Integral Yoga Magazine: What is Big Yoga?

Meera Kerr: It is the Integral Yoga Hatha I class adapted to the needs of larger people. As I got older I noticed my body was changing. I saw a need for an adaptation to serve those who want to do Yoga but can't do what thinner people are doing.

IYM: Can you give us an idea of what this adaptation entails? 
MK: As I started gaining weight I began experimenting. I want to credit Ren Fields for a wall adaptation of the salute to the sun. A chair is not stable enough - so a wall brings a certain element of comfort.

By AMY NEWPORT - Josephine Magazine
It’s hard not to be self-conscious when exercising, especially in a room full of lithe, young bodies, but it’s even harder for women who fall into the plus-size range.

It isn’t just about comfort, though, it’s also about physical capabilities.

One teacher, Patricia “Meera” Kerr, who is plus-size herself, has reached out to the plus-size community and developed yoga routines that can be performed easily by someone who hasn’t exercised in years and may be significantly overweight.

A FLUFFY OMELET OF LUST
Meera Patricia Kerr has been big since childhood. Even during a short run of relatively skinny - but still amply curvy - days around her college years, an admirer called her his "flufry omelet of lust." Kerr has always been comfortable with her body.

She's also long been comfortable with yoga. She spent her formative yoga years at Yogaville, the ashram of Swami Satchidananda in Virginia, studying integral yoga. The practice encourages spiritual unity, "an easeful body, a peaceful mind, and a useful life."

By Dorene Internicola

NEW YORK | Mon Jul 5, 2010 6:52pm IST

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - When one of Meera Patricia Kerr's students tried to attend a regular yoga class the instructor told her to come back when she lost weight.

"That kind of broke my heart, said Kerr, a yoga instructor and author of "Big Yoga, a Simple Guide for Bigger Bodies."