Women who are overweight often cast their eyes down while walking, said registered dietitian and nutrition counselor Pam Kelle.
Asking them to walk into an exercise class with "hard bodies and skinny girls" is practically asking the impossible, she said.
Kelle and Jessica Jollie, a registered yoga teacher and counselor, believe they've hit upon a solution with a new six-week program called "Inner Wisdom/Outer Comfort."
The program, to be held from Sept. 13 to Oct. 22 at North Shore Yoga, is a small, personalized group in which body, nutrition and spirit are given equal attention.
"This is not a typical program with a weight-loss goal," said Jollie. "Most of those programs never work. They don't have long-lasting effects. This is very individualized. There are changes that happen and really big ones. We're shifting the way [class members] feel about themselves."
Sharon Gordon, 45, of Chattanooga said she has worked with Kelle for three years and has lost about 90 pounds. She said adding yoga - with movements similar to the ballet she used to take - in a class with women who have similar goals, appeals to her.
With traditional exercise classes, she said, "It tends to be a little more difficult. You can't move like [the others in the class]. Your knees don't bend like that. You don't bend over as well."
Gordon, who notes "there isn't a diet I haven't tried," said she wants to return to losing weight and avoid surgery but knows "my mind is holding me back."
"I want to complete this," she said.
Kelle and Jollie say they have incorporated into the class things that have worked in their lives and aspects of other programs they have found successful.
"This program is for any woman who fits the ideal who is uncomfortable with exercise, uncomfortable in her own skin and unhealthy with her own eating style," said Kelle.
With so much national attention being paid to obesity, she said, these women are marked as those who "cause all the problems."
The class includes one private group yoga class per week that Jollie describes as "extremely gentle."
"It's never just a physical experience," she said of yoga. "The sitting and breathing and relaxation parts are just as important as the actual physical piece. That's the part that really changes us."
Most women with weight issues either give up on exercise programs or are too intimidated to start," Kelle said.
The individualization of the nutrition program to the particular food journey a participant is on is a key, she said. For instance, Kelle said, some women may eat only fast food, some may eat late at night and some may eat too quickly.
Among the recommendations they'll make, she said, are for class participants to slow down their chewing, to taste and not gobble their food, to prepare foods with healthy flavors they like, and to practice portion control.
"This is going to be mindful eating," she said. "We want them to have an awareness of what's being eaten."
While the suggestions will follow healthy principles, Kelle said, they're not going to tell everyone to become vegetarians or eat only whole foods. If the women want to make those decisions later in their journey, that's their decision, she said.
Class participants, according to Jollie, will receive a number of printed materials, including a daily food journal, to assist them. The journal, she said, will help them think about why they are making the health choices they are making and to ponder what is going on externally that might be affecting their eating.
Participants also will get a CD with recorded yoga exercises and guided meditations to do at home.
Jollie said she and Kelle hope three things will occur for women who take the class.
"I want them to truly understand what it means to love their body and soul," she said, "to learn to make wise choices for themselves and [understand] why they need to do that, and to get a glimpse into a lifestyle that they can adapt for their whole life."