Flexibility: Yoga And The Pretzel Myth

I have been practicing yoga for eight years and have taught for six. Yoga is a large part of my life and in a larger way defines my life course. When people ask me about yoga, I lend a passionate and encouraging ear, for it has so transformed my life that I want to help others discover, and benefit from, yoga’s transformative powers, too.

I have fielded many questions from strangers, friends, family and students alike about yoga: its history, its various styles, its extreme popularity, its curious language, where to find classes and more. I love to share all this information. I live for it. 

People also express concerns about whether or not yoga will help them. “Will it help me lose weight?” “Will it help me quit smoking?” “Will it make my back feel better?” These are all valid questions, and the answer to them all is a resounding, “yes.” If one undertakes a practice and sticks with it, then yes.

But, when I am talking to people and they dismiss yoga, I am stopped in my tracks. The dismissal, sadly, often is accompanied by a very specific reason, which I’ve heard over and over. It more often than not is a variation of this: “It looks great and all, but I can’t do yoga. I’m not flexible.” 

Welcome to the power of the “Pretzel Myth.”

One of the most misunderstood aspects about yoga is people believe that you have to arrive at it already possessing amazing flexibility. And, one of the most misunderstood aspects of the human body is to think you either are flexible or not.

The truth is you start where you are when you undertake yoga, and yoga will do the rest. The other truth is that yoga makes you flexible. To the best of your own body’s ability, a regular yoga practice will bring you increased flexibility.

I was as stiff as a board when I started practicing yoga. My flexibility is much better now, but based on how my skeleton is constructed, I might never be able to sit on the floor with my legs double-crossed. I might never be able to touch the back of my head with my toes. I don’t care. My body is vastly healthier than it was when I began. Back then, I was tight…and uptight.

If you suffer from the Pretzel Myth—believing you can’t practice yoga at all because you’re not built for it—here’s a visualization sequence that might help:

Picture a member of Cirque de Soleil. Picture a magic show contortionist in a box.  Picture an Olympiad gymnast flipping, twisting, and turning in the air. Picture a ballerina turning on a dime with her back bent like the letter C. Now un-picture all of this. None of this is yoga.

Now picture a man from yoga’s originate country, India, sitting in a loin cloth under the trees with one leg lifted and folded entirely behind his head, or on the ground doing “the splits.” This is yoga, and some of what he does looks like the folks above, but this is not all of yoga, and it is certainly not yoga for all people.

And finally, picture elderly people in a nursing home sitting in a circle on folding chairs, moving their upper bodies to help them get stronger. Picture a baby learning to stand up on her own, her bottom in the air and her arms stretched out in front of her, holding her own, balancing with her feet and hands. Picture soldiers lying on the floor in a training facility as they are led through a series of breathing exercises to help them cope with stress and insomnia.

This is yoga. Yoga, literally, is for every body.

So say goodbye to The Pretzel Myth if it’s held you back from trying yoga, and find your way to a practice.