It can take experience to learn about how far to go into poses and how long to hold them. I constantly see students straining and potentially injuring themselves. The main challenge that comes out of the misrepresentation of yoga within yoga classes is the idea that more is better. I try to teach my students about what yoga is – working with the mind to connect with the heart. In order to do so, I often directly address the misrepresentation of yoga in the media. I want people to feel like they belong in the space, and that they will be safe – physically and emotionally. Safety and acceptance are the two most important elements of a yoga class. What are some challenges you’ve witnessed from students who may be reluctant to a practice that doesn’t resemble what they see on social media or magazines? How do you work with your students to identify those needs to create a safe space of acceptance? The “why” of a practice is the key to adaptation and accessibility. That’s the way I’ve organized my book – trying to help people look beyond the superficial appearance of a pose and consider why they’re doing it. The more people understand the underlying benefits of individual poses, the more they can find those benefits in different variations. It’s really the philosophy, meditation and breathing practices that are most ancient. Most of the poses we’re practicing these days evolved over the past few hundred years. I think knowledge is power, and one of the challenges in yoga is that there’s this feeling that the classical poses can’t be adapted or somehow they lose their power. How do you empower practitioners to look beyond their physical limitations and feel confident in their Accessible Yoga practice? The use of pose orientation in this book is very creative as we are able to maintain the elements of the traditional practice while offering an accessible way to receive the healing benefits of yoga. I often say, “Yoga isn’t about having a flexible body, it’s about having a flexible mind.” With that deeper understanding of the practice, it’s easy to find ways to make all the practices of yoga accessible, whether we’re talking about the poses, breathing practices, relaxation techniques or meditation. The most important thing for people to understand about yoga is that it is primarily a mental practice – working with the mind to reduce stress and connect with the essence of who we are. I feel like I owe a debt of gratitude to give back in some way, and my mission is to challenge those limited ideas we hold on to about what yoga is and how it works. I came to yoga to help me deal with the pain and stress in my life, and I’m so grateful for how yoga has given me tools to help me with the challenges of being human. In fact, I often think of how it’s those of us who are struggling the most who can really benefit from yoga. It’s unfortunate that the image of yoga in the media is so limiting when the benefits of yoga are so powerful and are available for everyone. Thank you for your interest in Accessible Yoga, and for your awareness that yoga is really about feeling good, not about how you look or what kind of poses you can do.
It’s important to have information like this at our fingertips to remind everyone that yoga is most importantly about feeling good, not looking good. I first want to thank you for creating Accessible Yoga to make yoga available to all communities with various physical abilities. Yoga Editor for NY YOGA LIFE magazine, Lauren Cap had an opportunity to chat with Jivana right before the pandemic in early 2020, and shares her interview below.
With compassion and years of experience, we are guided into an accessible yoga practice, literally for every body. Jivana Heyman, founder of non-profit organization Accessible Yoga, gives readers a gentle nudge to step into a safe yoga practice that fits the needs of any person in his book, Accessible Yoga: Poses and Practices for Every Body.
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