Yoga Clothing

Breath: It is the most important aspect of our practice. It is a pillar of yoga practice and living a yogic life. Breathe, always breathe, especially through the tough spots, whether that means an asana, an argument with your partner, watching your child ride their bike alone for the first time, or driving in your car. In yoga class, when the music is gently floating around us and our teacher is gently talking us out of our past and future moments to right here in our poses, should be the easiest time to breathe. If we have restrictive clothing on in our practice, it can prevent us from taking the complete breath we need to nourish our bodies and spirits. As your pants cut into your waist and a small roll develops on your side, are you breathing or are you worried about what your neighbor is looking at?

Fit is important, especially as you pretzel yourself into a warrior interlock. We’ve all seen what can happen if our clothes don’t fit exactly as they should, a student with a little too much cleavage, the yoga pants that you have to constantly pull up or, even better, the ones that should be pulled up but instead the woman in front of you has her thong in plain view all during class. The proper fit for yoga clothing should be comfortable and easy to move in without leaving a lot of room for the clothing to gap or expose too much. Yoga pants come in all sorts of different versions–Capri length, long, wide waistband, above the waist, below the navel, wide-legged, narrow-legged, etc. Unfortunately, finding the perfect pair is like finding the perfect shoes: You may have to try on 30 pairs to get the right fit for you. Yoga tops are a similar story but worse. Not only do they have to fit on your body but they also have to stay in place as you work through your practice. When I try on yoga tops, I always make sure I try a down dog and a forward fold in the dressing room. You don’t want any accidents in class!

You may think I’ve really gone off the deep end with this next idea. Ethics. How can yoga clothing affect one’s ethics? We try to imagine our fellow yogic companions as others on the path, but can we ever assume we understand what that path is? What we might forget is that for some this time in class is the only time to themselves they get. For you it may be working on a more balanced Bakasana or crow pose, but for others it may be a time when they figure out how to deal with the fact that their family has walked all over them for the past 20 years, or that their eating patterns are impacting every aspect of their lives. This is sacred time and it needs to be respected as that. So how can yoga clothes be unethical? Imagine that you are watching a student in front of you go into down dog and the seat of their pants is so worn through that you can see everything. Or that a man in class wears shorts a little too loose and, in Badda Konasana, you can see right up them. Now imagine that you are recovering from sexual abuse and this is what you see in class. We have an ethical responsibility to respect everyone in our class, including ourselves. The clothes you wear may not be fully respectful of those around you.

The last idea I would like you to consider as you explore the path with your yoga practice and work to heal yourself is how we can carry that healing beyond us through our clothing choices. One way is to buy eco-friendly products. We may accomplish this by purchasing organic cotton and hemp clothing or by purchasing clothing from retailers who believe in fair trade or paying employees in developing countries a livable wage. Whatever your choice, take a moment to consider the larger impact on the earth, those who created your clothing and the children who will live here after we have left this world.

Clothes definitely do not make the person in yoga, but they can influence you and those around you. Next time you are considering a yoga clothing purchase, actually try it on and do a pose or two. If you are fiddling with it in the dressing room, then you will probably fiddle with it even more as you work through your practice. Yoga is supposed to be a safe place where you can relax, let go and explore some of the life gunk that we all have to deal with. Why not take one more aspect out of what can drive us crazy and buy comfortable clothes with full coverage in which you can move and breathe. In fact, this is probably not a bad idea for every aspect of our life; shouldn’t we always wear what is comfortable, appropriate and good for our well-being?