Contributors: Cecily Rodgers, Clara Hayes, India Phillips, Julie Afsahi
Soul Strong Yoga stands with the Black community. Black lives matter. As a yoga studio seeking to promote wellness, we recognize the global health crises at hand, acute (COVID-19 pandemic) and chronic (institutionalized white supremacy). The yoga practice encourages us daily to turn inward, listen, reflect, and take action. Doing so can often be intimidating, especially in the throes of discomfort, but it is truly necessary work. To assist our students in deepening their knowledge and taking steps towards informed action against white supremacy with us, we’ve provided some resources below that we believe are solid starting points to developing an anti-racist practice as a yoga practitioner or teacher; we’ve also included a list of Black-owned businesses to support.
At Soul Strong Yoga, we have a racially and ethnically diverse staff and membership base. We value this diversity of yogis joining us in person and virtually so much. We want to provide refuge for those who are exhausted from the trauma of the ubiquitous and ever-threatening racism that they witness and endure as a result of simply existing as a Black person in this world. We want to provide self-care and nourishment for all.
Yoga is a practice of diligence and keen discernment, going beyond ideals. With this same framework, Soul Strong Yoga is working towards this vision of refuge from trauma, taking steps against white supremacy in the health industry, and providing self-care for all people in the following ways:
-Hiring anti-racist consultants to improve our current yoga training curriculum and to develop a robust social justice component of our 300-hour level training
-Providing our current staff and leaders with professional development opportunities to do anti-racist work in teaching yoga which will in turn benefit our clients’ experience
-Adding a page to our website for yogis and yoga teachers to find a living library of anti-racist resources including those below
On Spiritual Bypassing:
When Spiritual Bypassing Meets Racism Meets Gaslighting
I need to talk to spiritual white women about white supremacy (part one)
When White Women Practice the Politics of Polite, The Violence of Nice
Yoga and Cultural Appropriation:
Exploring Yoga and Cultural Appropriation with Nisha Ahuja
8 Signs Your Yoga Practice is Culturally Appropriated- And Why It Matters
On De-Colonizing the Yoga Practice:
How to Decolonize Your Yoga Practice
The Unbearable Whiteness of Being Yoga Journal: Roots, Reverence, Representation and Reparations
https://decolonizingfitness.com
On Intersectionality:
Why Intersectionality Can’t Wait
Journaling Exercises to Explore White Privilege:
Black Folx to Follow in Yoga, Wellness, Spirituality, and Education:
Black Disability Collective Twitter
Local Black-Owned Businesses in Fitness and Wellness:
https://chandellesbyalexiselizabeth.com
https://www.energiesbalanced.com
https://www.indigolabsusa.com/indigo-smart-cafe
https://www.growyourlovespace.com
https://www.sweatathleticsatx.com
https://www.lilyshephardmoves.com
https://linktr.ee/TypicalTenille
https://tierradenae.com/about-the-goddess/
https://linktr.ee/Scoutwildawake
Organizations:
Austin Area Urban League Young Professionals
