THE MAGAZINE YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR! YOGA FOR LIFE
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SEPT 2019 | ISSUE 01
YOGA MAGAZINE YOUR YOGA STORY
BEST YOGA MATS
Yoga 101 kick start your practice
FOR YOUR PRACTICE PAGE 10
Black Silt Yoga
EXCLUSIVE!
TAWANYA NORWOOD
Rhythm of Yoga Akosua Ina’mi Aset
05
Yoga tips to build your home practice
PAGE 40
YOGA LOVE SEPTEMBER 2019 | $15.98
ASHLEY ADAMS | 31 | YOGA TEACHER
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CONTENTS YOGA+ FITNESS + FUN
05 YOGA A PASSION A PRACTICE Your yoga stories how you found your practice and what it means to you.
07 STUDIO DIRECTORY A list of a few of the studios that you can check out and practice at.
11 YOGA TIPS Ten tips to jump start your Yoga Practice..
13
LISTEN ONLINE
12
EXCLUSIVE!
TAWANYA NORWOOD
14 BLACK SILT YOGA Poses to get you moving and kick start your yoga practice.
10
TAWANYA NORWOOD
YOGA LOVE & MATS
Learn more about our amazing cover model and what keeps her going on and off the mat.
With so many mats to choose from it can be hard to figure out what is best for you. This mat comes with a special message.
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SEPTEMBER 2019 | ISSUE 01
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YOGA A PASSION AND PRACTICE
YOGA AND YOUR STORIES By Ashley Adams
We allow yoga to move us and find our edges, it is these edges that allow us to expand in life and grow as people and practitioners.
3 SEPTEMBER 2015 | ISSUE 05
WE ALL HAVE A STORY OF HOW WE FOUND OUR WAY TO THE YOGA MAT. IN THIS MONTHS PASSION AND PRACTICE WE SHARE YOUR YOGA STORIES AND WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO PRACTICE.
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YOGA STORY : IAN ELMORE-MOORE Noble Truth Project Explore the benefits of yoga and mindfulness. Through several beginner level classes, Ian creates and maintain a friendly and non-judgmental environment. Gain balance, strength, flexibility, and inner peace while exploring ancient breathing exercises and postures. Learn how to effectively meditate and visualize your unlimited potential.
IAN ELMOREMOORE By Ian Elmore-Moore / Ashley Adams
As an executive coach, Ian serves the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office as the Gang Prevention and Intervention Coordinator. As a certified alternative dispute resolution mediator and registered yoga teacher, Ian has contracted his services to Georgia’s Department of Juvenile Justice and courts in the Metro-Atlanta area.
Community Ian received his Master’s degree in Educational Leadership at Kennesaw State University and has earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from Morehouse College.. QIan has served locally and globally as a college ambassador for service projects in Chicago, South Africa, and Haiti. Ian travels to train students, educators, athletes, entrepreneurs, hospitality professionals, public administrators, and corporate executives.
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Yoga started as a happy coincidence and became a lifelong quest. It was the final semester of my senior year and I still needed to fulfill a Physical Education requirement to graduate from Morehouse College. I wasn’t about to let a single requirement, in P.E. of all things prevent me from earning my degree. So I began a creative brainstorm. I spent some time trying to figure it out and then it came to me. I would take yoga at Spelman College. At that point, I had never tried yoga and thought it was an exercise reserved for White people and former hippies. But it sounded easy enough and there was the added bonus of potentially meeting Spelman women in the process. At that point, my interest in yoga was purely superficial, yet ironically it was necessary that I do it. After all, my bachelor’s degree depended on it. The first time I hopped on the mat, I wasn’t sure what to do with my body. I had previously played high school football and basketball, but yoga required me to use my body in a way that I wasn’t used to- it required me to flex my limbs and ultimately my thinking. I joined a class of women and was the only male in the room. I immediately saw the power in this- the power of changing my mindset around yoga. As a man, yoga allows you to be vulnerable in ways that we are not accustomed to being. Yoga became my therapy. A spiritual, emotional, and physical healing- an enlightenment that allowed me the clarity to turn my dreams into realities and find my purpose. While I was completing yoga courses, I simultaneously began to develop my own non-profit, The Noble Truth Project. This venture which has grown into a coaching and consulting company devoted to mindfulness and leadership development started off as a diversion program serving adjudicated youth in the Fulton County Juvenile Court system.
4 SEPTMEBER 2019 | ISSUE 01
Shifting Minds, Changing Lives
My name is Ian Elmore-Moore, Founder and CEO of The Noble Truth Project, a life coaching and business consulting company specializing in mindfulness and leadership development. And this is my yoga story....
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My experiences attending classes at Spelman exposed me to the power of yoga. I knew that I had to provide yoga classes for our youth, so I made connections with some yoga teachers and arranged for them to come in on Saturday mornings to teach the basics to young people. Being a mindful observer, I realized two things: 1. Students were disengaged and 2. The instructors were always women.
Above Photo: The Noble Truth Project
We were the anomaly- young Black men doing yoga. I didn’t want this reality to prevent Black youth from accessing the peace that comes with practicing yoga, so I made the decision to become certified and teach them myself. This journey made me realize my own identify issues around Black masculinity. I knew I had to be an example to the youth in which I served and allow them to see themselves past the stereotypes of Black male identity.Studying Kemetic Yoga under another Black man, Master Yirser Ra Hotep gave me confidence. After completing the 200 hour certification program, I not only taught the youth through the Fulton County Juvenile courts, but also joined an organization called Centering Youth. This organization provided yoga and mindfulness classes to youth within the Department of Juvenile Justice and multiple juvenile courts across the state of Georgia.Teaching young men that looked like me was so fulfilling and I began to see the impact it had on their lives. Relating yoga to their daily experiences was my gift.
The Noble Truth Project www.nobletruthproject.com follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter @nobletruthproject.
Issue 01 | Page 5
5 September 2019 | Issue 01a
For the members of my class who smoked, I had them connect the inhale and exhale of smoking to the deep breathing that mindfulness requires so that the exercises didn’t seem so foreign. We related to each other in meaningful ways that made yoga feel like it was for us.Six years later, I am a proud yogi who still finds purpose in the practice. I currently teach in multiple Department of Juvenile Justice facilities, juvenile courts, athletic team practices, and host monthly classes called, “Real Men Do Yoga,” encouraging Black men to hop on the mat. A lot has changed about my mindset when it comes to yoga and how I feel about Black men practicing it. While yoga started off as a requirement for college, it is now a requirement for life.
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YOGA LOVE YOGA STORIES THAT CHANGE LIVES All the practice to help you find your edge.
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S t u d i o
D i r e c t o r y
LOOKING FOR A STUDIO TO PRACTICE CHECK OUT OUR DIRECTORY
KEEP IT MOVING YOGA & BARRE 8493 Bowden St. Douglasville, GA 30135 THE SOULAR YOGI 1613 25th Avenue, Gulfport, MS 39501 SACRED CHILL WEST 2030 Bolton Rd. Atlanta, GA 30311
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YOGA STORY 2 : AKOSUA INA’MI ASET
KEMETIC YOGA By Akosua Ina’mi Aset
My name is Akosua Ina’mi Asetand I am a Sema Tawi („Kemetic Yoga“) instructor. I was certified in 2012 in Jamaica by Neter Aunkh Hapi Aakhu who is a student and authorized master teacher by Muata Ashby.I am of Jamaican descent but was raised in Germany.
I have always been interested in Yoga and when I traveled to Ghana in 2007 it was the first time I heard of Kemetic/ Ancient African Yoga. I met a Ghanaian Yoga instructor who told me he traveled the world especially the USA to teach African /Kemetic Yoga. So when I spent a 1,5 in Jamaica from 2011-2013 my mission was to get certified in Yoga so that I could share this method of healing with the world as well. I began training at Yoga Angels Jamaica and I really enjoyed it but was lacking a deep connection to the theory that I had to study. So while I was there I had discovered a Basu (Kemetic Yoga instructor) who offered certification in that discipline. After a 3 week intensive at Yoga Angels I switched to Kemetic Yoga. I didn’t just learn postures and theory but was also living an authentic, holistic and eco friendly way through the certification process. Eating only vegan live food, rising with the sun and rest with it as well, gathering water from the river and walking where ever we had to go to instead of taxi or busses etc. It was real and I lived and loved it.
Akosua Ina’mi AsetSema “Kemetic” Tawi Yogi Mother of 3 Social Worker Doula Musician
08 SEPTMEBER 2019 | ISSUE 01
After returning to Germany I offered the first ever Kemetic Yoga classes and workshops there in Hamburg and was also invited to Austria.Today I continue to offer workshops in Hamburg and all over Germany, do private session and also online classes are available on a regular. I teach in Kindergartens, offer pre- as well as post natal “Kemetic Yoga” and where ever people are interested in the African roots perspective of Yoga. We are here to re-unite, re-member and heal together! ASE
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PERFORMANCE SECTION
SELF LOVE MAT AND YOU Keep reading and check out the amazing story of how Affirm Mat came to be and how they are changing the yoga world. Affirmats adds an emotional layer to Yoga by wrapping form, function, and a dash of inspiration in PURE LOVE.It’s simple, life gets crazy and yoga makes us happy. Not only are these yoga mats and towels comfortable and stylish, but each provides you with a little affirmation for that extra kick of awesomeness and support in your day. We're right there with you; celebrating the small victories on the mat and reminding ourselves to be thankful for those big victories in the other 23 hours of the day. Oh, we can't forget to mention our yoga mats are made with a JUTE blend on a Polymer Environmental Resin (PER) base which makes them high quality, biodegradable, and ergonomically friendly to help you master those advanced poses.
09 SEPTEMBER 2019 | ISSUE 05
EVERYONE HAS A YOGA MAT THAT THEY ARE IN LOVE WITH, BUT AFFIRM MATS ARE HERE WITH AN EXTRA SPECIAL REMIND OF WHY YOU PRACTICE EACH TIME YOU STEP ON THE MAT.
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AFFIRM MATS & FOUNDER JASON GRAHAM Jason Graham Jason founded Affirmats in July 2011. Their mission is to spread love all around the world through the practice of yoga. With Affirmats even small struggles become BIG VICTORIES on the mat and in the world! Life gets crazy, yoga makes us happy.
Affirmats are form function and Inspiration, wrapped in pure LOVE. We believe you should be comfortable playing yoga, not just comfortable in the physical sense but in a whole-body sense. When life gets overwhelming yoga makes us happy. Yoga allows us to reach another level of awareness, which gives us tools to master the rest of our day. Your yoga mat is a place where you can connect back to you.
Stay Positive Affirmats are shipped worldwide with love to connect you to you and your practice.
Find out more about Affirmats at @affirmats on IG and Facebook.
SHARE THE LOVE By Ashley Adams
Everyone has a moment on their mat when they need a little encouragement.Well Affirmats founder actor Jason Graham thought when he created his line of yoga mats with affirmations it would be just the thing to keep you going. The mats come in a range of bright colors, that are bound to give you a boost. Yogis have to opportunity to personalize their affirmation or choose from a variety options. Affirmats have been featured in studios in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Jordan as apart of the brands mission to spread love around the world. Messages range from "Keep Going, You Can Do This!", to I am Love. Affirmations are also available on towels that are sure to inspire you through all of your workouts.
10 SEPTMEBER 2019 | ISSUE 05
Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch
by Ashley Adams As a beginner sun salutations is an amazing place to start your practice.Sun salutations wake the body up and get the blood flowing. Click here for a short Sun
YOGA
salutations video. Do your best to embrace being the beginner and enjoy all that this new experience has to offer.
101 KICK
Do everything you can to not compare yourself to others that are in the room continue to focus on your mat and your experience. Allow your breath to be the guide for your practice and don't worry about putting your body into shapes. Just know that this is a practice and like anything that you practice time and dedication is required as you
PRACTICE
work towards mastery. SEPTEMBER 2019 ISSUE 1 11
START YOUR
TAWANYA
NORWOOD
Tawanya Norwood was born and raised in Miami, Florida in a notoriously tough neighborhood called ‘Liberty City. Growing up in the City exposed her to a lot of the world’s hardships at a young age, but it also inspired her journey towards betterment of self and others. She started running track in high school and that’s where I was introduced to stretching as a part of our warm up drills. After she graduated high school, she continued stretching in college at the University of Florida. I officially went from just ‘stretching’ to doing yoga poses in 2015. This transition into practice was synonymous with the start of my Instagram page @Th33besticanbe. She started both as a part of my journey toward inspiring others, especially kids from low-income neighborhoods, to believe they can be successful no matter their background. Tawanya's goal for her page and practice are to show that you can do something with the rest of your life regardless of how it started. Tawanya strives to be an example for athletes on how to creatively benefit from their athletic talent off the field. In addition to inspiring kids, she is passionate about promoting
competitors to be not only excellent in their sport, but in all areas of their life as well. She includes quotes with my photos to highlight the life lessons that fitness and athletics can teach. Her journey is greatly inspired by motivational speaker Eric Thomas @etthehiphoppreacher. I admire how he expanded the reach of his teachings from just students at his alma mater to top NBA, NFL, and MLB players. My dream is to make a similar transition. She hopes to teach yoga to professional teams one day as well. Her yoga practice, her page, and her photos mean so much more than they may seem on the surface. For Tawanya they are bricks, bricks in the foundation of the platform I want to use to inspire change in my community. BLACK YOGA MAGAZINE
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July 2019
BLACK YOGA MAGAZINE
RHYTHM OF YOGA By Valencia Folks RHYTHM OF YOGA AN ONLINE SHOW.THIS EXCITING SHOW FOCUSES ON THE BENEFITS OF YOGA AND OTHER HEALTH RELATED TOPICS.
13 SEPTEMBER 2015 | ISSUE 05
Decompress, unwind and experience the Rhythm of Yoga. Asanas designed to give you an extra boost of energy. Build strength & flexibility. Release stress. Valencia Folks, owner, and creator of the Rhythm of Yoga studio and its online show.Took her first yoga class in 2005 and became a certified teacher in 2011. Be sure to check out her latest broadcast at http://www.rhythmofyoga.com/online-broadcasts.html
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SEPTEMBER2019 | ISSUE 1
BLACK YOGA MAGAZINE A YOGA LOVE : DARRICK AND LESLIE GOODMAN
Mr. and Mrs. Darrick and Leslie Goodman of Black Silt Yoga LLC.We are 200-HR Certified Kemetic Yoga Teachers (CKYT-200) currently holding registrations with Yoga Alliance (RYT-200). As husband and wife, we are partners in life and love. They specialize in the teaching and practice of Kemetic Yoga as a life tool to promote internal self healing by releasing blockages that can lead to manifestations of disease. They started their Kemetic yoga journey together in 2017 and the affects of this system have been life changing. We believe continued14 practice of this system of development (Kemetic Yoga) as a lifestyle tool will help heal, enhance and promote optimal health and longevity in your life. They currently offer couple, individual and group instruction as well as workshops, special events, and retreat services.
SEPTMEBER 2015 | ISSUE 05
A YOGA BOND
By Jacob Walker
Tinece Payne a.k.a Earth Feathur Yoga for me is pure medicine. Yoga combined with universal life force energy infused with self care and tai chi gave me the practice of “Chakrati”. Chakrati ™) is my therapeutic practice taught at Healing Springs Farmacy ™) Healing Centers . I am a holistic healer with a specialty in Chakra Medicine and Herbal Remedies and we use Chakrati Yoga in our sessions to heal the mind body and soul for thrivers of domestic violence and our community.
Savasana and the corpse pose calms as we chant and remember just for today I will not anger or worry. Willow palms and waving the hands like clouds builds our energy to defend ourselves as well as build and create positive energy. Manifesting holistic health with a vegan diet combined with Chakrati has given me a personal Divine energy I never thought imaginable.
Earth Feathur
Chakrati Yoga heals and empowers my entire vessel. Sciatica hip and joint pains diminish and stay gone when I am consistent as a practitioner. Practice has helped me to go inside to care for myself better. For this precise reason I began teaching others the techniques that have helped me in my healing journey. In 2005 I attempted to escape from a forced religiously driven marriage that stemmed from rape. My life was threatened by the hands of my rapist. He said that if he could not have me no one would. He choked me until I almost lost consciousness cutting off my airways and ability to breathe. This caused me physical mental and spiritual pain accompanied by severe depression, anxiety and a loss of function. I saw counselors and doctors for emergency visits all through my pregnancy and early years of my child's life that he also cut off circulation to.
With the inability to care for myself I became basically bed ridden overweight and just swamped. By 2012 I was 350 pounds using a CPAP machine in order to breathe at night. I began taking 4 medications after Doctors diagnosed me with Thyroid Cancer, Hashimoto's Disease, Depression, Anxiety, and Bi Polar Disease. The medications caused side effects that were difficult so I began a self care journey for alternatives.
I began practicing reiki and meditation in 2015. Over the past 4 years with meditative yoga and a natural holistic lifestyle, I am calmer in life and I find my center of balance without trouble. Yoga is peace, balance and bliss. My love for yoga stems back to early childhood. I've been practicing yoga ever since I was a little girl. My best friend's mom practiced and we would always mimic her. My best friend and I were In ballet and we had to do certain balancing tasks and I realized that all of these things were also coming from a yogic standpoint. In order to spin in a pirouette and have a perfect revolution in your spin you have to be concentrated, you have to be calm and you have to be light as a feather when you land. In order to LEAP into the air you have to be flexible. In order to do a split without pain yoga is beneficial..
But when I looked into yoga as I got older, I saw that all the faces around me and all the people in the classes looked nothing like me and I was very confused. I didn't understand why they looked at me weird whenever I stepped into the yoga studio with my mat. There were never any other people of other color or maybe just one other. Some people thought that I was weird because I practiced yoga as a woman of color. However, I never allowed that to stop me from doing what felt good for my body. I wanted to practice because yoga is natural and we all have had the capability of since inside of the womb. The baby in the womb shows you every yoga move as she spirals into the Universe. From a physical aspect yoga is a part of us from the womb. We spiral as a measure of either growth or regression physically and as we spiral in a positive direction we find our growth in Yoga. So all of these natural moves that occur in a yoga sequence are things that we have done all of our lives but don't realize it. Why? Because a lot of people don't experience being outside for long hours of the day just looking up into the clouds; shavasana. This is basically what you're doing you're relaxing in a savasana you're looking up into the clouds and these are things that we would do after just being so tired from running but nowadays some children do not get that experience and that's why a lot of people just aren't exposed to the natural ways that our bodies move.
From a spiritual aspect I have witnessed a number of correlations between yoga moves, Islamic prayer and I realized and recognized that along with the chants and the moves that you open up different chakras and energy centers into the body. The movements are designed to help you connect to the Oneness, that wholeness that you feel inside and outside of yourself when you're fully aligned with the universe. If anyone has ever felt the Bliss that you feel of Nirvana after doing certain poses then you understand exactly what I'm talking about; your spirit literally feels light as a feather. You feel no pain anywhere in your body and there is a sensation of healing that vibrates through your entire vessel.
This bliss encompasses me during a number of spiritual rituals from different cultures showing the oneness of our Divine. The wisdom of oneness is a Divine practice and was passed down from generation to generation in a specific way and in a specific form to be taught and if you are able to perfect it; you can reach certain heights you never imagined you could reach; not just in your physical body but also in your mental States and in your spiritual States. As my life progressed through yogic practice and meditation I found that other parts of my life began to align. I would think about people and they would call or appear. I would be able to look into someone's past or their future. It is my medicine. It calms me down when I'm angry. It heals my tummy ache when I have had something that makes me feel gassy. It heals my sciatica. It has helped me to become alive and find my Center balance. Yoga for me is life. When you are fully yolked you will get a sense of true peace. You achieve balance when yoga is shared and we must all realize that yoga is mine and yoga is yours. I've been practicing yoga ever since I was a little girl in ballet we had to do certain balancing acts. Reflecting on my childhood during yoga teacher training I realized that all of the ballet warm ups were coming from a yogic standpoint. Because, in order to spin in a pirouette and maintain a revolution in your spin you have to be concentrated, you have to be calm, and you have to be light as a feather in order to leap into the air.
You have to be flexible in ballet and yoga so many stretches we practiced reminded me of my dance days and helped me Ace my teacher training. Yoga and spirituality have always been a part of my practice and with daily incorporation life is DIVINE and SERENE. Many of my life's moments became crystal clear and yoga is what brought my enlightenment and knowledge of self into full fruition. As my practice became stronger I would be able to look into someone's past or their future using third eye energy. This intuitive ability was enhanced because I was in alignment with the universe and the energies that promote knowledge of myself, and my surroundings.I currently teach yoga mainly as a therapy and maintenance to clients who want to heal naturally. Having the time to experiment with my own body in Chakra Medicine and Reiki Healing combined with yoga and Tai Chi I have been able to find a practice that aligns me and heals me holistically. I no longer take medicine or use a CPAP machine to sleep at night. I have lost over 100 pounds naturally. I now teach our style to the practitioners of our Collective Healing Circle and clients who wish to maintain holistic natural health. Our non profit focuses on natural health and wellness and our co-op has over 60 women worldwide. We are thankful for the global connection that yoga provides for our healing worldwide. Our low and no cost programs help bridge the gap so that healing is accessible to more people who need and appreciate our offerings.
THANK YOU TO CONTESSA LOUISE COOPER OF MOD & ALT BLACK YOGA TEACHERS ALLIANCE
TAWANYA NORWOOD FATIMA NEFERTITI OF RISE-NWELLNESS WOSD RADIO & JEWEL SIMMONS
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