May 4, 2019
Are my hips squared? Hell to the no. Does it still hurt all the same? Hell to the yes.
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Are my hips squared? Hell to the no. Does it still hurt all the same? Hell to the yes.
2018 resolution
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Yoga + Diversity
When I was around seventeen years old, I began to seriously invest time and energy into different methods of self-care. At seventeen, I became abruptly and increasingly aware of the racial and social injustices plaguing the United States. The senseless, racially motivated murders of so many Black women and men like Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, Philando Castile, Trayvon Martin, and countless others sent my mind into a state of constant mourning and paranoia.
Unfortunately, the mental space I was occupying was and is not uncommon for POC. According to a study conducted by the Sociological Inquiry, “18.2 percent of Black people experience emotional stress and 9.8 percent constantly live with physical stress” (Bustle). The stressors (a militarized police force, a government and President that routinely ignore/invalidate minority concerns) cannot just be removed from our lives entirely in the blink of an eye, so we, as POC, must find a way to manage our stress, fear, paranoia, and anxiety in ways that aren’t detrimental to our bodies mentally or physically. Yoga could have a profound and beautiful impact on communities of color, but does not. Despite our immense need for safe, healthy, accepting spaces, yoga continues to be dominated largely by white women. Why is that?
During my research, I came across an article in Bustle written by Gina M. Florio titled “The Yoga Community Neglects People of Color”. In her article, Florio interviews Faith Hunter, a yoga instructor and studio owner, who notes the importance of imagery in this conversation. However, in Hunter’s opinion, “the answer shouldn’t be to simply fill a space with more black and brown bodies, or hire more diverse models for the next ad campaign...What we’re missing is an alignment of the value of this practice to communities who can benefit from it the most” (Bustle).
Much to my excitement and joy, the importance of wellness and self-care within the Black community has recently come to the forefront. In 2013, Brandon Copeland opened a yoga studio in Washington, D.C. featuring the now iconic course: Trap Yoga. In an interview with The Fader, Copeland discusses his introduction to yoga during his girlfriend’s pregnancy: “I started taking the classes in order to be calm and make decisions. Taking these classes was really the only place where I could feel kind of at peace with myself…”. As I searched for stories similar to Copeland’s, I stumbled across Black Girl In Om, a brand devoted and dedicated to the holistic wellness and inner beauty for women of color (Black Girl In Om). According to the site’s ‘About Us’ page, the brand “learn[s] and share[s] wellness practices with one another, and through this work cultivate[s] [a] richer understandings of what it means to be healthy and beautiful from the inside out”. The team behind this inspirational brand is a group of women, of all shades and shapes, devoted to helping their communities flourish.
Copeland’s Trap Yoga course and Black Girl In Om both beautifully exemplify a concept that’s become so increasingly important: the creation of our own spaces. So often, black and brown people are excluded and alienated from predominantly white systems, intentionally or otherwise. Instead of submitting, we have the power and resources, as exhibited by Copeland and the team behind Black Girl In Om, to seize these rejections as opportunities to better our communities.
BGM and Trap Yoga at Khepera Wellness Yoga Studio
BGM and Trap Yoga at Khepera Wellness Yoga Studio
BGM and Trap Yoga at Khepera Wellness Yoga Studio Khepera Wellness Yoga Studio connects millennials to the true essentials of a yoga lifestyle. Brandon Copeland is creating a movement that will transcend your everyday fad that comes then quickly disappears. He is teaching people how to find balance and peace into their lives. Yoga has picked up during the millennial era. It’s partially because…
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