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There’s a whole industry dedicated to helping people be happy. From vision boards to positive affirmations, there’s one message that all the self-help techniques have in common: ‘Have, do and be MORE’. When you head off on your quest for happiness, it invariably involves adding something to your life that’s missing right now.

Does this sound familiar: you really, really want to meditate. But within seconds of sitting still, your mind’s a riot of buzzing thoughts. You love the idea of meditation, but it just isn’t working for you. Why?

I’ve been privileged to work as a yoga teacher trainerfor more than 12 years. It’s rewarding work that is both challenging and exhilarating and I’ve met some extraordinary people along the way.

However, about 3 years ago I started to notice something different about the students signing up for the trainings. The broad diversity of ages and body types that I had encountered in the early days of my teacher-training career had almost disappeared. The people signing up now were overwhelmingly young, bendy and body-conscious. 

To be fair, the vast majority of trainees have always been female. But within that population, there were people of different sizes, ages, backgrounds and experience. In recent years, that profile has changed.

I’ve just got back from delivering a presentation on the hot topic of yoga and body image at the Yoga Australia Conference on the Gold Coast. 

Yoga is now practiced by over 20 million people in the USA, more than 80% of whom are women (85% in Australia). The lure of a product that promises to makes you look and feel better has transformed yoga into big business, turning over US$10.3 billion in 2012. In fact, the aspirational, mass appeal of yoga closely resembles other products marketed primarily to women, such as fashion and cosmetics. It was the presentation slides that compared advertising for these products with advertising for yoga that conference delegates found most alarming.  Just to make it clear, the top picture shows advertising for fashion and cosmetics, the bottom picture shows a selection of adverts for yoga studios and products.

There’s a lot of fur flying right now as yoga teachers who advertise their services as ‘yoga therapists’ scramble to get certified (or change their marketing!) Why is Yoga Alliance threatening to de-register teachers who claim to be yoga therapists without formal training? Because Yoga Alliance registers teachers with just 200hrs training, often from courses that last only a few days, and with little prior experience of yoga.

I'm no Nigella, but I can't help myself when it comes to soup. Soup is the yummiest, fastest, easiest and most nutritious food in the world. As soon as the temperature drops below, er, 21 degrees (I know, I should be fine with cold weather being a Pom, but I seem to have fully acclimatised to Sydney), I’m in the kitchen with my blender. And I totally make it up every time.

Why I DON'T Meditate

1. I don't have time

2. My mind is too busy

3. There's always something more important that needs doing

4. I have two very active kids

Do you sing? Perhaps you’ve been busting out a few Christmas songs recently. My daughter and I are both keen choir members and the house has been filled with voices rehearsing for carol concerts, parties and numerous other Christmas gatherings.

You might have noticed that many of the Adore Yoga blogposts talk about yoga and body image. From stating the obvious (in the advertising world, all yogis are young, thin and white) to considering how yoga can address, or entrench, negative body image, this blog often explores the connection between yoga, the way we feel about ourselves and how diversity in the yoga community is (or isn’t) represented. And I’m not alone.