I teach yoga in one of the most notoriously superficial places in the world: Los Angeles. I’m not thin, I’m on the cusp of what most would consider to be middle age, and I do not look like, nor do I want to look like an Instagram model. I teach yoga for normal people.

When I tell people that I am a yoga teacher, I am often greeted with one of two responses.

“Yeah? I can’t do yoga because I don’t look good in yoga pants / I don’t look like those yogis I see on online / I can’t touch my toes.”

Or:

“Oh. Really? You teach yoga?” As if they’re surprised that someone who looks like me could lead a room full of people through an hour-long practice.

My response is always the same. I teach yoga for the same reasons that I write and report: I want to make the world a better place using all the tools I have.

Through my teaching, I want to show people that yoga isn’t just for white, rail-thin fitness models doing Hanumanasana or Sirsanana at the beach in barely any clothing, like you see on Instagram. Yoga is for both for everybody and every body — every single one. Here’s why.

Read my story at Shondaland for more on Yoga For Every Body.