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Performative Love
On FB, someone posted a beautiful statement celebrating the life of an activist and a cry of justice for their death. All these beautiful condolences from strangers started pouring in. Someone, who knew the person, thanked everyone for their beautiful heartfelt messages and said that the pronouns for the deceased were “they/them”. All hell broke loose. It was as if a light switch was turned off. People went from love to hate in an instant. Sweet condolences switched to raving critiques, mean comments and inappropriate questions. Because of their pronouns, their death no longer mattered. The grief of the friends and family members no longer mattered. The post was no…
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Taking Away Attention, Taking Away Power
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Why I Am Not Interested in Your Virtual Ashtanga Course
During this Shelter in Place, I signed up for 4 virtual courses…none of them Ashtanga. I am so tired of the same interviews with the same hand full of people who have the same perspective. I am tired of the same workshops by the same few super flexy people on the same subjects. I am tired of the same tutorials by the same genetically gifted people on the same techniques that no one but genetically gifted people can even do. I am tired of this homogenous picture that the Ashtanga world insists on painting. When Ashtanga comes under fire for being a shallow elitist practice for skinny genetically gifted circus…
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Taking Away Attention, Taking Away Power
“If you don’t like something, take away its only power, your attention.” -Anon Sounds nice huh? Yes, on one level this is true, but most people who say it, are not on that level. For most, it is simply spiritual bypassing and highly problematic. And often, a seemingly polite way of saying, “not my circus, not my monkeys”. Let me demonstrate. Picture yourself going to a loved one with an issue, if they looked at you and said, “I am not giving this my attention or power”, how would you feel? Would that be cool? You: “Are you cheating on me? Your partner: “I don’t like this conversation and I…
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Forgiveness + Responsibility
You can forgive someone and hold them responsible. You can love someone and seek justice for that person’s abhorrent actions. People often use Jesus as an example of forgiveness. Well, there is the “turn the other cheek” Jesus and there is also the revolutionary Jesus. The Jesus that spoke up against a corrupt system and was hated and eventually killed for it. The Jesus that went into a temple with a whip, made by his own hands, turning over tables and kicking out charlatans. This Jesus spent his time with people that normal society had cast aside. If you agreed to change your actions, he would heal you. If you…
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With Me or Against Me
People are asking, “Why is there a culture of silence in Yoga?” Something that often makes people go silent is “all or nothing” and “with me or against me” thinking. It is the idea that everything is black or white and you have to choose a side. If folks don’t want to choose a side, they will often just go silent. When the person speaks up, they get crucified by both sides for not choosing. This results in shutting down the conversation and shutting down the person. You can hate someone’s choices around a particular event but totally still love and respect everything else about them. You can love your…
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Taking Away Attention, Taking Away Power
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ableism, Ashtanga Adaptability, Diversity, Privilege, Social Media, Teaching Ashtanga, Uncategorized, Yoga Philosophy, Yoga Sutras
My Answer To Kino: Would You Still Love Me If I Don’t Handstand Anymore?
Kino posted an article today, “Would You Still Love Me If I Don’t Handstand Anymore?” My answer is “yes” because I do not choose teachers based on the poses they can do. Even though the yoga world at large has not followed suit, I outgrew that years ago. If someone believes that achievement in physical asana constitutes dedication to practice or greater knowledge of yoga, they either don’t really practice that much or they change studios, styles of yoga or teachers too often. It only takes a few years of hanging around in the same yoga rooms with the same students and the same teachers to see that this is…
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Adventures in Mysore India, Diversity, Social Media, Teaching Ashtanga, Yoga Philosophy, Yoga Sutras
It Is So Much Easier To Tell You To Change
It is so much easier to tell someone else or an organization to change than to actually change ourselves. How many times have you made a statement that Ashtanga, the government, your job, your yoga studio should change but you cannot even clean out your closets without having a meltdown? For most people, switching careers, cities, boyfriends or hairstyles is a harrowing ordeal, but your democracy, that should change overnight. Not only should everyone change but they should do it smoothly and quickly without disrupting YOUR life. Hmm…how realistic is that? I have been yearning for change in my own life and I have made no steps in any direction.…
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Adventures in Mysore India, Alignment and Injuries, Diversity, History, Ladies Holday, Social Media, Teaching Ashtanga, Yoga Philosophy, Yoga Sutras
What You Don’t Know, Makes You Dangerous
Before you make that statement on social media, before you write that blog post, stop. Ask yourself, do you have all the information? Do you understand the subject outside of your own cultural biases? Are you listening to only one side? Every day, I gain more of an understanding of why some teachers and Patanjali tell us to pick a method and stick with it. Reason 1-so we don’t dig shallow wells. Reason 2-so we don’t get confused. Yoga is not one long unfractured story where the facts perfectly follow one after the other. That is like saying that American history is White history and just following the line of…
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Diversity in Yoga: The Follow Up
My mind was blown yesterday by the amazing conversations this post prompted. I got phone calls, e-mails, DM’s and not to mention all the conversations on Instagram and Facebook. If you are interested in the conversations on Facebook, including a response from Mark Robberds, one of the conference presenters, go here. Also, feel free to look me up on Instagram, wellness_yogini, to see the conversations there and the InstaStory. One of the conference organizers reached out to me as well. Apologies were given and so were explanations. I won’t put any of that here because it defeats the purpose which was to bring awareness to the lack of representation of…
