This Yoga Instructor With Over 17 Years Of Experience Was Almost Barred From A Yoga Class Due To What She Looks Like

Tiffany Crow, a woman with over four hundred and sixty thousand followers on TikTok, is no stranger to yoga. In fact, she has been a yoga instructor for nearly two decades.
Despite her extensive resume of experience, though, Tiffany still encounters prejudice because of her size.
She recently shared a disheartening conversation with another yoga studio that actually tried to bar her from an “advanced class” due to her looks.
Tiffany had decided to try out a new studio and signed up for a high-level class. After all, she has been practicing and teaching yoga for years. But, after trying to sign in at the front desk, Tiffany experienced some push-back.
“You do realize that this is a more advanced class?” the studio employee first asked Tiffany.
“Yeah, that’s exactly why I am taking it. I am a yoga teacher and have been practicing for over seventeen years,” she responded.
Despite all of this credibility, though, the employee looked Tiffany up and down and said, “Okay, we just don’t see very many people with larger bodies like yours. So, just keep in mind that if it gets too hard, you can always rest in child’s pose.” Say what?
Stephanie was taken aback and said, “That’s one way to look at it.” Then, the employee forced her to “double check” with the yoga instructor because she might think the class was “too difficult.”
TikTok; pictured above is Stephanie in her video recounting her experience at the yoga studio
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
Despite her frustration, Stephanie did bite her tongue, approached the instructor, and explained how the front desk employee wanted her to “check in” with them.
“I think she was implying that, like, my body was a little bit bigger than what she normally sees in this class and she was concerned,” Stephanie told the instructor.
“Yeah, she is correct. You do have a larger body than what we normally see in this class, and this class is a bit more higher intensity. Did she tell you about child’s pose?” the instructor responded.
Stephanie confirmed that she did, in fact, know about child’s pose because she has been a practicing yoga instructor for over seventeen years.
But, what the instructor replied back was beyond rude.
“Well, just because you have been practicing for over seventeen years does not mean you have been practicing every single day for seventeen years,” they said.
“So, maybe you haven’t exactly put as many hours on the mat as some of the other students, is what I am saying.”
Sick of it, Stephanie stated the obvious: that she was at the studio and wanted to take the class.
“So is it okay that I take this class? Are there any more hoops I need to jump through?” she rightfully responded.
The yoga instructor had the nerve to say they were not trying to “make this difficult” on Stephanie and wanted to make sure she was in the “right class.”
Eventually, the instructor did try to wrap up the conversation, and Stephanie did stay for the class.
But, Stephanie shared the TikTok detailing her experience in hopes of shining a light on how many barriers to entry there are plus-size people in the sporting sector.
“I felt like I was in the right class, and it is really frustrating when a larger person comes into a yoga studio, and they are met with all of this red tape– like ‘your body is too big,’ and ‘we are concerned for you,'” Stephanie said.
“I know my body better than anybody else,” she continued.
Stephanie’s video reached 5.7 million people, gained over seven hundred thousand likes, and prompted thousands of comments. So many people resonated with her awful experience and shared their shock at the situation.
“Why would anyone think it is okay to say this to someone?” asked one user.
“This is why I quit doing yoga! Advocating for myself is so stressful. I do not do yoga to get more stressed,” shared another commenter.
“This is such a true statement about any gym for someone who does not ‘look’ like an athlete,” agreed a third.
Tiffany has actually created yoga and self-love practices meant specifically for plus-sized people in order to combat these all-too-common stereotypes. To learn more about Tiffany and utilize her free yoga resources, you can visit her TikTok account linked here.
Or, to watch the original video, visit the link here.
@tiffanycroww
If true crime defines your free time, this is for you: join Chip Chick’s True Crime Tribe.
Her Boyfriend Broke Up With Her Because She Gave Her Mom A Card On Father’s Day
She Shared A Video Washing Her Kale In A Washing Machine And TikTok Has Questions
More About:Human Interest