The answer to the question “Why is yoga so white?”
is laced with commodified racism.
Meet the yoga teacher who’s fighting to change the model.
Price has a vision of communities that shape the offerings they need to continue their own journey toward well-being.
And thus, The Well Collectives work is constantly evolving.
Think about the last time you walked into a yoga class.
Rebeckah Price is a wellness advocate and yoga instructor that draws on her wealth of knowledge of working in underserved, marginalized, racialized, and immigrant communities in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean.
What color bodies were in the room?
Who was in the minority and who was in the majority?
What race or ethnicity was the teacher?
How did you feel entering the space?
In the United States and Canada, yoga studios have expectations before someone even walks through the front door.
(You need $25 for class.
A $60 yoga mat.
A $150 pair of leggings.)
All you physically have to do is show up.
Rebeckah Price is a wellness advocate and yoga instructor that draws on her wealth of knowledge of working in underserved, marginalized, racialized, and immigrant communities in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean.
If you cant afford to pay, thats okay, says Price.
Ive got you covered.
Then, she and her students can get down to talking about intersectionality and thetrauma of racismand poverty.
You have the right to be well.
You have the right to be well.
I want to reclaim elements of my wellness.'
The impacts of colonization are continuously rippling throughout the world.
[An] awakening, says Price.
As a collective, Prices asks her community to get together and ask for questions.
1. Who is represented in wellness?
So youre in downward dog and youre looking around youwho do you see?
Whogetsto be well in this room?
What is The Missionary Sex Position?
Then theres a larger question on who are we considering the experts?
Who are we centering as the voices?
Who are we leveraging in terms of positioning as a teacher?
What is the teacher?
Technically speaking, were all teachers and students.
You go into the space and learn as much as you give, right?
You wont see a front-facing person who is South Asian.
You might not see a front-facing person who you’re able to clearly tell is black.
What key in of wellness is represented?
Youre engaging in a larger conversation about reclaiming those spaces, adds Price.
4. Who informs what wellness is?
Thats why Price constantly advocates for eventsin the yoga world and beyondthat represent BIPOC leadership and practitioners.
That meant that a white person could go and practice with someone who is BOPIC.
Our credibility is always second-guessed, Price says.
Colonization is a very individual thing.
Its all about dividing and conquering, says Price.
The impacts of colonization are continuously rippling throughout the world.
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