Embrace Yoga's Roots by Susanna Barkataki

Author:Susanna Barkataki
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Tags: Yoga-History, Yoga-Social aspects, Philosophy, Asian, Social justice, Cultural appropriation, Mind and body
ISBN: 9781734318128
Publisher: Susanna Barkataki
Published: 2020-10-21T16:30:21+00:00

Reflection Questions

Being direct and honest with yourself: Where in your life and practice are you more of a bystander, where are you more of an ally, and where are you more of an accomplice?

Where have you seen performative allyship and virtue signaling?

How can you self-assess to ensure you are moving toward care and support, rather than centering yourself, as you work for change?

Yogis and Accompliceship

You can further your Embrace Yoga practice by moving from allyship to co-conspiratorship to accompliceship. A co-conspirator works with and listens to a person or a group they are working to uplift.

An accomplice not only learns and educates about issues of inequity and structural injustice (as does an ally), an accomplice also gets involved, working to change the systems that causes harm.

As Colleen Clemens (2013) said, “An ally will mostly engage in activism by standing with an individual or group in a marginalized community. An accomplice will focus more on dismantling the structures that oppress that individual or group—and such work will be directed by the stakeholders in the marginalized group.”

In May 2014, Indigenous Action Media published the anonymous essay, “Accomplices Not Allies: Abolishing the Ally Industrial Complex.” This piece was intended to shake up the structure of how allyship work had been done and it offered a new framework for those with privilege to question their actions and act as accomplices.

For example, an ally may learn and teach themselves about the Indian roots of yoga, whereas an accomplice would also invite a South Asian or Indian teacher to share their knowledge. This accomplice may share the stage, platform and even a paycheck with the South Asian steward of yogic knowledge.

An ally would support Black Lives Matter and an accomplice would run classes as fundraisers for the cause and seek to defund the police or follow other calls from Black leadership. In so doing, the accomplice works to change the structures of how decisions are made and power is held.

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