Being “Other” in Spaces That Were Never Built for You
Many of us know what it feels like to be “other”—to move through spaces where your identity, your body, or your lived experience doesn’t quite fit the dominant story. Yoga spaces are no exception. The modern yoga world often centers bodies that are flexible, thin, white, financially resourced, and unburdened by trauma.
But yoga, in its original form, was created for everyone. The feeling of being “other” isn’t a personal flaw; it’s a signal that the space, not the person, is out of alignment. Naming this matters because our nervous systems register exclusion immediately. When you feel unseen or unsafe, your body shifts into defense—fight, flight, freeze, or fawn—long before your mind can make sense of it.
The irony is that many people who have histories of trauma are referred to yoga by mental health professionals. However, very few yoga spaces are actually equipped to handle the reality of bodies and nervous systems that are influenced by trauma. For a long time, as a yoga practitioner who was referred to yoga by a therapist, I felt like there was something “wrong” with me because I felt so out of place.
I didn’t have matching yoga clothes and the tight yoga clothes that were popular exacerbated my intense body dysmorphia. I didn’t want to lie down and close my eyes because it felt dangerous, and yet I made myself because I was told to do it and everyone else seemed to be fine. There were poses I couldn’t access because my arms were too short, or my belly got in the way, but no one acknowledged this or cued modifications - so I felt like I was not trying hard enough or not doing it right.
It took years of practice, years of study, and many experiences at different studios to realize that my body and my identity weren’t the problem. Studio yoga in the Western world is a brand of wellness that is mostly focused on physical fitness and that’s just not what I’m doing when I’m doing yoga.
Going to yoga, doing yoga, using tools from yoga should UNITE you with yourself and not make you feel the parts of your that feel different with more intensity. If you haven’t had a good experience with yoga studios, I’m sorry. And I know how it feels. Don’t let that stop you from accessing the tools of yoga that can be truly transformative.
Allow yourself to reclaim yoga as a path that welcomes your full humanity, especially the parts of us that have survived by being “other.”
Yoga is a tool for unification and harmony. When you are “other” and this feeling is increased in a yoga space, it’s likely an indication that this is not the right SPACE, not that yoga isn’t the correct tool.