Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu. May all beings be happy and free and may the thoughts, words, and action of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and freedom for all. – Be here and Love.
It is time to live in the reality that Yoga and Intersectionality are intertwined. Find the spiritual
crossroads of the life you so desire on our mats, and apply them in your everyday lives
Ferociously!
Yoga in itself is a life built on intersections. We know this, we live our lives moving through the
paces; we struggle and grow through the day to day to find meaningful purpose. We do this
daily work to combine our physical bodies, spiritual bodies, and mental bodies. We know there
are crossroads between our celestial and metaphysical channels. And the goal is to find the
bridges between the things that make you, you, and connect that to the energetic points that
surround us.
Intersectionality is the crossroads between Gender Identity, Socioeconomic Status, Race,
Sexual Orientation, Religious Beliefs, Lived Experiences (including trauma), Political
Orientation. Yoga is the crossroads between physical, mental, and spiritual practices including
but not limited to breath control, meditation, and bodily postures.
Once we know one, we know the other. The work on the mat teaches us our ability to navigate.
To understand one side of the spectrum, whilst being engaged in another. It is important for you
to realize that you are already familiar with this work. You now must adjust the tools in your
beautifully built tool box-sphere to be applied to the dismantling of white supremacy. Your anti
racism work is an everyday practice. Schedule time in your day to build the foundations of this
work! It must first start at home, it must start with you!
Take into account the culture of yoga is not just the individual, but the community. We ascend
ourselves into the astral plane, leaving the constructs of the breathing body, to traverse to an
energetic plane to connect ourselves to the universe.
Adjust your thinking. The time of who is worthy of the gifts of enlightenment, has passed. To
ascend you must be as connected with yourself as you are with everyone else. If there is
suffering in the world, a part of you is also suffering. You can not be connected to your practice
as you continue to ignore the micro and macro pains and sufferings of all.
White culture thrives on who is deserving. The feeling that ‘I am the one that is deserving of this
space’ is your racist systematic programmed mind. There is no ‘I am worthy if someone else is
unworthy’. This is the place to start your work. The answer is that we are ALL deserving.
Recognizing this hostility is so familiar that it may have become second nature -so innate that
you don’t see it for what it is. Know when you come from this space you are already lesser than,
and the journey will be unnecessarily longer. Then ask yourself why you are ok with that? I
encourage you to observe yourself.
Yemie Sonuga has spent the last half decade expressing her love through yoga. She is a 200-hour RYT yoga teacher, and a forever student. Yemie teachings are based in Vinyasa, Meditation, Dharma Yoga, and Visualization. Her approach to teaching is one of encouragement. Empowering you to believe in yourself, allowing the dismantling of fear, and the re-imagination of your true self. She has taught yoga across Canada and the US. Yemie offers a weekly Zoom class, as well as group Visualization sessions. She holds a Masters Degree from the Royal Scottish Conservatoire. Follow her on Instagram
