Episode 02: Saying you’re inclusive and not meeting expectations is more damaging than you think - with Lucy Bishop
Inclusivity and accessibility have been a much talked about topic for the last decade, even more so during and post-pandemic. It’s an important topic and one to be taken seriously because we live in a diverse world and society needs to include everyone.
What does that mean for a yoga class or the fitness industry though? Yoga is for everyone. Can every class be accessible to every single person though? Well, no, but without holding space for beginners as well as advanced students, addressing the gender imbalance, and acknowledging that marginalised groups have barriers to the yoga space, how can we claim it is a space for everyone?
What needs to change is creating accurate descriptions of classes so people can decide for themselves if the class is suitable for them or not and making sure there are offerings from diverse teachers. Saying you're inclusive and then not actually living up to expectations is hurtful and harmful to those who were told otherwise, who took the time to show up, and find the class is definitely not for them; leaving the experience feeling intimidated and like they don’t belong.
Honesty & clarity in class descriptions, and creating a diverse schedule that can accommodate everyone in a range of classes is what's important. Lucy gave us a very insightful talk about this and much more: how to use inclusive language, social bias in fitness & yoga classes and not assuming someone in a bigger body is a beginner or incapable.
Lucy is super passionate about all of these topics and we both learned a lot from listening to her and are excited to bring this episode to you!
Connect with Lucy on Instagram @lucybyoga & @bigyogaclub and her website https://lucybyoga.com/
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