The challenge of now is real :: let us be truthful
Embodiment and fitness programs have supported and empowered many over the years in some ways, but have also hurt many people. Exercise and lifestyle industries have often marginalized, underserved, and undermined BIPOC, 2SLGBTQIA+ people, women and girls, people with disabilities or illness, fat people, older people, and people with lower incomes. Current "wellness" and “spiritual” economies, including yoga and embodied movement, have used a number of assumptions and habits that are destructive, often employing practices that keep out and harm the same people.
The chance we have now is real :: I am adjusting
Some within these industries have stopped to listen and learn from participants who have been excluded and harmed. Some within these spaces are working to reflect on and address common patterns of injury and negligence. My aim is to provide healthy, safe activity, social connection, and culture building to contribute to expanding the usefulness of embodiment work to everyone in our communities.
Embodiment and fitness programs have supported and empowered many over the years in some ways, but have also hurt many people. Exercise and lifestyle industries have often marginalized, underserved, and undermined BIPOC, 2SLGBTQIA+ people, women and girls, people with disabilities or illness, fat people, older people, and people with lower incomes. Current "wellness" and “spiritual” economies, including yoga and embodied movement, have used a number of assumptions and habits that are destructive, often employing practices that keep out and harm the same people.
The chance we have now is real :: I am adjusting
Some within these industries have stopped to listen and learn from participants who have been excluded and harmed. Some within these spaces are working to reflect on and address common patterns of injury and negligence. My aim is to provide healthy, safe activity, social connection, and culture building to contribute to expanding the usefulness of embodiment work to everyone in our communities.
In 1999 I was a sleep-deprived young mother providing child care to a herd of wild toddlers. I missed feeling complete in my own skin. I needed some uninterrupted time within myself in order to be sane, decent, and productive with others. I had the good fortune to wander into a conscientiously taught yoga class. I didn’t know that a carefully offered practice could bring immediate, palpable change. The focus, purposefulness, and soft but continuous awareness of it were revolutionary for me. The experience of being fully absorbed and single-minded was helpful. I began teaching much later, in 2012.
I prioritize ways that foundational yoga practices support our capacity to show up in non-harming, honest and flexible ways. I participate in yoga in cross-cultural studentship, committed to continually learn more about teaching in a good way, without misrepresenting or robbing peoples of India and the Indian diaspora.
Meditation, breathing awareness, and self-tracking are vital to my classes. I’m informed each time we meet by the changing needs of the group and individuals in it; the tones of our nervous systems and our capacities to self-sense are my guides. My classes often create a slow “flow” where we keep moving, as a group, from one position to another, and I weave in explanation, modifications and options, pauses, and personal attention.
I teach in a community centre setting, often in drop-in classes. In this space, everyone is welcome and classes contain a vast range among students: the young (babies and up) to elders, the strong, injured and ill, the tight and the rubber-bandy, the experienced and the brand-new to yoga. Embracing divergent needs, we find good ways to practice together.
I prioritize ways that foundational yoga practices support our capacity to show up in non-harming, honest and flexible ways. I participate in yoga in cross-cultural studentship, committed to continually learn more about teaching in a good way, without misrepresenting or robbing peoples of India and the Indian diaspora.
Meditation, breathing awareness, and self-tracking are vital to my classes. I’m informed each time we meet by the changing needs of the group and individuals in it; the tones of our nervous systems and our capacities to self-sense are my guides. My classes often create a slow “flow” where we keep moving, as a group, from one position to another, and I weave in explanation, modifications and options, pauses, and personal attention.
I teach in a community centre setting, often in drop-in classes. In this space, everyone is welcome and classes contain a vast range among students: the young (babies and up) to elders, the strong, injured and ill, the tight and the rubber-bandy, the experienced and the brand-new to yoga. Embracing divergent needs, we find good ways to practice together.