My Own Darned List of African American Yogis That Perhaps You'd Like to Know
by RT
Right on the heels of a very intense discussion on the exact same site about the state of yoga and what body image mainstream yoga is perpetuating, amazingly, Elephant Journal has published the article “Ten Sexy, Sassy, Rich and Powerful Yoginis You Should Know”.
The post features a list of “stereotypical” yogis: thin(ish) white women. I made my feelings known in the comments section of the original story, so I won’t go into them here.
What I will do is post “My Own Darned List of African American Yogis That Perhaps You’d Like to Know”.
Note that I don’t think yoga should be divided into race. I *do* think that it needs to be more inclusive, with yoga media shops acknowledging that we are here.
In no particular order:
Faith Hunter: Faith was featured on the cover of Yoga Journal earlier this year. She hails from Louisiana and now lives in DC. In the intro video in her site, Faith explains her path to yoga, including how it helped her handle the death of her brother.
Ananda Leeke: Ananda probably sings “I’m Every Woman” when she wakes up. The sister is an author, a social media maven, a mixed media artist *and* a yogi. She’s also based in DC.
Tony Eason: Grab a cup of tea and prepare to stay on Tony’s site for a while. It’s packed with info. He also has a page dedicated to Black Yoga Teachers, which is where I found out about:
Ben Thomas: Bad a$$. Just Bad a$$. He looks like the uncle you wish you had. You know, the cool one that would take you for a walk in the woods to get you away from folks getting liquored up and hollering at each other during Christmas dinner.
Maya Breuer: Can we say goddess? I saw an article on Maya in YJ a few months back (it was stuck all the way in the back of the mag…ugh). Maya holds yoga gatherings for black women. Read more of her philosophy here.
Via Linda Sama I learned of Rebecca Love. This elder was born in 1916 and started teaching yoga in 1972. Linda says that she’s passed on.
Who else? Feel free to add to the list! Let’s stop waiting on mainstream media to recognize us. Let’s do it ourselves!
Kofi Busia! Kofi studied directly with Iyengar for years and is one of the most important teachers in Great Britain and America, IMHO. He was Patricia Walden’s teacher, among others.
Once when he had us in chakrasana he mentioned that if we stuck one leg in the air we could be on the YJ cover. After several people began to move into the eka pada he said – oh no, not you, you’re not blonde!
His powerful tribute book, Iyengar: The Yoga Master is available in stores and through Amazon and he teaches workshops internationally. Check out his website, http://www.kofibusia.com
Monique Schubert A Kripalu trained teacher and mighty heart yogini is fabulous, inspirational and warm fun. I was fortunate to get to know her a little when she did her cover photo shoot at Kripalu. She teaches with Maya in Retreats for Women of Color and also teaches all over the city in New York.
The many talented Abigail Itafola Jefferson is both a Kripalu yoga and YogaDance teacher, author, and vocal artist who teaches in the Women of Color Retreats.
For ten years the Women of Color retreat staff has also featured Yvonne Beazer, who, while not a yoga teacher has been bringing yoga and supporting it with her music, and is a 20 year practitioner.
Thank you for the opportunity to highlight these amazing, much loved teachers.
Hi Susan! Thank you so much for adding to the list! Amazing. These folks have been around for decades!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Metta Yoga, Carol Horton. Carol Horton said: New Media Diva's list of Af-Am Yoga Stars! http://ow.ly/30hlD [...]
Tai Powers Buddhist yoga teacher who leads yoga and meditation retreats and workshops at Spirit Rock. You lit up my day with this question!
I am humbled and blessed to be included in your list. Om Shanti.
[...] The New Media Diva: My Own Darned List of African American Yogis That Perhaps You’d Like to Kn… ~ Did you know that there are many non-white people who do yoga? Seriously! Here’s a list of African American yoga teachers that don’t get enough attention in the current yoga media (or the yoga blogosphere, for that matter). [...]
Rosalia Holt was an extraordinary yoga teacher: http://brookshall.blogspot.com/2010/09/rosalia-holt-extraordinary-yoga-teacher.html
Thank you all so much for contributing to this list!
I love this list! Can’t wait to watch as it grows!
[...] 8. The New Media Diva: My Own Darned List of African American Yogis That Perhaps You’d Like to Know ~ Did you know that there are many non-white people who do yoga? Seriously! Here’s a list of African American yoga teachers that don’t get enough attention in the current yoga media (or the yoga blogosphere, for that matter). [...]
Sorry to be reading/responding to this post so late, but Amen and Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for a wonderful post!