West Hartford Yoga offers body-inclusive class with props and support

Kayla Howell led West Hartford Yoga’s Yoga for Bigger Bodies pop-up on April 17 at 23 Brook Street in West Hartford, and the setup made the studio’s intention plain from the start: this was a 60-minute all-levels class built to help people in larger bodies move, stretch and breathe more freely.

The class centered accessible poses and variations, with blocks, straps, bolsters and blankets used throughout for extra support and comfort. That matters because the props were not treated like beginner add-ons. They were part of the standard equipment for a practice meant to meet each body where it was, which lowered the performance pressure that keeps plenty of people out of yoga rooms in the first place.

West Hartford Yoga has been offering a range of practices since 2002 and describes itself as a locally owned, woman-owned studio with deep roots. It opened in November 2002 on Jansen Court, then moved in 2011 to its larger Brook Street space. The studio says its mission includes yoga, asana, meditation, mindfulness and healthy eating, and it calls itself a “community space for everybody,” language that fits the bigger-bodies class as more than a one-off wellness event.

The studio also appears to be thinking about retention as much as access. Memberships and class cards were welcomed, and its pricing page lists a core membership at $99 per month and a non-renewing membership at $109. That suggests the pop-up was designed not just to fill a single room for one afternoon, but to turn first-time attendance into longer-term participation.

The larger context is hard to miss. Yoga Journal reported in October 2024 that many students in larger bodies do not always feel yoga is for them, and it said studios can become more size inclusive by making explicit adjustments for different body types. Healthline describes adaptive yoga as classes designed to make poses accessible regardless of age, ability or physical limitations. An American Psychological Association-indexed study cited in the research found yoga was generally associated with positive body image themes, including functionality appreciation, though some participants reported mixed effects.

That is why a class like Howell’s carries more weight than a simple studio listing. It pushes yoga away from narrow aesthetic ideals and toward a practice that values comfort, function and participation for more body types, which is where the real growth in the room happens.