I should mention that Im a Black woman.

I left West Virginia at 18 years old, determined to experience the world.

Not to say being Black wasnt problematic elsewhere; when melanin is unwelcome, it is unwelcome.

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But in larger cities, I was one of many.

In these metropolises, I saw myself becoming pretty much anything I wanted to become.

And I took the opportunity to do just that.

Two young women practicing ballet with a teacher in the dance hall.

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Gone are the cacophony and skyscrapers of Manhattan, replaced by the streams and mountains of West Virginia.

Even wellness looks different!

Vegan takeout and sound baths have given way to a focus on physical fitness and weight management.

Woman doing hip exercises

I didnt know how much I would miss diversity until it was gone.

But I miss diversity.

I didnt know how much I needed it until I had it.

Cropped image of woman doing lunge yoga pose

I didnt know how much I would miss it until it was gone.

The media is intensely unflattering of Black people here in a massively media-driven culture.

And I do want to add value to this community.

Woman in leggings and bra doing Lunge with Arm Extended Up pose hip opener stretch during yoga session in morning at home.

In yoga instructor training, my teacher Ali Cramer explained the concept of GOD as go on duty.

Our experience, our skills, our heritageallof that is needed.

This means I spend a lot of time alone, which is nice, but also lonely.

Woman doing arm exercise without weights while sitting on mat at home.

Still, I show up to teach yoga in the skin Im in, brown and proud.

Ive only had a handful of overtly racist experiences here in West Virginia.

Most of the racism I experience is subtle, as it is in most of America.

A woman in sports clothes does yoga or gymnastics at home. Daylight. She smiles

I remember one woman who was entirely dismayed that a Black woman was teaching the class.

She seethed, refusing to acknowledge me until almost the end of the class.

When she finally looked into my eyes, she was at a full boil.

You know the look when you see it; racism has an energy all its own.

Unsurprisingly, she never came back to my class.

Whatever I can do to ensure our skin is welcome in wellness spacesand any other spaceI will.

My hope, my great love, are the students.

I believe these yogis are the future.

We meet where we are.

More and more, students of color come into class.

Some have established practices, while others have no prior yoga experience.

We see each other so clearly.

The word yoga means to yoke or to join together.

Wellness is where all of this should begin.

We need to see ourselves, brown and beautiful, in health and mind-body connection.

Whatever I can do to ensure our skin is welcome in wellness spacesand any other spaceI will.

My teenage self would be surprised by my return to West Virginia.

But its not the same West Virginia of my youth.

(Yes, that goes for New York City, too.)

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