Embodied Resilience through Yoga by Melanie C. Klein

Author:Melanie C. Klein
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: CVR08282019;empowerment;empowerment with yoga;empowerment through yoga;yoga;yoga for empowerment;yoga for grief;yoga for personal empowerment;melanie klein;kat hegberg;yoga for trauma;CVR06292020
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD.
Published: 2020-07-30T17:44:57+00:00

Sharing the Practice

It became clear to me that I was being called to share yoga and meditation with the community that I called home. I shunned the idea of running away to “safer” or more beautiful communities, as these areas are already saturated with yoga studios. I moved back home to South LA and devoted my practice to sharing yoga in spaces with those who look like me, who were still battling their own misconceptions of healing.

I committed to making this practice accessible for everyone. Everyone included people of color, young people, elders, queer and trans people, those with curvy bodies, and anyone who felt left out in the trendy Western style of yoga and meditation that LA is known for. I began developing yoga and meditation techniques that aimed to remind students of yoga of this truth: that yoga is for everyone. Moving away from culturally appropriated practices that are harmful, I’ve found ways to make my practice more relatable to my community. On Tuesday, you’ll find me playing my Solange or Miles Davis playlist while helping an elder with a posture variation. On Sundays, my class enjoys some old Radiohead while I demonstrate how queer and larger-bodied folx should and can take up space. And each day, I am prioritizing consent and reminding the class that they are their own teacher and I am just their guide.

Lately, I am envisioning what a world could look like for people who are silently suffering from grief, the results of violence, mass incarceration, depression, and marginalization. If they were offered access to something else that looked accessible and familiar, what could be achieved?

My story isn’t about how we can teach people to eat better, meditate their pain away, and “asana” the strength to endure their trauma. Instead, I offer this practice as an invitation to recognize that there is the possibility of resilience. There is rich history in communities that are often left out of the conversation of yoga and meditation. At the same time there are systemic and unethical realities that place a barrier between people and healing.

In my practice today, I close with an expression of gratitude and a reminder that each student is their own teacher and that their practice is for them, not for anyone else. We focus on breath with the intention of bringing these tools to their world beyond the mat. Change isn’t done alone; it’s achieved through a collective effort, it’s incremental, and it’s a slow process.

Although conversations around mental wellness and healing have been historically swept under the rug, having access to contemplative practices like yoga and meditation can be a pathway to personal and collective liberation. As it has done for me, this work can inspire folks to stand up against systems of injustice that create barriers, because healing and self-care isn’t just for “THEM” and their communities and their bodies but also for US, our communities, and our bodies.

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