Harper Nelson, Michele Pearson, Linda Simmons, Meiko Krishok, Crystal Teng, and Makeeba Ellington
BURNING THE SEEDS OF BONDAGE: IYENGAR YOGA AND SOCIAL JUSTICE BY PEGGY GWI-SEOK HONG
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s avid practitioners of Iyengar Yoga, we proudly describe our method as welcoming to all, regardless of age, body size, and physical capabilities. We know in our hearts that it can meet people where they are on any given day and help them feel better in multiple ways. But is this spiritual truth manifesting on a practical level in our classes?
The matter of race is still considered a taboo topic in the U.S., a nation that would not exist without the genocide of Native Americans and dependence on centuries of slavery. This tragic legacy of systemic racism continues through this day and intersects with class issues, perpetuating growing disparities of wealth. I spoke Kris Manjapra, a black CIYT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and she pointed out that “We live in a society that refuses to acknowledge these origins and in which ongoing forms of racial and settler violence are veiled, hidden, and ignored.” Here in Detroit, Michigan, America’s largest black city, I recognize the ravages daily, through disinvestment of black neighborhoods, the dismantling of the public school system, and water shut-offs to impoverished neighbors—all while corporate debts are allowed to rack up, homes are foreclosed on, and more. In such a climate, who’s thinking of yoga? Since moving here in 2013, I have been learning anew what makes Iyengar Yoga both incredibly useful and totally inaccessible to so many. Iyengar Yoga Detroit is smack dab in Yoga Samachar Fall 2016 / Winter 2017
the center of the city, in the neighborhood of Hamtramck, a racially diverse working-class community. Cost and location are the most obvious logistical barriers. Most Iyengar Yoga studios are in well-to-do, gentrified, majority-white neighborhoods. But a host of more subtle conditions can also be discouraging and more difficult to dismantle. Someone who is truly committed can take a work-study position, apply for a scholarship, or request a discount. Realistically, however, only a person with a fair amount of social and cultural capital will go this far. They have to be experienced in navigating such systems, filling out forms, and have enough experience and confidence to even ask. I’m thrilled to see that many Iyengar Yoga studios these days offer weekly or monthly free or donation-based classes. Dabblers will try it out, and a certain percentage will return. But most will not try, and most will not return. Why not? Money, of course, is only a manifestation of larger, more systemic issues. Someone who finds themselves short on cash 23
