As soon as you step out of the house, street harassment is something you expect. A leer, a comment said just loud enough for you to hear, male gaze constantly following you. So you learn how to walk on a crowded street while subtly protecting your body. You learn how to sit in a public transport in a way that guards you from unwanted touch. You learn to cross your arms over your chest without thinking. Ideally, public spaces should feel safe for everyone yet you move through them in a flight or flight mode, quietly alert and adjusting yourself in every step.
You learn, quietly, how to take up less space. Safety becomes something you manage silently. No one officially tells you to shrink but your body understands.
Your shoulders round forward. Your breath becomes shallow. Your chest closes slightly, protectively. Basically, you become smaller, not just physically but energetically.
Unlearning Through Yoga
And then, years later, I am on a yoga mat listening to the teacher say- roll your shoulders back, open your chest, take full breath.
Simple instructions, right? Except they were not simple for me. Opening my chest was not just about posture, it was unlearning.
Yoga asks you to stand tall, to create space in the heart centre, to trust your body. Slowly, I began to realise how much I was conditioned to hunch my shoulders. When you have spent years subtly guarding yourself, standing tall feels exposed. It takes conscious effort to undo that.
But our shrinking does not happen in isolation. It happens in system that teaches women to compete, to compare, to guard their position. In a patriarchal world, women are often pitted against one another, as if there is limited space, limited success, limited recognition. As if only one of us can stand tall at a time.
And yet, something powerful happens when women choose differently.
Breaking The Cycle
When one woman mentors another.
When one woman speaks up for another in a room she is not in.
When one woman shares knowledge instead of gatekeeping it.
When a woman helps another rise, she strengthens her own foundation too.
I’ve experienced this personally. My journey from folding in on myself to standing grounded didn’t happen alone. Mentors, teachers and supportive women showed me that openness doesn’t always mean danger. Emotional safety changes posture. Encouragement changes breath. Community changes physiology. When women thrive, we all rise- families, workplaces, communities.
Today, I stand taller than I did at sixteen. Not because the world became perfect but because I chose to unlearn. Every time I open my chest in yoga, I remember that cautious girl in crowded streets and silently thank the women who helped me unfold.
This Women’s Day, I ask myself-
Where am I still shrinking? Who can I support in standing taller?
Real change doesn’t begin in grand gestures. It begins in daily decisions, to give encouragement, to give opportunity, to give solidarity.
When we give this way, we do not lose.
We gain strength.
We gain confidence.
We gain community.
And together, we rise!
Happy Women’s Day, everyday!