Yes, You can still do Yoga... Even if you Poo Poo the Woo Woo
- Fionna .
- May 20
- 4 min read
Updated: May 21
Let’s be real:
If the word yoga makes your eyes roll…
If you’ve ever muttered, “Yeah nah, not for me”…
If you think it’s just for people who can contort themselves into pretzels…
If you assume it's only for hippies who don’t like to shower, chant under the moon, and confuse hugging strangers with emotional healing...
If you’re convinced all this heart-opening stuff is just a fawning response to severe childhood trauma…???
This IS for you.
Because same.
I’ve been there.
And I still teach yoga.
You don’t need to become a different person to find value in yoga.
You don’t need to believe in past lives or wear hemp to class.
You don’t even need to like people.
What you do need is a body, a breath, and the tiniest willingness to get curious.
That’s it.
And if any part of you has judged yoga hard—you’re exactly who will benefit the most from it.
My (Imperfect, Non-Enlightened) Yoga Journey
I didn’t walk into my first class seeking spiritual awakening. I walked in sore, tired, and stressed.....trying to “balance out” my gym sessions.
Yoga was the cool-down. The extra. The stretch.
I had zero flexibility, couldn’t sit on my feet, and silently prayed I’d survive until Shavasana.
And yet… I kept showing up.
Then one day, I surrendered: I had a kinesiology session with an 80-year-old farmer who waved a copper crown over my head (yes, really). Twenty minutes later....I could sit on my feet without pain (first time in since school age). No incense. No chants. Just a shift. And something clicked.
From that point on, yoga stopped being just a workout....and started becoming a place I could breathe again without pressure, a place where possibilities became my playground.
From Lululemon to Letting Go
Eventually, I became a yoga teacher.I ate lentils. I wore the gear. I practiced inversions. I could say all the Sanskrit names (I was in intellectual heaven).
But under the surface, I was clinging to an identity. I was performing the role of “yoga teacher” more than I was living the actual practice.
Motherhood unraveled all of that. I didn't have time to do my practice. I didn’t care about being bendy. I wasn’t trying to look the part (I was lucky to shave both legs!).
All I wanted was a safe space to feel.
And slowly, yoga became that space again....not the shape I could twist into, but the shape of my attention, my breath, and my self-kindness.
It was my safe space, where I could be brutally honest with myself.
What Yoga Really Is (Spoiler: It’s Not a Cult)
Let’s set the record straight:
Yoga is not a religion.Yoga is not a self-improvement project.Yoga is not reserved for people with flexible hamstrings and fluent Sanskrit.
Yoga means union—between mind, body, and soul.
It’s a framework for self-inquiry. A tool for calming your nervous system. A map that helps you meet yourself.....especially when life feels overwhelming, unpredictable, or loud.
You don’t have to chant.You don’t have to believe in chakras.You don’t have to stop shaving your armpits.
You can come in with eye-roll energy and still leave with something sacred.
Nervous System First, Pretzels Later
Here’s the truth most yoga classes don’t say out loud:
When you try something new...especially something vulnerable like yoga, your brain might tell you it’s not safe.Your ego might shout:
“You’re not good at this.”“You look stupid.”“Everyone’s judging you.”
But that’s not truth. That’s just your nervous system reacting to the unfamiliar.
What yoga (the kind I teach) actually does is help you calm that response, not override it.You learn to show up for yourself, gently.You meet your limits with curiosity, not punishment.You learn to trust your body again, not because it’s “performing,” but because it’s communicating.
That’s the real practice.
Common Misconceptions (That Need to be made redundant)
❌ “I’m not flexible enough to do yoga.”
✅ Flexibility is not a prerequisite. It’s a maybe-someday side effect. You don’t have to be bendy, you just have to be breathing.
❌ “Yoga is only for spiritual people.”
✅ Spirituality is optional. Self-awareness is what lands. You can skip the chanting and still find your centre.
❌ “Yoga is boring.”
✅ Boredom is usually your nervous system resisting stillness. That’s not wrong...it’s information. And if you are bored? Try a different style, teacher, or tempo. Yoga has flavors... and maybe (just maybe).... this is a call for you to practice presence? Ho many times did you think about that coffee afterwards??
❌ “I’m too anxious / too stiff / too Type A.”
✅ Exactly why yoga might help. Not because it changes who you are...but because it lets you feel yourself fully, safely, without trying to fix.
What If Yoga Isn’t About Changing You at All?
What if yoga isn’t here to turn you into some ethereal, zen’d out peace fairy?
What if it’s just here to remind you who you were before the world asked you to be everything else? To fit into boxes and conform??
What if yoga isn’t about being better, but about being here? In your body. In your breath. In your truth.
Want to Try? You Don’t Need to Join a Cult
Here’s how you can start:
Come to an in-person class with me in Hervey Bay 🧘♀️ Book here
Try a self-paced nervous system-informed course 💻 Explore courses
Or… try this right now:
Mini Yoga Moment (yes, from your chair):
Inhale, rolling your shoulders up to your ears. Exhale, roll them slowly down your back gently squeezing your shoulder blades towards one another.
Notice how your body feels.
There.You just did yoga. No mat. No headstand. No spiritual bypassing.
Final Thoughts (From a Reluctant Convert)
I used to think yoga wasn’t for people like me. Now I think yoga is exactly for people like me. People with trauma. People with resistance. People with real lives, loud brains, and busy hearts.
Yoga didn’t “fix” me. It reminded me that I didn’t need fixing.
So if you’ve ever judged it, avoided it, or laughed at it....try it anyway.
Your body might be waiting to say: finally.
With love,
Fionna x
Keep calm, keep curious, and stay connected.
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