My name is Abigail Bassett and Yoga For Normal People started as an idea that I had when I first started yoga teacher training back in 2016. I was still a beginning yogi, just starting to dip my toes into yoga and I started following a whole bunch of yogis on Instagram. Photo after photo, video after video showed toned, beautiful, thin, strong, men and women, easily executing some of the most beautiful and most difficult yoga poses I’d ever seen. It was inspiring, so I tried some of them for myself.
Needless to say, I was no where near being able to do those poses. I assumed it was because I didn’t look like those people. I didn’t have abs of steel that rippled in plank. I wasn’t lean and flexible. I dug deeper on social media and tried to find people who were different from the norm of buff and perfect bodies. I wanted people that looked like me. People who were beginners, too. Those who weren’t afraid to work hard and be who they were. Those who weren’t trying to build a giant following on Instagram and sell mats and towels and yoga pants. Those who were simply practicing and photographing themselves practicing for the sheer joy of seeing their own progress.
It took awhile but, after some digging, I discovered that there were others like me who wanted more than just perfect people doing impossible yoga poses. They wanted yoga to be accessible and inclusive. They did yoga to feel good about themselves, their bodies, their strength, regardless of what they looked like, where they lived, or what language they spoke.
There is a community out there that wants to be part of the yoga conversation whether they can do Bakasana or not. They want to be seen and acknowledged for their hard work and their passion for yoga. That is what inspired me to start Yoga For Normal People.
The meaning of yoga is “to yoke.” Through the practice of asana you yoke the body to the breath. Through practice you evolve and learn about love, compassion, understanding, patience, healing, and a myriad of other emotions that you can apply to yourself and those around you. Just because you can’t do a handstand doesn’t mean that you don’t have something to add to the world of yoga. It also doesn’t mean that yoga doesn’t have something to offer you.
Join me on the journey and let’s see where it takes us.
Want to see some of the photo shoots I’ve done? Check them out here.
Interested in my blog? Check out Yoga In Real Life, here.
Want to find out about my lineage and education? How about you click here?