Namaste: Yoga in the Black Community
Oprah does it. So does Beyoncé and Halle Berry. Even Shaq and LeBron James. Russell Simmons reportedly does 1.5 hours of it every day. So why hasn’t the yoga bug bitten the rest of the Black community?
In America, yoga as a form of fitness remains a predominately White and elitist practice for individuals with disposable incomes and trim bodies. YogaCity NYC, an online resource for the New York City yoga community, recently published a “Minority Report” that reveals the sometimes blatant discrimination and inadvertent ostracization experienced by many minority yoga instructors and potential yoga attendees.
Yoga instructors of color were either mistaken for someone else (like the receptionist), or students were surprised to learn that they were teaching the classes. One teacher, who was certified over 10 years ago, had a student enter the class, see her, then leave. “Race, class, gender and age are very much embedded in our society, whether we agree with those views or not, even on the mat,” Leah Matthews, founder of Lila Yoga, told YogaCity NYC.
Others may not even make it onto a yoga mat, or set foot into a yoga studio, because of the stigma that still exists in our communities—a stigma that is primarily grounded in misinformation and misconceptions. One YWCA parent refused to allow his son to practice yoga because he thought it was a religion.
While the term “yoga” also refers to the spiritual discipline that originated in India, yoga, itself, is not a religion. Yoga as a form of exercise solely promotes physical and mental wellness. It improves flexibility, strength, and posture, and reduces stress. There is no deity worshiped or rituals performed.
Often times, the interest in joining a yoga class is there, but the means are not. Many people are simply unaware that there are donation-based and inexpensive classes. And even when the means and opportunities are available, some still feel like they don’t belong there. Latham Thomas, founder of Tender Shoots, noted that some of the pregnant teens she works with are intimidated about taking yoga classes at a large studio because their mats aren’t trendy. “I think it’s our responsibility to make yoga accessible to all backgrounds,” Latham added.
With instructors of all shades volunteering at recreational centers, organizations bringing yoga to public schools, and studios opening up in underserved communities, the often unspoken barriers within yoga will hopefully be broken.
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>>Yoga as a form of exercise solely promotes physical and mental wellness.
Not entirely true.
Yoga (yes even physical or “hatha” yoga) means union–union of the self with itself, union of self with the cosmos and union of the self with the divine. Even without rituals or outer religious expressions, yoga (even physical yoga) is about balancing body, mind and spirit and preparing the body for kundalini awakening and eventually enlightenment.
You can pretend otherwise if you want, and you can do only some physical postures and not tap into the full power of yoga (even physical yoga), but the above is still the truth underlying yoga (even just physical yoga.)
Jack
[...] aside, yoga isn’t wildly popular in the black community. As Clutch magazine points out, a mixture of misperceptions among blacks and subtle bias among its mostly white and upscale adherents here in the U.S. might be to [...]
This writer obviously has not visited Bikram Yoga East Harlem located in Harlem, NYC! It’s owned by two beautiful black women and the diversity there is amazing! There are many black men and women who practice regularly with people of many backgrounds. The instructors are a wonderful mix of men and women of many colors. It’s a great studio with a warm vibe. I’m disappointed that the writer didn’t do more research to include comments about this subject from the owners and/or the people who practice there. The owners have created a real interest in yoga in Harlem and they have been interviewed by local and national media.
Im a black woman who has taken Yoga classes and I did feel a conflict with it as a Christian. When the others would say Namaste.. I would say Jesus. And when the others would say Oohm.. I would say Shalom.
In my opinion, doing the positions is like idolatry. I stopped doing it.. and all that breathing is pretty religious as well as it takes your brain to a meditative state..
I still stretch but not with Yoga.
I would like to say, madame that for the record you are quite willfully ignorant, and that you have let Christian fundamentalism mess with your head and your heart, and that you should give it up before it does further damage.
You are an IDIOT!
Please excuse my ignorance but this had me dying with laughter!!!!! It is customizable.
“When the others would say Namaste.. I would say Jesus”
I think that arguing that racism/sexism/classism/homophobia etc are embedded within our society to the point where it is everywhere, is only a small part of the bigger picture here. On another level, there are structural processes that reproduce/rely on/reify the very notions we describe as racism/sexism/classism/homophobia; these are active processes that are institutionally and policy driven, such as public school systems, prison systems, healthcare, welfare, urban development, etc. These dynamics are unfortunately very much a part of the history upon which our country (America) was built.
I live in DC, and what becomes evident in specific parts like bloomingdale and shaw is that yoga studios become the forerunners or harbingers of gentrification. And yes, because of the fact that the gentrification is so racially driven but not only race based, also very much class based — you do have commercial places in historically black neighborhoods of town that look like ‘safe spaces’ for white folk, such as coffee shops, yoga studios, and super markets. So I’d say that it isn’t something inherently about yoga that makes it a seemingly white phenomenon (even though it came from India!), but it’s more its positioning within a historically driven and contentious process of gentrification that functions along more than one level of oppression. The more this occurs, the more you’re going to have black people leaving the neighborhoods they were historically forced to live in, moving out of DC and into PG county.
But, I think it’s a dangerous claim to make that black people just don’t do yoga, or because of it conflicting with Christianity. I’m sorry to say this but that’s kind of a simplistic view that doesn’t take into account the larger institutional dynamics of the processes that allow yoga studios to pop up in neighborhoods like Ledroit park, DC. Not only does it not take into these processes, but it is also somewhat essentialist. It does not take into account the diversity among black people and the differences that exist on levels of race/class/gender/sexuality within blackness. I’m not denying the reality of experiences of racism within specific yoga studios either, I’m just saying we need to look beyond the surface.
* Also want to add that there are also black owned yoga studios, such as Shakti Mind Body Studio near where I live in Convention Center, DC. So I do think that saying that black people don’t like yoga is also categorizing black people in a specific way, i.e. along the lines of popular images perpetuated in our culture that reinforce racist attitudes. Indeed, there are instances where black people have felt that a mind body kind of fitness is key toward dismantling some of the institutions that have also fed a reproduction of the status quo as far as oppression goes. Some have argued that mind body physical fitness like yoga can be a vehicle for liberation, leading to self actualization not just of the mind but also of the spiritual and physical bodies, and some yoga initiatives within black communities do embody this approach. Of course this at times doesn’t take into account the dynamics of why people don’t have the choice to live healthier lives, and the many constraints such as poverty and a poor welfare and health system that keep people from pursuing seemingly healthier lifestyles. Yet it is undeniable that fast food chains and their place within that corporate-political nexus in our system rely on specific consumer bases. And this suggests that there may not be a conspiracy theory to keep black folks unhealthy, but that it works to keep the status quo and the division of labor in our society up and running… So resisting this by growing your own food in community gardens, communities empowering themselves mentally, but also by focusing on the physical and spiritual, can serve as a powerful set of liberatory praxis to destabilize the system perhaps.
Interesting perspectives from the writer and the comments. This is one of the primary reasons why The International Association of Black Yoga Teachers was created. This organization is indeed global with connections to Africa, Europe, South America, Cuba and of course the States. As someone who has practiced and studied yoga for over thirty years, yes misconceptions abound on all sides. And yes racism is there, of course its there. The African origins of Kmetic/Egyptian yoga are rarely talked about and people seem to forget about the African origins in India itself! What was the ancient name for the Indian continent The Indus/KUSH Valley, folks don’t want to talk about the KUSH ancestry either. Yes the history of yoga and its peoples and origins needs to be taught to everybody. Also, the most imporant aspect/practice is the breath/breathing techniques for health and well-being. That goes beyond any religion, ethnic, or national background, that is about your birthright as a human being to living a healthy, peaceful and well balanced life.
Sat Nam, Ashe, Amen, Aho, Peace out
I did practiced yoga as a kid, as part of an Upward Bound program. Miraculously, the aches and pains that I complained about disappeared. I think Yoga as a spiritual aspect, of only because it encourages participants to disconnect from the negative energy around them and become centered in our own breathing, even to the exclusion Jesus Christ, his self-appointed deputies fighting against gay sex and abortion, who have forgotten the part about, “be kind to the strangers (e.g. immigrants) within your gates.”
See, just mentioning all of that crap gets a lot of us away from focusing on our breathing and remaining within our spiritual center.
“Ostracization”? Merriams says the noun is “ostracism.” But, I understood the point anyway, and it’s good to hear that although their are skin-color-based, cultural and religion-based obstacles to heterochromatic yoga practice, still there are places where it is thriving, at least according to one of the comments.
Now, I wish I could fix my own typos!
Umm… Christian black woman who attends yoga class here, and there is another black woman with beautiful dreads in my class as well. I don’t think that black women have singled Yoga out to be ignored (there aren’t scores of sisters in my pilates class either).
The reality is that many of us put our needs (including our health) last and aren’t in the gym enough in the first place. Additionally, although “the media” reports that we are have a positive body image, not many women of any race want to put on a unitard and stretch in front of some twiggy teacher… black women are no exception.
Thank you for this article. I have been practicing yoga on and off since i was in college (around ten years ago). And I’ve definitely experienced a latent uneasiness from white instructors as well as other white students in some classes that I’ve attended. Kind of a ‘what is *she* doing here?’ vibe. Its really strange, but the elitism is certainly palpable in some of these spaces. In particular, the vibe at a certain well known, donation-based yoga studio in NYC’s East Village was so uncomfortable for me that I’ve pretty much stopped attending classes. One former coworker of mine who works as a freelance instructor at this studio actually went so far as to inform me that I was the very last person she would ever expect to be into yoga. Very strange, very ignorant mindsets at work here.
hello. i read this and it seemed to give a limited view of yoga in the black community. So, here is something I wrote on my experience entitled, “Bikram in Black”. feel free to comment
http://marwansjourney.blogspot.com/2010/11/bikram-became-bowser.html
The prejudice in yoga studio is based on envy. Most white chicks are envious of our bodies and gracefulness with which we execute the asanas. I do not let these insecure fools bother me. Even though they look like strings and bones many of them are not healthy. They are hateful, nasty, competitive and insecure. Their superiority are based on the absence of Blacks.
Prejudices in YOGA?!?!?!?! Are you kidding me? Do these white people not realize that it originated in INDIA? By PEOPLE OF COLOR? The same people to which they are prejudice TOWARDS in America? Yoga is only for the WHITE ELITE? Black people need THEIR OWN ASSOCIATION FOR YOGA????? WHAT IS GOING ON IN THIS COUNTRY????
In India (whose population living in poverty equals that of the population of 22 African countries combined according to the United Nations) many easily do Yoga. If Yoga is supposed to be a spiritual experience, why the hell is it so expensive?
This whole thing is stupid. And another reason for me to hate America. I’m starting to get more fed up with country, with every new story about racial prejudices and discrimination.
there was a program at a youth center in watts i think it was called ” yoga in da hood” (yes i know *side-eye*) the lady who taught it went to prisons and taught yoga in the program *double side eye* and the program was the introdue yoga to more “urban” (we all know the word urban is synonomous with black for some reason) settings.
it was a great program but didnt last long
omg! i was in elementary school and this teacher taught yoga for the 3rd grade kids and my mom didnt let me go cause she also thought it had to do with religion -_-
Lots of people in DC’s 90 % black neighborhood Anacostia, practice yoga and crave the flexibility and mental relaxation. Most of us black yogis need to see teachers who reflect our beauty ideal. Plus the class should be fun, interactive and energetic.
Some mainstream yoga classes have a stiff feeling and don’t allow for true student/teacher interaction.
Anacostiayogi.blogtspot.com
LOL I can’t believe you said that!
At my work during a staff-appreciation week, one of the workshops was “yoga without meditation” or something. Basically I live in the white-bread south and folks here think yoga involves trance. They think there’s some sort of non-Christian spirituality involved…like it’s satan-worship or something. I laughed at the woman in charge who made sure to ‘assure’ us that there was no eeevil involved.
Ah, ignorance. Smh.
[...] helped me see that I am not alone in feeling that classes could use a little more diversity. In Namaste: Yoga in the Black Community, Audra E. Lord sheds light on the topic of discrimination in the asana [...]