Dearest Yoga Instagram Superstars,

Could we have a word?

I understand that you’re trying to inspire me by showing me gorgeous photos of your practice, and I really do love watching you press into Handstand on the beach at sunset. (Really. I mean it. You’re so strong, graceful, and lovely and that SHOULD be celebrated!)

Image by David Yglesias

But there’s one thing that is driving me absolutely nuts: You see, yoga has nothing to do with the illustrations of neon mermaids, unicorns, fairies, and butterflies on the Lisa Frank trapper keeper you had when you were a little girl. (Are you even old enough to remember Lisa Frank? No matter. That’s not really the point.) The yoga practice that I love is not all about imaginary unicorns, fairies and butterflies, OK? My yoga practice is, well, that shit is the REAL DEAL.

Don’t get me wrong. I understand where you’re coming from. You have a thing for Ariel. You love daydreaming. (So do I!) But while you’re probably imagining that your references to mystical creatures emerging from the fog inspire me to believe that anything is impossible… it just doesn’t do it for me. Maybe it did … just a little bit … for like a week. But, Darling, yoga is so much more than that. And the 4,392,057 bajillion people who follow you to for yoga inspiration deserve to see more than the beautiful, shiny surface of the practice.

To me (and I think I can speak for the other archaic, 30+ year olds just recently joining you on Instagram) yoga isn’t about believing in things that don’t exist. It isn’t about smoke and mirrors, or putting a pretty filter on a photo of a poorly aligned pose.

To me, yoga is the opposite of all that. It’s about getting rid of the smoke and mirrors, taking off the make up, bravely facing (and sometimes sharing) your battle wounds and your stretch marks head on. It’s about loving your body even though you’ve got cellulite. It’s about loving your life even when it’s not glamorous, and especially when things are boring. It’s about coming to terms with the fact that there are no freakin’ unicorns, Sister!—and being OK with that.

Yoga is about learning to be completely OK with this REAL, imperfect world we live in—even when it’s ugly. It’s about making meaningful changes where we can, and accepting and letting go of the things we can’t change. It’s about understanding that no number of inspirational quotes taken out of context are going to take the place of real, meaningful connections between us, our body and mind, each other, and the world around us. Real life often makes for some really ugly photography, but there’s magic in authenticity—It might not win you any Instagram followers, but the reward for being unapologetically YOU is far deeper and more beautiful than that anyway.

Thanks for reading my rant. (And if yoga really is about unicorns and mermaids to you, then keep doing your thing—not that you need anyone’s permission… I just hope you’ll be doing it because you’re sharing something you love and not just what you think is popular.)

Love,
Erica