This is a time of reckoning.
As yoga expands and grows it’s important to consider your values and how you are living them.
This isn't new - but it is part of honoring the roots of the practice. In fact, the first two foundational pillars of Yoga Philosophy - Yama and Niyama - are yoga ethics.
So I'm here to ask you and myself - Who and what are you for and what are you not for.
So consider- what are you here for? What are your ethics?
Here’s my own answer. My values are aligned with the Yamas and Niyamas.
And Here’s what I’m available for:
Ahimsa. Satya. Asteya. Brahmacharya. Aparigraha.
Non-harm. Justice. Uplift. Truth. Generosity. Energy Management. Interconnectedness.
Centering South Asians and BIPOC in yoga. Black joy, Black wellness, Black lives. BIPOC Spaces. BIPOC wellness. BIPOC collaborations. BIPOC uplift. Working on colorism, Calling forward my own and other South Asians anti blackness and unpacking Caste privilege.
Saucha. Santosha. Tapas. Svadhyaya. Ishvara Pranidhana.
Clarity. Joy. Burning Spiritual Passion. Self Study. Devotion. Bliss. Freedom for all.
With white folks here’s what I’m available for:
Being centered and uplifted alongside other folks of color. Having my voice centered - as an Indian woman in the yoga world in the West that continually self centers and erases, centering us is necessary in the site of indigenous and ancestral wisdom. I’m here for your accompliceship and consistent allyship.
White folks, Here’s what I’m not available for:
Centering whiteness.
Making you look like you are honoring yoga’s roots.
Nope. I’m Not here for this. This is not high school and do not use me or my name - I do not give you a pass.
I’m Not here to coddle you or to give you chai and cookies.
I'm asking you to listen, learn, take action and keep at it.
I’m certainly not here for White people centering themselves in the conversation around cultural appropriation, justice, equity and inclusion in yoga and essentially trying to profit of this moment. Stop trying to make this your thing. It’s not. Take a seat and listen. Pass the mic. Keep passing it.
I’m not here to only Educate for free.
Do not slide into my DMs to ask me for free education or coaching.
Justifying my work and Explaining why after almost two decades of continual public intellectual free labor (and a lifetime of exclusion and discrimination) I have one paid class for you to learn more how to honor yoga’s roots.
I’m also not available for
Excluding, comparing, gossiping competing, trash talking, stealing from or in any other way diminishing the work and labor of other folks of color. Even if they have different views and approaches than mine.
This only serves white supremacy.
BIPOC and white folks If you are participating in this, if you are doing it, and you feel superior to other BIPOC who aren't as down or woke as you - consider who you are truly benefitting.
I’m here for uplifting folks of color. I’m here for undoing internalized oppression without gas lighting or shame. Im here for unpacking the ways you or I may continually be centering whiteness as a learned or habituated survival mechanism.
I’m here to disrupt cultural appropriation that is the doorway to white supremacist, colonial, hetero-patriarchal empire.
I'm here for your grief and sacred rage. I’m here for whiteness to stop centering itself.
I’m here for breathing form and life into the world that loves Black and Brown indigenous wisdom, melanated beauty, elemental, decolonized rhythms, equity, justice and ancestral roots.
I’m here for your truth, solidarity, collaboration and reclaiming. I’m here for pilgrimages, mountains and magic. I’m here for creativity, poetry, liberatory bliss and all the mystical moments.
I’m definitely here to honor yoga’s roots.
What are you here for?
What are you not here for?
What values are you living into with your yoga?
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I am a yoga unity and diversity activist. I've been practicing the traditions of my ancestors my whole life and educating around yoga and social justice for 2 decades.
If you'd like to learn more about how you can honor yoga's roots there are 2 ways to learn right away with me right now.
1. Join the Honor Yoga’s Roots training exclusively for yoga teachers who are looking to deepen their practice while honoring yoga’s roots successfully in person and online. We dive deep into Ayurveda and trauma informed yoga in this course.
-- Join the Waitlist Here: www. Honoryogacourse.com
2. Learn more about the Honor Yoga’s Roots Framework and Spiritual Lineage Acknowledgement critical for every time you open and close your yoga class, workshop or festival - in person or online.-- Click here to sign up now: www.namastemasterclass.com