An evening with the fantastic Jessamyn Stanley, NO YOGA, JUST GREAT CONVO!
When Donna from CurveSomeYoga told me that she will be holding an event with Jessamyn Stanley, I was like YESSSSSSSS! This is going to be fantastic. Just knowing how much Donna loves her work, I was very happy for Donna and happy enough to just go along and be in the moment. I really wasn’t ready for Jessamyn Stanley.
All I knew about Jessymyn was her ability to do some fantastic Yoga, things that a Fat Woman shouldn’t be able to do (according to society, but us plus size ladies know different). I had never heard her speak in an interview and I never knew how in tuned and woken this lady is.
I feel like I need to go read and listen to every interview she has done, just so I can get more of what I experienced on Friday. I’m no Yogi yet, I’m still a baby when It comes to Yoga, it’s like an ocean of information/ practices and I ain’t there yet, I need to keep up with what CurveSomeYoga classes do, before I go diving in.
Back to the event:
I got there late, which pissed me of, having to use the google maps when walking is the worst, (dyslexia and direction are the two double D’s you don’t want) but I was only about 10 minutes late, which wasn’t to bad.
Instantly when walking into the room all eyes were on Jessamyn, I was able to see a few familiar faces that have been on the Plus size Fitness scene but the intent of the listening that was going on was amazing.
We were all interested and feeling every word that came out of this woman’s mouth.
Jessamyn talks about schooling, her parents, being realistic when practicing, why she wears what she does when doing yoga and why she doesn’t dress up for pictures on social media while doing Yoga, why she got into teaching Yoga, how Yoga helped improve her Mental health, the importance of meditation, looking within and how that helps her be real.
To Jessamyn’s surprise, she was able to meet the founder of too fat to run, Julie Creffield (in picture above), who was in the audience. Jessamyn openly explained how much she had admired the cause and how she found Julie inspirational.
Jessamyn states the views of the industry which many people seemed to totally agree with.
What I like about Jessamyn the most is that she isn’t afraid to say things like it is, for example how the perception of yoga is a white female middle class practice and how the industry seem to exclude the real essence of what yoga is and in my eyes omit the true origin of yoga. How the unrealistic way that Yoga is mainly advertised can cause more harm than good.
I’m attraction to Yoga is the spiritual aspect of it and the internal feeling that I get, I’m not ready for back bends yet, lol. For me, I will start from the beginning, it’s like when I first started playing the flute as a child, I had to learn the basic and the theory before I was able to take any exams to show my skills. Right now, for me, I’m gonna embrace the feelings that I get from Yoga and tap into my true essence of me.
After basically running overtime, Jessamyn went to the pub and continued being the fantastic chick that she is and just mingled with the group. I wasn’t able to attend but got some great pics after and can’t wait to get learning more about this amazing lady.
Please please watch the interview, and enjoy the realness of the beautiful Jessamyn Stanley.
Xxx Fran xxX
thekurvekit 