We’ve all seen the influx of yoga pose photos flooding Instagram, Facebook, the pages of Yoga Journal, Pinterest.

People perfectly posed on the beach, on urban structures, woods, snow falling in the background, balancing on each other perhaps.

I admit it, I’m guilty of it too. I’ve got a few I used  for my bio pics for the website of the yoga studio I work for and I took the good old Times Square yoga photo when I was in NYC last year. Yoga poses are absolutely beautiful and I love a well taken, high quality, creative  photo which captures the essence of my favorite pose. They are fun to look at and fun to take.

On the other hand, have you ever been to a hot power flow yoga class, Bikram or pretty much any yoga class for that matter? That’s not what we look like practicing. Let’s put some humor and reality into the situation here.

This is my current Facebook profile picture

Pretty fancy huh? I picked out an outfit I felt represented me best, chose my favorite pose (Dancer’s, so elegant and graceful!) But what you don’t see in this photo is that it took three takes to do this and I almost face planted trying to balance on that stone. It was hilarious, and I wish I had a photo of that!

Here is what I actually look like after yoga:

I’m sweaty, exhausted and my hair is incredibly greasy, pointing in every direction from being clipped up, headbanded, stood on, mashed into  my mat and to be honest  I feel just as beautiful as I did in the above photo.

Yes, no one ever posts photos of their camel toe, sweat soaked armpits, or melting make-up. You won’t see studios with photos of students wobbling all over the place and falling out of poses.

Don’t forget the girl who wore a hot pink thong under her way too sheer yoga pants, mooning everyone unknowingly in each downward facing dog. Students glaring at the teacher with an awful grimace on their face because they feel they have been in the pose waaaaaaay too long.

Of course no one really wants to see these images,but they are the ones we should store in our minds that make us giggle and remember not to take  ourselves or the  practice so seriously all of the time.

It’s funny, it’s real and it’s all yoga.

Angela Melissa Diaz is a self-proclaimed  ecofashionista and thrift store/vintage clothing junkie with Pittsburgh as her stomping ground. She’s writing for the ecofashion and wellness sections of elephant as well as bringing her social butterfly skills to the social media team. If you cannot get in touch with her via any forms of technology, she’s teaching, or on her yoga mat flowing through vinyasas at 90 plus degrees. She’s studying for her certification in health and wellness counseling and hopes to save the world from bad food choices and stagnant lifestyles while reminding everyone to breathe and laugh as much as possible. You can reach her at [email protected] or find her on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Stylistad

 

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Ed: Kate Bartolotta