Why I Wear Fitted Yoga Clothes

Schools across the country have banned yoga pants, while one lawmaker in Montana actually wants to outlaw fitted leggings in public. Some people claim that yoga pants are indecent and "distracting." Others argue that they are just comfortable pants (I agree!).

Stepping inside the studio, it's clear that there are a lot of benefits to wearing fitted yoga clothes on your mat. They move with you, they stay in place, and they are comfortable. But I didn't always feel that way.

My journey to fitted yoga clothes

I walked into my first vinyasa yoga class wearing sweatpants and a loose t-shirt. Mainly because just going to the studio by myself was intimidating enough without also showing off my thick thighs and squishy belly.

The other students, all women, were clad in more typical yoga attire: fitted yoga pants and tops. I soon learned why.

Take downward facing dog in a loose t-shirt and see how quickly the hem starts bagging open to expose your belly or, worse, bunching up around your armpits. And sweatpants? They stop being comfortable the moment you start dripping sweat, which is about five minutes into class.

Looking around, I saw women of every age, and every body type, moving and breathing together. They were working hard, but they weren't fighting their clothes. They weren't tugging at their runaway shirts or tripping over their floppy pant legs.

I kept up my baggy clothing for awhile, making slight changes which didn't do much to make me more comfortable. Eventually, though, I became frustrated enough to face my fear and invest in some fitted yoga clothes (from Target, where you can often find some great basics).

I was self-conscious the first time I left the house in my new clothes. I'm not sure what I expected. Maybe whispering and pointing, maybe some Mean Girls-style snarky "compliments." Maybe leering, if there were men in class. But when I got to the studio, no one treated me any differently. I was just another student, wearing yoga clothes for a yoga class.

Let me say that again: I was just another yoga student, wearing yoga clothes for a yoga class.

That may seem like nothing special to many people, but, to me, it was a revelation. Whatever nightmare I had feared, it didn't happen. What I was wearing was entirely a non-issue.

Now, to clarify, I wasn't completely comfortable that first day. I was still a bit self-conscious during that class, and for several more after that. I was still on the lookout for stares or smirks, but, if there were any, I didn't see them.

The one thing that did change right away was the way I felt during that first class in my new clothes. I could simply move! I could stop thinking about whether my shirt was riding up or my waistband was sagging down. I could start focusing on my breath and on listening to the teacher's cues.

With that change of clothes, came a change in my perception. Yoga clothes aren't fitted to show off your body; they are fitted to let you forget your clothes and focus on the feel of your body. On it's agility, strength and movement.

And that's what happened. The benefits of being comfortable began to outweigh my self-judgment and, over time, I began to see my body in a different light. When I looked in the mirror after class, I didn't immediately see my thighs rubbing together. I saw the muscles in my legs taking shape.

I saw other people's bodies differently as well. Instead of making comparisons, wondering if I looked as good as they did, I started recognizing their strength and felt inspired to build up my own abilities.

I began to see changes off the mat as well. My goals moved from losing weight to gaining fitness. My stress eating, my binging and starving cycles, began to go away.

I started feeling better about myself.

So fitted yoga clothes magically cure body image issues?

Well, no. My experience may be totally different than someone else's experience. And, even now, years later, I can't say my body image issues are entirely gone. It's more complicated than that.

I can say that I feel better about myself. That I focus more on how my body feels, and what my body can do, rather than on how it looks. And a lot of that comes from practicing yoga, not just from what I wear while doing it. However, I can honestly say that I believe wearing yoga clothes, in a supportive yoga studio setting, did help me along that path.

The bottom line

The important take-away is that there are good reasons to wear fitted yoga pants and tops. Reasons that have nothing to do with looking sexy or getting attention. Women who wear yoga pants outside of the studio typically just want to wear clothes that let them move and breathe comfortably.

Instead of worrying that men will be "distracted" by seeing women in yoga pants, maybe we need to work on teaching those men to not see women's bodies as sexual objects.

Instead of shaming women, maybe we need to work on teaching them to be comfortable with their bodies, without worrying about how they look to others.

And maybe we should all realize that there is nothing shameful about the human body.