fat positive

I was introduced to the concept of ugliness when I was five years old. It was, for almost all intents and purposes, the totality of who I was. Fat was me. I was fat. I was taught that fat is the opposite of everything that is feminine, moral, and beautiful. Just like ugliness. But even though I still live in the awful world that made my traumatic childhood possible, I know for certain that ugliness isn’t a physical reality, it is a cultural fabrication. I truly believe that we are born with the capacity to see beauty in all things, and it is through the dispiriting reality of our cultural education that we lose that ability.

Some of our happiest moments are those when we think that no one is watching: when we sing at the top of our lungs in our cars, or we dance down the frozen-food aisle of the supermarket allowing ourselves the freedom to let our inner child out. However, when you’re fat and the fat person’s representative, you don’t get any of those times of abandon because you’re always trying to lead by example and show that you’re the perfect fat person.

I am currently in Los Angeles trying to forget that the election happened.

By the time you read this, Babecamp Jamaica will be over. My 57 mosquito bites will have just stopped itching.

There is literally weed everywhere. You know when you’re at a concert and you’re like *sniff sniff* someone’s smoking weed. Yeah. That’s all the time here. In fact, I don’t even smell weed anymore. The air is weed.

The bag of weed is the size of my forearm. I don’t know how to judge weed quantities, but Glen tells me everyone can carry two ounces. I assume that’s how much. However much, it’s A LOT. The buds are still attached to the... stalk of the plant? The branch? Whatever, the weed is on a stick. It's weed on a stick.

I'm by no means the first person to describe it as "feminist Fight Club." There isn't much else to say that could possibly be more convincing.

With a new book in the works and a lifelong commitment to making yoga accessible and enjoyable for everyone, we called Jessamyn up to chat about her yogi beginnings, the spiritual roots of her practice, and the revolutionary act of letting yourself exist.