If you’re the kind of woman who’s “not sure you’re a yoga person.”
Who’s also heard people rave about it and recommend it.
And, are low-key considering trying it out. 

I see you, and to be honest for a long time I was you. It might surprise you to find out that I didn’t take my first yoga class for years because I was terrified. 

What if I look stupid?
What if I get embarrassed?
What if I can’t do it?
What if the people aren’t welcoming and kind?

My insecurities far outweighed my desire back then. Because truthfully I had no idea what yoga was and no one had ever taught me to relate to myself in the way that yoga asks you to. 
Sound familiar?

Let’s talk about what’s really keeping you from trying yoga or actually giving yoga  a real chance to make a difference in your life. 

First off, it’s scary to try something new. Especially if you feel insecure about how you look, struggle with self-worth, have pain or health concerns, have felt unwelcome in the past or worry you’re going to suck at something. 

Secondly, it’s hard to actually comprehend that yoga might just be the exact thing that’s missing in your life. Especially when mainstream and social media projects the image that yoga is for $80 yoga pants wearing thin young white women in flashy poses. Which is deeply ironic considering that yoga is from India and was mostly practiced by people in their pajamas. 

Here are some things you should know about yoga, from someone who’s worked in the field since 2009 and practiced since 2006. 

• Yoga spaces are usually quite welcoming (but not always). It’s important to do a vibe check on the teacher or studio if you can before you go. Look for teachers and studios that make you feel comfortable, welcome as you are and genuinely care about your experience. 

 

• Most people start practicing because they’re having a hard time in some way or another. Some of the most common reasons are pain, anxiety, life transitions, loneliness, grief, etc. So just know that if you’re going through something - so are others turning to this wisdom tradition. 

 

• Yoga is a practice of inner focus where you’re asked to pay attention to yourself. Believe me, the other people pay as much attention to you as you would think. 

 

• Most people try it at home first these days. But here’s the thing, not every yoga teacher is teaching the same yoga. So try different kinds, different teachers, different approaches to find what you like. 

 

• You will get confused, fumble, maybe even fall over or get emotional. But you will also become stronger (inside and out), more graceful, feel stress you’ve carried for decades unwind, feel lighter - centered - more free than when you started. 

 

• Yoga is very holistic and more than exercise. It’s a wisdom tradition, an embodiment and spiritual practice. A set of tools that are designed to help you with the four pillars of your life: your body, mind, spirit and life. 

 

• Yoga could very well be the solution that you’re seeking. The doorway into feeling more comfortable in your own skin, playful, and simply put - like you are whole and at ease. Like the empty parts of you are filled and the weight is lifted. 

Now that you know all of this, I’m going to challenge you to take a step forward. 

Click here to take a peek at this 21 day home based yoga program called Daily Devotion that I made for you. It’s where you can find out what yoga can actually do for you and you can find a free yoga practice on this page. 

If you like it, consider signing up for the course and I’ll walk you through 10 minute a day practices that are designed for women who are genuinely wanting to practice in a way that benefits you. But also, honors a depth based practice. You won’t just find yoga that moves your body in this course, 

You’ll also find a varied “yogic diet” with energy and breathwork, meditation, relaxation and yoga philosophy that you can do in bite-sized chunks. 

If you've done the therapy — really done it, sat in the chair and done the brave work of looking honestly at your innermost experiences — and you've practiced yoga and journaled and meditated and done everything that self-aware women do when they're serious about healing, and you still feel stuck in the same patterns...

I need you to hear something clearly.
It is not your fault.

What yoga was always meant to be
The yoga most of us have been offered — even by teachers who genuinely care — has often been a diluted version of what yoga actually is. Not because those teachers were trying to shortchange anyone. Because the yoga industry extracted the practice from its roots before it ever reached most of us.

What the tradition actually holds is vast. The embodiment. The spiritual nourishment. The philosophy and the heart of the practice. The nervous system medicine. The sacred lifelong transformation that yoga was always designed to produce.

What most studios and online platforms have been offering is a fraction of that. Poses. Stress relief. Flexibility. These are real and they matter. They are not the whole medicine.

What therapy was designed to do — and what it wasn't
Therapy is genuinely profound and I want to name that clearly before I name its limits.

It teaches you to do the brave work of looking honestly at your innermost experiences. To name the pain that has shaped who you became. To understand the patterns and the mismatch between who you are and who you want to be. It offers tools for your mind, your emotional life and your relationships.

That is real work. It matters enormously.

And therapy was never designed to reach the layers of your body. Your somatic imprints. The way your nervous system learned to brace decades ago and hasn't quite unlearned it yet. Your relationship with your own soul.

When you're working with an incomplete version of yoga and a modality that was never meant to do this particular job — the gap you feel isn't evidence of your brokenness. It's evidence of a design flaw in what you were offered.

When body shame compounds everything
It compounds when we've also absorbed — from culture, from family, from the mirror — the belief that our bodies are inherently not enough. Not healthy enough. Not thin enough. Not young enough. Not fertile enough. Whatever the specific flavor of not enough has been for you.

It all becomes a thick layer of shame. Like a dirty window you can barely see through.
But even through that window — the sunshine is still pouring in.

Because your innermost Self — she knows. She knows more freedom is possible. More peace. More pleasure. Less backsliding and more moving joyfully toward what she actually wants.

Maybe not running toward it. Maybe jogging — with the best supportive sports bra they make and a good ponytail holder. 😂

But moving. Freely. In a body that finally feels like home.

What's actually missing
What bridges the gap between what therapy offers and what your body is still asking for is yoga practiced in its fullness — not as fitness, not as stress relief, not as a trending wellness tool.

Yoga as a complete therapeutic path. The movement and the breathwork and the meditation and the philosophy applied to your actual daily life and the somatic healing that happens when all of those things work together on your nervous system, your emotional patterns and your relationship with yourself over time.

That's what yoga was always designed to produce. And that's what most women who love yoga and have done the therapy are still waiting for.
​
It was never your fault that nobody offered you the whole thing yet.

Next steps...

Come Home to Your Body — free 10-minute somatic yoga practice Grab it here: https://kerimarino.eo.page/comehome​

How Deep is Your Yoga Practice Going? - free PDF quiz. Grab it here: https://kerimarino.eo.page/deepenyourpractice

Practice with me inside Daily Devotion - Instant Access Course
For the woman ready to build a real daily yoga practice that actually improves your life and well-being. 21 days. 10 minutes or less. Movement, breathwork, meditation and yogic philosophy — sequenced and structured so the only decision you make is pressing play.​
Click here to learn more and try a free practice. 
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1:1 Yoga Therapy in person and online - for when you're ready for deep personal work to help you integrate and heal. Find out more here: Get 1:1 Support

Keri Marino is a yoga therapist and yoga teacher since 2009 and the founder of The Nourished Woman. She works with self-aware women weaving depth and devotional based yoga practice with nervous system tending and inner work. She runs The Nourished Woman Podcast, works with women 1:1 and offers opportunities to practice and learn in person and online. Based in Greenville, SC.