Befriending the Body

During her service in the US Marine Corps, Bailey Williams pushed her body to dangerous extremes through intense physical activity and disordered eating. Her memoir, Hollow, chronicles her journey from self-destruction toward healing.

Now a yoga teacher, Williams credits yoga and meditation as key to transforming her relationship with her body. Where she once treated her body as a machine to be dominated, she now experiences it as a source of profound wisdom and great delight.

Her story is a testament to yoga’s remarkable potential for healing, illustrating how we can fundamentally reshape our relationship with our bodies—from antagonistic to allyship.

Yet, the practices themselves don't automatically guarantee positive change.

I’ve witnessed students pushing through pain to the point of injury and never believing their poses (or meditations for that matter) are good enough. At times, I’ve recognized these same adverse tendencies in my own practice.

When yoga is driven by the standards and values of Western fitness culture, it can paradoxically work against us in the very same ways it’s meant to work for us. Instead of being a path toward wholeness and self-acceptance, it becomes another arena for self-criticism and relentless striving.

The antidote lies in shifting perspective. Rather than viewing yoga as a fitness modality - even one grounded in mindful movement and conscious breathing - we can explore yoga's deeper philosophical roots that affirm our inherent wholeness.

By starting from the premise that we are fundamentally enough just as we are, yoga becomes a practice of stepping into our intrinsic worthiness.

We learn to inhabit our bodies with kindness, compassion, respect, and maybe even joy. No longer an obstacle to be overcome, the body becomes our most trusted ally on our journey toward reclaiming our wholeness.