Yoga?

[PheonyxJayde]

Question: have any of you used yoga as a method to try to build a more feminine body shape? I’m drawn to it as an idea but wonder if it’s helped anyone actually build a more feminine body. 
pheonyx 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, PheonyxJayde said:

Question: have any of you used yoga as a method to try to build a more feminine body shape? I’m drawn to it as an idea but wonder if it’s helped anyone actually build a more feminine body. 
pheonyx 

I practice a bit of yoga and it’s more about health and well being regardless of gender identity. You can stretch and lengthen muscles but you are also strengthening them and becoming more centered and balanced. Whether that achieves a more feminine body depends on what you what that feminine body to look like. Regardless of that, regular practice of yoga can only be good for you.

[rainflower]

The keyword in your question is build. In order to shape your body, you need to build it. You can do that with fat or muscle, with losing or gaining either depending on the area. The best way to build muscle to shape your body is strength training with weights.

 

[Beginsat43]

I'm pre-everything and have only been doing yoga for 2 months now but I will say it has taught me how to pay attention to what I eat and helped me connect with breath in a deeper way and be more consciously present in the body, rather than my head.  To my understanding there's a huge variety under the "Yoga" umbrella that have different intentions so it would depend on which one you're looking at. Also you can do a search for Trans Yoga on YouTube and find more info on this topic that I would recommend, having watched a few previously. Best of luck "staying hip" gf.

[Jackie C.]

I'd also add, that a friend of mine does trans yoga through her trans affirming enterprise "My Feminine Heart." She's a sweetheart and I'd be remiss if I didn't point you her way.

 

Hugs!

[Clofree]

I do some yoga and golf, but it's more about health and well-being than gender identification. Muscles may be stretched and lengthened while simultaneously being strengthened and becoming more focused and balanced. Particularly with golf when you hold a driver. Whether or if this results in a more feminine physique is dependent on what you want that feminine body to look like. Regardless, frequent yoga practice can only be beneficial.

[Rishaya]

I was a gymnast when in school.  Yes, you can do both flexability anc strengh training at the same time.  I competed on the rings

[Lydia_R]

I've been doing this lately:

 

 

Just a few seconds a couple times a day.  It feels good.  I'm not doing it for a body result in particular, but I like how occasional yoga has colored my life and body.

 

 

Ok, I'm just a M->F hippie!

 

 

 

Ohm.

 

 

 

 

CQ

[Susan R]

When I was growing up I was misinformed on what yoga was all about. I never seriously looked into it for that reason. I grew up in a very conservative Christian home and you wouldn’t believe some of the idiocy I was told about yoga. It never made much sense to me but Yoga was frowned upon in our family for various reasons….all of them were, of course, incorrect and misleading.

 

As @Lydia_R has pointed out…these sometimes simple repetitive movements and stretches are amazingly helpful in so many ways. I learn at least a few new movements every week in class that can done at home with little prep. At first, they seem to identify weakness in areas of one’s body but with time and a little effort can restore a bit of one’s youth in movement, flexibility, stamina, and balance.

 

Today, I can’t believe how much yoga has strengthened muscle groups I ignored for the better part of my life. It also has other indirect effects by improving self image, mood, and sleep, breathing, focus, and overall well-being.

[Astrid]

I actively practice QiGong and TaiChi, which is a wonderful way to exercise muscles you formerly didn’t know you had.  Additionally it builds stamina, perception of small things, and the ability to just be in the moment rather than having thoughts racing through your mind. 

 

Works for young and old and easily 6adapts to any ability level. I love it!

 

Astrid 

 

 

 

 

[Ashley0616]

I was invited to attend a yoga class and I don't know if I'll go. They'll see me without my wig and I usually don't want for people to see it without. The only exception is if I get is when I'm just getting the mail or taking the trash cans out to the curb. 

[KathyLauren]

1 hour ago, Ashley0616 said:

They'll see me without my wig and I usually don't want for people to see it without.

I have the same concern.  I just wear an old wig to my yoga class.  I have to be a little careful when lying on my back, such as in the cool-down at the end, that it doesn't come off.  But for most of the exercises, it is fine.

[Lydia_R]

1 hour ago, Ashley0616 said:

I was invited to attend a yoga class and I don't know if I'll go. They'll see me without my wig and I usually don't want for people to see it without.

 

I tend to avoid groups in general.  Something about my personality.  I worked hard last year on trying to break those barriers, but I enjoy mostly being alone.  Like body types, there are all types of people and styles out there.

 

I learned traditional yoga moves in the mid-90's from a VHS tape.  Downward Dog, Warrior, etc...  The special thing about it is that it had an amazing cool down routine using props (yoga blankets and/or pillows) under your knees, neck, lower and upper back.  It feels uncomfortable for lack of a better word to have this big object and trying to conform around it, but it was wonderful and after the end of the 15 minute cool down, I was feeling amazing.  I gave the tape to a close friend and she came back the next day and and was laughing.  I never got the tape back   I used it quite a bit though and can remember the basic moves and improvise a routine.  I do the more advanced airplane pose now and am trying to extend that some more.  Gradual progress over the decades.  Something to do.

 

Oh, and I bought a more beginner/intermediate yoga DVD during the pandemic and did that for a while in my LBD under the black lights.  Those routines where half sitting poses.  Like twisting your body to look left and right in the chair.  Spreading your legs and trying to put your hands on the floor.  It was fun.  I don't have my TV setup at the moment, but it may come back some day.

[Ashley0616]

9 minutes ago, Lydia_R said:

 

I tend to avoid groups in general.  Something about my personality.  I worked hard last year on trying to break those barriers, but I enjoy mostly being alone.  Like body types, there are all types of people and styles out there.

 

I learned traditional yoga moves in the mid-90's from a VHS tape.  Downward Dog, Warrior, etc...  The special thing about it is that it had an amazing cool down routine using props (yoga blankets and/or pillows) under your knees, neck, lower and upper back.  It feels uncomfortable for lack of a better word to have this big object and trying to conform around it, but it was wonderful and after the end of the 15 minute cool down, I was feeling amazing.  I gave the tape to a close friend and she came back the next day and and was laughing.  I never got the tape back   I used it quite a bit though and can remember the basic moves and improvise a routine.  I do the more advanced airplane pose now and am trying to extend that some more.  Gradual progress over the decades.  Something to do.

 

Oh, and I bought a more beginner/intermediate yoga DVD during the pandemic and did that for a while in my LBD under the black lights.  Those routines where half sitting poses.  Like twisting your body to look left and right in the chair.  Spreading your legs and trying to put your hands on the floor.  It was fun.  I don't have my TV setup at the moment, but it may come back some day.

I do like it, but the problem is that I have a three-year-old that is up my butt lol! I did try it and enjoyed how I felt. Especially using muscles that I didn't know that existed. 

[Ashley0616]

1 hour ago, KathyLauren said:

I have the same concern.  I just wear an old wig to my yoga class.  I have to be a little careful when lying on my back, such as in the cool-down at the end, that it doesn't come off.  But for most of the exercises, it is fine.

A couple of people know that I'm trans but the others I'm definitely worry about. Yoga definitely moves the head around a lot. I might just wait till my hair grows out. 

[BobbiSkunk]

I actually have Yoga as part of my exercise routine at the moment.  Since I'm still in the first month (of three, arbitrarily chosen by me) I've only got it slated for weekends, Sat/Sun.  I am finding out though if I get a little in during my morning wake up that when I get to my cardio in the evening, my joints don't ache as much.

Right now the routine is:
Weekly - Minimum of 3 days of cardio
Weekly - Minimum 1 day of Yoga
Monthly - Single endurance jog, preferably on Sunday

I want my big thighs and butt to kinda hang around, so I am going to work some cycling into the mix after the third month.

So far though, with the help of the Yoga stretches, Down 14lbs in a month.

Next week is month 2.  ;_;  Going to put the tredmill on a slight incline to see if I'm ready for it.  If ya don't hear from me, the tredmill ate me.

Oh!  I use a product called Yoga Stack 52, so I can Yoga at home.  It's just a deck of cards with the poses, difficulty, areas they stretch, and a nifty QR code you can scan to see a demonstration.

[Graceful Curves]

Can you do this?  Not many people can.  It's called "W-sitting" or virasana in yoga. 

 

Here I am demonstrating:  Butt on the floor, knees on the floor, lower legs and feet splayed outward. 

 

Please don't hurt yourself! 

 

 

[kat2]

We did yoga at ballet school it was the first lesson of the day starting at six in the morning. Yoga is important to ballet because its about mind, some of the exercises in ballet could be really painful, part of yoga was about pain management and working through the point of pain. If you thought about it you would tense up and that would make it worse. The butterfly pose or a variation of it was to have someone stand on your knees and push them flat down to the ground, a teacher would then go behind and pull your body back until your head touched the ground. Never do this pose it has to be supervised and is usually done once the body is warmed up and your mentally relaxed. Once you manage to relax the teacher would lift your head your partner stopped standing on your knees and the teacher would then pull you forwards by holding your hands until your face touched the floor, the teacher would say relax and work through the point of pain.The important part is to keep your knees to the floor, so, why do they teach this for classical ballet? well its because we turn out our legs, eg first and second position, fourth open fourth closed and fifth, known other wise as positions of the feet.