Race and yoga in Britain
Yoga can be for every body. The yoga industry, however, does not welcome everybody. And it IS a massive global industry, which I’ll write more about another time. During the last few weeks, many of us have begun to better understand the extent to which racism exists is pervasive in our society. And when I say ‘our society’ I mean Britain, where historic and present-day racism is different to, but arguably not lesser than, that which we Brits are perhaps more willing to acknowledge as racist in the USA. I think it’s important that white people living in Britain learn about systemic racism and consider the roles that we (often unwittingly) play in maintaining those systems. I also think it’s important that we listen and think, rather than just talking to those who already share our experiences. So here are some resources that have helped me with that, some specific to issues in the British yoga community, others about global yoga contexts and more general British contexts. If you know of other things that I should read/watch/listen to, or want to chat about any of these ideas, I’d love to keep learning more.
If you’ve got one minute, this 2015 post from creative and blogger Lulu Kitololo describes the experience of being “the only black person, let alone black woman” in London yoga classes, and suggests yoga influencers to follow on social media.
http://www.afri-love.com/2015/02/black-female-yogis/
If you’d like to think about intersectional experiences, Dianne Bondy shares her thoughts about being “a fat, black yoga teacher” and not conforming to yoga industry norms. This five-minute read (no date) will resonate with many of us who feel we don’t meet yoga norms, but also highlights the particular ways that black people are discriminated against in the yoga industry.
https://yogainternational.com/article/view/yoga-race-and-culture
My reading so far suggests that this problem is even more insidious in the UK. Almost all of the black voices in the online conversation about race and yoga seem to be based in North America (Dianne is Canadian). I feel really strongly that we need to learn more about race and racism in our own British context, and that this includes understanding how the lived experiences of black British people may different greatly to those of other British people of colour. Therefore, if you know of black British yogis creating relevant content, please send it my way so that I can learn more. But there are people speaking out about racism and yoga from other perspectives within the British context, so let’s begin with them whilst remembering that the conversation still needs more nuance and awareness.
This 2019 12-minute read from Divya Kohli offers a reflection on being identified as a “Yogi of Colour” and how it was informed by growing up in a Britain where “you didn’t write down or say ‘colour’ in reference to anyone, be they black, brown, mixed or any shade between”. Divya describes the complexities and messiness of living and understanding race in the UK, highlighting how these conversations need to occur in multiple spaces.
https://yogawithdivya.co.uk/lets-talk-about-colour/
And it’s also important that to think about how the globalization of yoga intersects with colonization. Afsha Malik tackles this from her perspective as a British Pakistani and fitness professional. Her 20-minute read from 2019 brings together several other useful sources to demonstrate how people with power banned yoga in colonial contexts and then misappropriated it for their own benefit. And along with Lulu, Dianne and Divya, she shows us how this continues in yoga contexts today.
https://bloominhealth.org.uk/2019/08/09/decolonising-fitness-reclaiming-health/
Afsha argues that “diversity” is actually “reality”, which really resonates with my wider ethos for Yoga For Every Body. If you share my belief that yoga should be inclusive and accessible, please let me know your thoughts about these articles.