Project Highlights
Communities, events, educational content, and other projects by Amber Karnes
Body Positive Yoga Online
My vault of online classes, free email courses, and resources for yoga practitioners
Body Positive Yoga Library
My yoga membership site with over 200 video classes, audio recordings, reflection prompts, recorded workshops, resources for teachers, and more. $7/month
Free Chair Yoga
15 chair yoga videos, plus audio meditations and tips for getting started. Pay what you can.
Body Positive Yoga Blog
Videos about how to modify yoga poses for plus-size bodies. Writing about body acceptance through the lens of yoga.
Body Positive Rebellion
6-days of emails that challenge and subvert the messages society has taught us about our bodies. Free
my Yoga Journal cover story
Find Joy In Your Practice
on shaking up the status quo and celebrating all bodies
I was the featured story for Yoga Journal magazine‘s November/December 2020 issue. This 2-day shoot was truly a surreal experience during the summer of 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic was raging and the whole yoga industry had ground to a halt (including my own yoga business).
I never expected to be on the cover of any magazine, but this magazine in particular? Never. When I first started yoga in my early 20s, I was always the largest person in any class I joined. I remember flipping through the pages of Yoga Journal, looking for a single picture of anyone who looked like me (there were none back in those days). I desperately wanted to feel like I belonged in yoga, and I also got a zillion visual messages that showed me my body was “not a yoga body.”
Sneakily and subtly over the years, yoga turned my body into a place I could call home. And 20+ years of yoga practice later, I am now the creator of Body Positive Yoga and many other successful projects in the accessible and plus-size yoga space. I am grateful to Yoga Journal for sharing my story.
I appreciate Lindsay Tucker and her team for helping me bring body liberation and accessibility to the forefront of this feature. Before this issue, Yoga Journal had never shown a yoga pose practice sequence with chair yoga and mat yoga versions side-by-side. I’m proud we got to feature adaptive chair yoga practice in a mainstream fitness publication. I hope you enjoy the resources we created here. Photos by Tiph Browne.
feature story
How Loving Yourself Can Be A Revolutionary Act
Amber Karnes, the founder of Body Positive Yoga, is teaching us to honor our highest selves—and tearing down patriarchal ideology in the process.
Amber is well aware that the body positivity movement has been co-opted by commercial campaigns designed to sell us soap and overpriced razors under the guise of developing self-esteem. But when she founded Body Positive Yoga in 2010, the concept was more about social justice than capitalism—“to make room and access for all bodies,” she says.
video tutorial
This Technique will Make Common Yoga Poses Accessible for Folks in Larger Bodies
In this five-minute tutorial, I share a technique called “Take Space, Make Space,” for creating more comfort and ease in common yoga poses, including Standing Forward Fold, Low Lunge, and Half Lord of the Fishes Pose, or seated spinal twist.
podcast interview
Tearing Down Oppressive Systems
On this episode of the Yoga Show, host Lindsay Tucker talks with Amber Karnes about reshaping what yoga looks like.
yoga practice
An Accessible Yoga Sequence for Practicing Lord of the Dance Pose
I created this sequence to approach Natarajasana (Lord of the Dance Pose) in a new way: It’s less about creating a “pretty” pose and more about exploring sensation.
video interview
108-Second Interview
I answer Yoga Journal’s rapid-fire questions about daily habits, preferred practices, and my secret superpowers.
Media
Superfit Hero Commercial
I am proud to be a Superfit Hero ambassador and featured athlete. Superfit Hero is a groundbreaking athleticwear brand specializing in plus-size activewear (L-7X), celebrating bodies that are often underrepresented in the fitness industry. Superfit Hero places inclusivity at the heart of their mission, actively challenging societal norms by promoting body positivity and partnering with a diverse group of athletes and fitness professionals in their marketing (like me!).
Yoga International Featured Teacher
Learn more about my journey with yoga and how I approach my teaching in this video from Yoga International, one of the largest online platforms offering yoga classes, guided meditations, breathwork sessions, and wellness courses for all experience levels.
I have dozens of video classes and a course about self-care on Yoga International’s website. Subscribers can also stream my classes through the web or your TV through the Prime Video app.
Books
I contributed an essay or was profiled in the following books:
Embodied Resilience Through Yoga: 30 Mindful Essays About Finding Empowerment After Addiction, Trauma, Grief, and Loss
Articles & Profiles
Articles & interviews featuring Amber & Body Positive Yoga
The New York Times
Yoga International
Richmond Magazine
Fat embodiment for resistance and healing from weight stigma
Quoted in Body Image: An international Journal of Research, Vol. 41, June 2022.
Fattitude
Podcast Guest Appearances
Video & audio podcast interviews with me on Body Positive Yoga, accessibility and social justice in yoga, marketing, body acceptance, and more
Big Sexy Chat
Needy
Yoga Journal
Francesca Cervero
Mindful Strength
The Connected Yoga Teacher
Food Heaven
Mastering the Business of Yoga
Yogaland
Mindful Strength
The Connected Yoga Teacher
Yoga For Arthritis
Yoga Revolution
Superfit Hero
This Is Yoga Therapy
My First Time At Yoga
Yoga with Melissa
Real Health Radio
Jason Crandell
Accessible Yoga Podcast
I co-created the Accessible Yoga Podcast with Jivana Heyman during my time as President of the Accessible Yoga Association Board of Directors.
The podcast features interviews with yoga teachers and leaders, and many informal conversations between Jivana and me about yoga, accessibility, and social justice.