Body Wars, Body Peace

If you’re not a zero or 2, the latest standard for physical chic, does that mean your body’s not worthy?

If you never made a high school team, wore a letter, made the cheerleading squad, excelled at physical education – should you abandon your body?

That your body prefers pear or apple to flatbread, does that mean that big girls can’t get hot and be hot?

If you have flesh on your bones, jiggle when you move, have both a front and rear end, and plan to stay that way, is stasis the rhythm of your future?

We women are going to live longer than ever before. Why not enjoy that longevity by getting ready for the ride? Yoga embraces the wisdom of the past and is the wave of the future. Whether you worship at the shrine of Kate Moss or embrace Venus as your inner goddess, yoga works. It’s a great mind and body conditioner. And unlike so many other activities, it can be public or private, cheap or dear, a vacation for an hour or a way of living.

In Mega Yoga, Megan Garcia, guides those blessed with plus size genes and relaxed metabolism through a yoga program that celebrates the bigger body, recognizes its needs and accommodates its curves. Her program enhances breathing, flexibility, strength, balance and muscle tone. Page by page, she proves that bigger babes are part of the circle of beauty, love their bodies and can move with grace.

What does working with your body have to do with self esteem? Everything. How many women walk around saying I’m a mean, uninteresting, unlikeable wretch? How many of us share with virtual strangers our loathing of our arms, hips, thighs, butt, etc. etc. Integrate the internal and external. Accept your genes. Work with your subcutaneous fat. Hug your hips. Stop clicking. Get off your chair. It’s time for a sun salutation.

10.09.2006

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Megan Garcia fell in love with yoga in her first class at Smith College in the early 1990´s. She received teacher training at Kripalu Center in Lenox, MA in 1999. She started teaching on Manhattan´s Upper West Side soon after. She rapidly developed a following in the comminity of plus-sized women who enjoyed the body-friendly modifications and positive spirit of Megan´s teachings. In February 2005 Megan released her first DVD, Yoga Just My Size (TM) with Megan Garcia. By day Megan works as a successful plus-size model for such publications as Figure Magazine and Glamour as well as the style guidebook Figure It Out. Her clients include Lane Bryant and Fashion Bug. Megan lives in New York with her husband.