“IN CASE YOU HAVENT NOTICED I’M…………………BLACK”
![phonto[1]](https://yogafromanatural.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/phonto1.jpg?w=562&h=562)
As a Black yoga instructor (as in African American) I think I’m uniquely qualified to conduct a survey among black women on “WHY MORE BLACK PEOPLE DON’T TAKE YOGA CLASSES”?
Top 6 answers in no particular order:
- The music is so “BORING”, I think I could fall asleep.
- As soon as I walk in the door “I feel out of place”.
- Black people “Don’t Do Yoga”.
- No one helps me when I know I’m doing that shit “WRONG”.
- All those women are skinny as hell, young, and dressed like they’re going to the club when they leave.
- NO ONE IN THAT DAMN ROOM IS BLACK!!!!!!!!!! Can we have a Black or Brown face in attendance; honestly anyone who looks remotely like me?
I feel they’re pain because some of it is my pain. I’ve been practicing yoga off and on since the 90’s, I got registered in 2013 as a yoga teacher and it’s been a Long, Lonely Road. With African Americans and Latino Americans being the largest racial and ethnic minorities in the United States, it really infuriates me (Translation-Pisses Me Off) that this is even an issue in 2016. We are quickly becoming a Minority Majority Nation but where’s the acknowledgement? Words such as Oblivious, Hypocritical, Invisible, and Unconscious come to mind because we are so “Overlooked” as a culture by the yoga community who appears “ASLEEP” at the wheel! READ MORE
yogafromanatural 
I just read your post for the month of 8/16 it is an absolute SHAME that the practice of exclusion is still going on in a country that so many people flock to looking for that dream of freedom and a better life. The fact that the color of your skin still defines how far you’re allowed to rise up to reach that dream, but you still always have to go an extra (x100) and prove yourself to be seen as worthy….shouldn’t have to tell people “WHAT” color!!! “STILL HUMAN AND STILL BLEED RED BLOOD”
I continue to enjoy reading your post each month
LikeLike
In reply to AN OPEN LETTER TO THE YOGA COMMUNITY | yogafromanatural.
Hi Darlene. As you said, “Still human and Still Bleed Red”. We’re all alike and we’re all different at the same time-and that’s a good thing. In a world so caught up in the exterior, let’s take that sometimes difficult step to invite people into our lives who don’t necessarily share our point of view but add a different perspective; we just might learn something. As the quote says, “You might find they challenge your assumptions and make you GROW. Peace.
LikeLike