Yoga is for Everyone

There is no difference in the soul....only the ideas about ourselves that we wear. - B.K.S. Iyengar

In his section "Memory: Liberation or Bondage," from Light on Life, B.K.S. Iyengar reflects on his own experiences with racism. While today, as members of the Iyengar community, we hold Guruji in the highest possible esteem, we must remember that when he first visited the United States, our beloved Guru was considered by the general population as just another man of color in a white world.

Guruji describes his early encounters with instituional racism in the UK and the United States as a "wound on my youthful self." To cope with the feelings these incidents evoked, he took them to the mat. No matter who we are, Guriji's experiences with racism can motivate each of us to reflect on race in our own lives.

When George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis in May of 2020, the outrage was overwhelming. In that moment, many people realized that they had to become more involved if positive and lasting change is ever to occur. It is clear that racism is deeply entrenched in our society. A comprehensive approach is needed in every community and every organization, IYNAUS included.

For years, there have been calls to make Iyengar Yoga more diverse, equitable, and inclusive on and off the mat. In 2017, IYNAUS began addressing the absence of diversity in our communities and leadership positions. In light of this recent awakening and renewed interest among the america populace in diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice issues, IYNAUS is committing to far-reaching efforts to drive change in our community.

The purpose of this Story Map is to shine light on the teachers and yoga practitioners devoted to making Iyengar Yoga more inclusive.

Patanjali warns us of avidya, or ignorance - the root of our five klesas, or afflictions keeping us from enlightenment. Our yoga practice offers us a way to understand what this means on an individual level, but what if we applied this idea on systematic level?

In our individual practice, if there is injury or hurt, we seek to heal it. In our larger cultural body, we recognize an ongoing chronic pain that needs care. We care for this cultural pain in a similar way that we care for individual pain: we first seek to understand the source of pain and its larger impact, then we reorganize our structures to alleviate or eliminate the pain.

Look around you, in your yoga spaces and places. What do you see? Who makes up our yoga community and why? How comfortable or uncomfortable are we with what we see?

We are asked as yoga practitioners to be aware in every moment of our actions and reactions--subtle and gross, overt and covert, hidden and apparent. We are asked to transform ourselves beyond our ideas and thoughts, biases, judgements, and fears.

As a collective, we must center racial equity and healing justice within our yoga practice.

This work is intended to open doors to conversation and introspection, compassion and understanding. Many thanks to those who have contributed their time and voices to this effort.

Have an event or story to share? Lend your voice to the growing chorus of yoga teachers, students, advocates, and activists advancing diversity, equity, inclusion and justice in communities across America - on and off the mat. Click the button below to get involved.