When Movement Felt Like Punishment - A personal share

Wednesday 10th September 2025

***Trigger warning: This post mentions disordered relationships with food, body image, and movement.

There was a time in my life when movement practices felt more like a form of punishment than something fun or enjoyable. During these times, it was often an exchange system — how much I moved determined what I was allowed to eat. I was always chasing a goal to fix, change, or shrink my body. And honestly? It was exhausting. Now, I don’t talk about this stuff lightly, and it’s very hard at times — but I also know that parts of my story are not unique.

When I first started practicing yoga, it was the first time I felt real relief — not just in my body, but in my mind. But when you start something new, people love to make assumptions. Coworkers commented on how I’d “get a flat tummy” or how they had a friend who did yoga and lost weight. Almost all the comments were centered around weight loss — and honestly, nothing more. In some studios, not all of them, teachers encouraged us to just push harder, to get into certain shapes, and said things like “don’t worry, you’ll get there someday.” It was all centered around the physical. The cues felt rigid. There was no space for how it actually felt.

Little did anyone know, I wasn’t looking to change my body. I was looking for the relief I had initially felt, and to change the relationship I had with my body. I was chasing space — space from all the noise that had taken up far too much room in my life for far too long.

Now, I’ll never claim yoga “healed” my relationship with my body. That journey has been layered, ongoing, and still has its challenges. But what did help was eventually finding supportive yoga spaces — spaces that allowed me to move at my own pace, honour my rhythms, and show up exactly as I am.

And this is ultimately why I care so deeply about language. Because I’ve felt firsthand how the words we use as teachers have the power to shape movement spaces — to create either pressure, or possibility. For me, it didn’t stop on the mat. And for others, it doesn’t either. The shift in language has rippled far beyond, reminding me that I don’t need to earn my worth through doing or proving, and I don’t need to shrink to fit in. I can take up space just as I am — and importantly, I get to choose how I move, how I show up, and how I live in my body.

If you’d like a place to begin exploring how language shapes the spaces you hold, download my free resource 5 Inclusive Cues to Try This Week.

A simple, supportive way to start weaving more safety, choice, and agency into your classes.