One single moment.
It seems an inspirational quote goes a long way under a shot of a beautiful woman (or man!) dressed in a swimwear doing a posture on a picturesque beach, but what I want to know is, how does s/he feel once they were there? What were the movements before, after and during that posture? Are they happier for sharing that post, or is it solely for the "likes" and comments they'll receive?
It's important to remember that life is what happens in between the shots and poses. At one point during my Strala Yoga classes I always use the same quote: "Life is all about the journey, not the destination, so enjoy every step along the way" and it's because I want my guests in class to feel every movement in their body, not rush to get into a posture they see on their phones and laptops just because a "famous" yogi captured it and shared it.
Remember, not every body is going to look the same in each posture. Yoga is not "one size fits all". And if we're doing it in our bedroom with laundry all over the place instead of on a beautiful beach or dangerously on the side of a cliff, that's okay too. Check out the great video below from JP Sears and Brian Crawford Photography which is a satire of this social media phenomenon.
Have you taken a yoga photo for Instagram? Why did you do it, and what were the feelings you had before, during and after the shot?
