The Health Diaries

Yogi Jessamyn Stanley Is So Over Wellness Shaming

‘I’ve let go of the need to practice wellness for other people.’

There are many ways to live a healthy life. The Health Diaries is a weekly series about the habits that keep notable people living well.

Yoga practitioner and teacher Jessamyn Stanley’s health and fitness philosophies are refreshing. After all, the body-positivity advocate has made a career out of breaking down barriers to wellness activities like yoga, making the practice accessible to everybody and every body. Her book, Every Body Yoga, teaches readers to focus on how yoga can make them feel rather than how they look doing it. Stanley, 31, is based in Durham, North Carolina, but she travels from coast to coast teaching classes. She talked to Medium about why her yoga and health journey is just for her — and no one else.

I tend to wake up between 7 and 8 a.m. I am one of those people who set an alarm at 5:30 a.m. and then it’s like, no, bitch, you’re not waking up right now. I set several alarms. You shoot for as early as you can.

The first thing I do after I wake up is drink water. It’s important to me. I recognize I’m getting older. I am different now than I was at 28. I feel it in every part of my body. Right now I…