F*ability

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Our Tuesday/Thursday Vinyasa classes have monthly focuses. One month might center on backbends, another peak poses, another yoga philosophy. It’s a way to keep us focused and continually learning about our practices and ourselves.

Our focus for October was words that ended in ility. The first class focused on flexibility; the next mobility; others stability, agility, humility, and so on. The theme for our final class was f*ability, which focused on glute strengthening and creating the perfect yoga butt so that we could stay f*able for as long as possible.

The idea for this ironic take on posterior strengthening was inspired by an Inside Amy Schumer sketch called Last F*able Day.

In our centering pose at the beginning of class, I explained the sketch to my students: Schumer is walking in the woods and, to her astonishment, stumbles upon Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tina Fey, and Patricia Arquette having a picnic. They explain to Schumer that they’re celebrating Dreyfus’s “last f*able day,” i.e., the day the media decides an actress is no longer “believably f*able.”

“They cast you differently; your wardrobe is different,” they tell Schumer. The celebration was particularly notable, they said, because Dreyfus had been deemed believably f*able well into her 50’s, which was longer than most actresses. When Schumer asks if the same standards applied to male actors, the group laughs knowingly, then starts to prepare Schumer for the cruel world of middle-age acting as a female.

“I thought we’d riff on this superficial notion of what f*ability means in modern society by focusing on glute strengthening so that we too can stay believably f*able for as long as possible,” I ironically told the class as we continued to center. “So connect with your breath, turn in, and feel yourself tapping into your inner power, your inherent worth, which is deep down what they mean by f*able.”

The class continued with a strong posterior chain practice that clearly challenged my students. But despite the physical challenges, the psycho-emotional challenges of thinking we need to look, act, or feel a particular way can be far more challenging both on and off the mat.

At the end of class while my students lay in Savasana, I said, “Can you imagine the pressure high level actors put on themselves to look or be a certain way? While I think glute strengthening is worth your time and discipline, what you look like doesn’t define you. It’s not a perfect pose or perfect butt that makes you f*able, i.e., worthy. It’s who you are exactly as you are.”

In this month of resolution setting, I hope you realize your worth is so much more than what others (or you) think you should look or be like.

Namaste, f*able yogis.