YA - CE Workshop | and Society (USYACE2502B)

Closed Captioning/ Transcript Disclaimer Closed captioning and/or transcription is being provided solely for the convenience of our viewers. Yoga Alliance does not review for accuracy any information that appears in a closed caption or transcript. Yoga Alliance makes no representations or warranties, and expressly disclaims any responsibility or liability with respect to, any errors or omissions in, or the accuracy, reliability, timeliness or completeness of, any information that appears in a closed caption or transcript.

Saturday Bishop sing Californiaa Singh sing sing Christa Kuberry Christa Kuberrystanding by. Testing testing testing testing a live captioner is standing by. . >> KIM WEEKS: Hi. My name is Kim Weeks, and I'm with Kim Weeks Well for the Yoga Alliance and going on two years now, bringing the science and research on yoga to life. And I have to tell you that we've had a lot of sessions. Hi, how are you? How many -- 60? 50? We've done a lot. Not into the triple digits yet, but we're getting there. And we have done so many sessions, but I have to say, I don't know that I have waited for any other one with as much anticipation as I have for this one today, as we bring to you Dr. Jennifer Webb. Good afternoon, Jennifer. How are you doing today? >> DR. JENNIFER WEBB: I'm doing wonderful, and it's an honor and a privilege to be here with you today. So grateful for the opportunity. >> KIM WEEKS: And we feel so much namaste, back to you. So as many as you are, Dr. Jennifer Webb is an associate professor in the department of psychological science and health psychology PhD program at UNC Charlotte. She got her undergraduate at cognitive neuroscience at Harvard and has gone on to do -- at USC in California. You have done so much study! And Jennifer is going to tell us even more about her career and all the research that she does do. The reason we're so excited to have her today is because, especially, Black History Month, to bring the scientific and research on yoga for life, the lack of diversity, the inequities that exist in the yoga practice today, there are so many things I want to say about it, but I'm going to going to moderate and flow to many questions as you for Jennifer. And Dr. Sat Bir, as many of you know, I've been working with so closely to bring, in COVID, these webinars to you so we can all come together as a community and basically double down on yoga and double- down on it as a practice, and a hygiene, as Dr. Sat Bir likes to say, hygiene during the week or whatever. But the fact of the matter is, we are having a conversation of incredible privilege, and the privilege that I've had, I've worked with Dr. Sat Bir and Jennifer and all of us here are to acknowledge that all of them figure out how we can share it. Figure out how we can bring yoga to everyone. There's no one who shouldn't be doing yoga. No one who can't do yoga. So today in anatomy week at Yoga Alliance Week, this is an anatomy of science, of yoga itself. How it is that we can look at it with very clear eyes, with the training that we have had over all of these years, many of us having done, you know, the -- truth, but -- acknowledge that the social injustice of the privileged classes doing yoga around the world really is a form, as I like to say, of social injustice and harming. I don't mean to start on a low note, but I'm so glad you're here. We are so excited to have us, and it's such a privilege to have you share what you know. So for housekeeping for everybody, as you all know, logging in and logging on, the Q&A box is all for you. It has an upvoting feature, so when you ask your questions during the session, I'll be watching and looking. But please, also vote, as upvoted questions get asked more quickly because I see them faster. And in terms of the presentation, they will be talking for a few minutes to lay out the landscape that then Dr. Webb will wind up discussing further. On March 9th, Dr. Sat Bir I will be back in this format talking about it more, but Dr. Webb is laying it out, and Jennifer it tell us what she studies and what she knows. YA - CE Workshop | Yoga and Society (USYACE2502B)

So we're look at some hard truths today. I hope it's influential for you. I've been teaching yoga for 20 years and have every label that the Yoga Alliance offers, including running my own yoga school, and I think for all of us when I say we come with a lot of humility and understanding, there's so much left we have to learn. So I'm going to go dark and can't wait for our wonderful presenters to go first. >> DR. SAT BIR SINGH KHALSA: Thank you, Kim, and a warm welcome to Dr. Webb. It's going to be a great session. I want to share a few slides to set the stage for Dr. Webb's presentation, and I want to go through some of the demographics of yoga, we'll be going on a deeper dive on March 9th, but I want to show a few statistics that we know about.

This shows the most recent US survey which is the U.S. Government survey and looked at integrated medicine but yoga practice. What you can see in terms of gender on the left-hand side, 19.8% of women are practicing but only 8.6% of men are practicing yoga. This is something we know about, the gender disparity has been around for quite a while.

When we look at race and look at whites and non-Hispanic and Blacks, we see this focus on race with the prevalence of yoga practitioners. And finally, the third thing I looked at and you can take a look at the full paper here, the link is down at the bottom, it's dominated by people who are younger, page 18 to 44, and the numbers drop off as you get to older ages.

So clearly, there's disparity in terms of age, race, and gender, and there are others and I'll be showing those on March 9th, things like education, income, et cetera. Let's talk about race and gender because that will be the focus today.

I did a deep dive through a number of surveys that have been done historically, and all the links for these are located down here. These are the links that the surveys were done, looking at female practitioners. Now, there's a good deal of variance here because they're done differently every year, but what we're looking at is the three-quarters, roughly, of the yoga practitioners is really women.

And if you look more closely at the most rigorous ly done, this NHIS health survey in 2002, 2012, and 2017, you can see perhaps, gender disparities is dropping a little bit. But that remains to be seen.

When we look at race and ethnicity, there's fewer surveys that look at the race and ethnicity breakdown. Some of them have looked at looking at the whites as opposed to the complete ethnic and racial background. What you can see from the NHIS survey is this basically strong disparity that it's dominated by whites. What you can suggest here, perhaps, looking a little bit more closely, isolation that, there's a little bit of an increase. This is not much, over 15 years, a 2% increase in Blacks and 1% in Hispanics over a five-year period but still 75% whites. How different is this from the national demographic? Let's take a look at that. This is race, ethnicity across 1997 to 2017 when this graph ends, so when this ends, whites are 61% of the proposition and we're sitting at well over 70 for yoga practitioners.

How different is this from the national demographic? Let's take a look at that. This is race, ethnicity across 1997 to 2017 when this graph ends, so when this ends, whites are 61% of the proposition and we're sitting at well over 70 for yoga practitioners. When we look at Latino, 18%,

Page 2 of 11 Downloaded on: 01 Mar 2021 8:03 AM YA - CE Workshop | Yoga and Society (USYACE2502B)

but Blacks, nowhere near 12%. So predominantly white, female, younger, higher socioeconomic status. Now, this has been recognized as the yoga community, a good sign, much of society is starting to recognize this, as is the yoga community. So when I did a simple search for yoga and disparity, there was some evidence that yoga groups are starting to address this. This was an article written in yoga International by Dianne Bondy and the quote from that, I've learned that Black folks, other people of color, people with disabilities and people with nonbinary genders around always welcomed in yoga spaces. Yoga and other spiritual practices seem to be endeavors reserved for wealthy, white, cis gender folks, even though yoga is meant to reflect all aspects of an individual and all aspects of the life itself. Important questions to reflect on include, how do we continue to keep our culture, yoga classes, and conferences white-centric? And if yoga is about unity, why does that power differential show up on our mats? And we have this, including our yoga practice population. I have to say kudos to Yoga Alliance who has been addressed this, put diversity into the search box, we got a number of issues coming up here, of events that have taken place -- bridging the divide, the yoga diversity dilemma, and even a podcast by Dianne Bondy herself. So we hope to see this systemic problem addressed. And just to highlight our research, we have the Yoga Alliance research people, if you go on to the about on the Yoga Alliance web page, you see the research. And if you go under special populations, you'll find the section on the -- on the "Yoga and Society," or some research, "Yoga and Society." Where you'll see a lot of the reprints of it, that summarize a lot of these demographics in these studies.

So I'll leave it there and send it off to Dr. Webb to take over. >> DR. JENNIFER WEBB: Thank you for that. We'll now put the media on center stage but recognize there are other multiple factors that are contributing. Once again, it is really a delight and a privilege to be here with all of you today. Thank you to all of the presenters and all of the attendees for taking time out today to join this conversation. Thank you also to Kim Weeks, to Scott Beard, the Yoga Alliance for contributing to this important topic today. As we get started exploring this topic together, I would like for you to consider the following questions. And you can sort of let this percolate again as we start going through this information together. When you look at the modern media representation of "the ," how often do you see someone who looks like you?

In the public spaces in which you practice yoga, perhaps pre-COVID, how often do you see someone who looks like you? And lastly, if you believe your social identities are generally well represented in mainstream yoga spaces and in the media representations but others are conspicuously missing or limited, what might be the costs and do you see yourself as having a role in promoting positive change? So in honor of Black History Month, I would like to recognize five of the leaders in the diversity, equity, and inclusion in yoga representation movement who have been using their media platforms in order to transform, transcend, challenge their imperfections as well as to empower and encourage more diversity, inclusion, and equity in the practice. So if you like, you could use, I believe, the chat to let me know if you recognize any of these kids. I'm going to read a little bit about each one and afterwards, again, feel free to jump in with letting us know if you know them. And if you don't, all the better, because then I'm also doing my job today.

Page 3 of 11 Downloaded on: 01 Mar 2021 8:03 AM YA - CE Workshop | Yoga and Society (USYACE2502B)

First of all, I am the creative visionary behind the national yes, yoga has curves movement and have been inclusive for the past 20 years. I am -- any takers? This is Dana Smith. I am the president of the Black yoga Teachers Alliance and the author of yoga for based strength trauma, I have integrated yoga within behavioral health and wellness efforts for self- care strategies for all. I am -- yes. Dr. Gail Parker.

Next, I am creator, coach, yogi, writer, also known as the peace build mama. I'm a Yoga Alliance continuing education provider and an accessible certified yoga teacher and trainer. Additionally, I am a founding member of the Charlotte nonprofit for BIPOC through programming, grants, and scholarships. I am -- any takers? This is Kelly Palmer. I'm glad to be able to introduce some of these folks to you. I'm a yoga teacher, body-positivity advocate and writer based in Durham, North Carolina. Everybody yoga, get on the mat, and love your body, and creator of the underbelly yoga Smartphone app. After being dissatisfied with the local yoga experience, I started sharing on Instagram, which led to wide following of individuals inspired by someone who looked more like them with greater inclusion and hope. I am -- wonderful. . Awesome.

And last, but certainly not least, I'm a social justice activist, accessible yoga teacher and trainer and yoga for all movement. I am a change agent in , yoga where you are. My inclusive approach to yoga empowers anyone to practice regardless of their shape, level, ethnicity or level of ability. And sat Bir gave us a clue earlier. This is Dianne Bondy. Thank you so much. Sat Bir gave us a clue earlier. This is Dianne Bondy. Thank you so much. Because I'd like to talk about how the media can be used for good. It can fuel our awareness and understanding of the realities of the diversity that is already present among yoga practitioners and professionals. So I'd like to show you a brief media campaign clip that was put forth by the yoga and body image coalitionYoga and Body Image Coalition that was started in 2014, co- founded by Melanie Kline, and this particular media representation was by Yoga Alliance and Accessible Yoga. >> Representation matters.

>> Representation matters. (Captioned video)ein, and this particular media representation was by Yoga Alliance and Accessible Yoga. >> Representation matters.

>> Representation matters. (Captioned video). >> DR. JENNIFER WEBB: Next, I would also like to share with you another example of where we can use the media -- and, again, in this case, social media once again, as a way to check our own biases and challenge stereotypes. So as we'll see Dianne Bondy in action, I encourage you to think about the stereotypes and biases that you might hold, that many of us hold these types of biases about someone who teaches and practices yoga looks like. So despite these powerful representations of lack of diversity along yoga professionals and yoga practitioners, one study found up to 20% of respondents didn't believe their body type was right for yoga. So let's talk about how the media might be reassigning some of those perceptions. And an important place to look is looking at celebrity yoga culture. What celebrities do this type of yoga? We might chuckle about that, but the celebrities do have a powerful platform and it's wonderful when they're able to highlight yoga.

At the same time, because of their celebrity status, everyday individuals may believe that it's still

Page 4 of 11 Downloaded on: 01 Mar 2021 8:03 AM YA - CE Workshop | Yoga and Society (USYACE2502B)

not accessible to them, that perhaps I have to have a certain income or I have to have access to financial resources for, you know, expensive equipment or designer yoga attire. So, again, on the plus side, they're bringing awareness to the benefits of yoga, but on perhaps the downside is that it may not fully appreciate the diversity of individuals for the financial status that may impact whether it's a barrier to the practice. And similarly, the broader exercise and fitness culture certainly has played a role from a media standpoint. Not only can we think about the yoga body in terms of its appearance, but also its functionality, its competence, as well as the commercialism that has been perpetuated, particularly around the , which is this universal leisure wear culture these days. So, for example, in this little cartoon here, choose your method of self-care, contort your body into painful shapes. And then we have Batman trying to scold Robin. I would go to yoga, but I'm not flexible. And he slaps him, that's why you go to yoga. For this pose, you'll need a good yoga shampoo but the exaggerated athleticism that might be the goal of yoga. And accompanying this, this was a goal a few years ago put out by Abercrombie & Fitch for their yoga pant attire, and introducing the new perfect butt yoga collection. So this idea of a yoga pant being seen on certain kinds of bodies may be sending the message that perhaps the practice of yoga is not right for me because I'm not seeing folks like me wearing yoga pants, like what might be viewed almost as a uniform, so to speak. So those are some of the trends that we're thinking about, sort of the broader mainstream culture. Where our lab got interested was trying to understand if some of these same kinds of trends reflected in popular culture were also popular with respect to mainstream yoga life-style media. So a few years ago we started content analysis, and most of them, Yoga Alliance, I'm a long-time subscriber to and have a lot of respect for them as a resource. And because they're a leading resource within the yoga community, it was important for our lab to do little reflexivity as it is some of the messages that they could be sending. And so one of our first projects looked across 40 years of yoga journalYoga Journal images, females, 168 between 1965 and 2015. 2015 was the last period of time that we had, up until that point. And during this particular analysis, we found that across the years, there still was that sort of dominant, Euro-centric thin, body toned. But in the more recent years of the publication, the cover models tended to be in more highly active poses. They tended to be showing more skin. They tended to be wearing more form-fitting a attire. And we saw more of their body, so that was interesting. The same 40-year time span with the models and the advertisement and the themes for the types of products that were being advertised in the market journals for yoga from 1975 to 2015, one issue per year, so not all of the issues, but about one per year, and what we found was, over time, there tended to be more of an emphasis in recent adds -- ads on apparel, supplements and nutritional food in previous years that focused on meditation and other nutritional, philosophical practices. In terms of model attributes, only one model we analyzed had what was perceived as a greater body mass index of 25, and more racial diversity and more age diversity than in the earlier Yoga Journal ads.

I want to mention some of the work by one of my former students at Georgia State University and she has a lot of expertise in disability. So we looked at a thin slice, definitely want to make sure we qualify that. Years 2015 and 2016 from Yoga Journal and we looked at the yogapedia section of those, so examples of the yogapedia slice and we were looking for anything related to representation of disability along the continuum of disabledness. There was emphasis on disability but at the earlier stages, mobility but not on the later phases of disabledness. And in

Page 5 of 11 Downloaded on: 01 Mar 2021 8:03 AM YA - CE Workshop | Yoga and Society (USYACE2502B)

this slice, we did not see any images of anybody who was sort of visibly disabled. And then lastly, to round out sort of this series of analytic work with yoga magazineYoga Magazine, we were looking at the cover images as well as the yoga captions, Yoga Journal, Yoga Magazine, and all--life-style Yoga Magazine, and what we found across the 142 covers, there was an interesting juxtaposition of commercialism and body image and body functionality, so they tended to be highly intertwined through the magazine.

However, we looked closer and Yoga Magazine had less commercial ism compared to the other two during their time span and when we look at yoga magazine, they tended to have less of an emphasis on physical appearance and weight than Yoga Magazine and tended to have a little bit broader sense of weight inclusion and shape inclusion, even though it was still a relatively restricted range. From Yoga Magazine, we started a transition of looking at social media. So another recent study examined and compared images that were sourced from Kerrby fit on Instagram and across the border -- curvy fit, and we saw more body diversity on Instagram. On the other hand, when we compare these two communities, the curvy fit community tended to place a greater emphasis on physical appearance and weight loss whereas the curvy yoga tended to place a greater emphasis on body of process, body competence, as well as a greater representation of larger bodies and sizes as well as more diverse body shapes. Other analytic work, we were interested in using inclusive yoga media as intervention. So in the study that we conducted a couple of years ago, we randomized 66 college women with the founder of curvy yogaCurvy Yoga, she was kind to partner with us in this endeavor and used her yoga videos in this study. So we had the college women who all had a body mass index of 25 or greater, in a four-week program, and those got exposed to her three videos, one per week, and then the fourth week they got a chance to select the videos they would want to do. They wore a band, yoga is for everybody, no weigh-in necessary, and talked about body acceptance every day and were asked the other component was, they were asked to jot down one time a day sort of something they were grateful for that their body was better able to do that day. So we found with this, again, a very small study, we had a relatively reasonable feasibility, 36% attribution, 41 completers, 21 per group, high accessibility said they were at least moderately satisfied with the program. In terms of some preliminary efficacy, positive body images, reductions in negative body image and shaming, and this was really encouraging. How about yoga media targeted to our youth? Many of you might be familiar with the "as I Am" yoga, who, for example, dolls, nine dolls, one of them is the founder of as I amAs I Am, but the others reflect the eight limbs of yoga, so they're named accordingly, and each of the dolls comes with, on the back, a little education about that particular limb of yoga. They have these dolls featured in the books. So the one I applaud As I Am, but as you can see, there's an emphasis on a very thin body aesthetic. And some of you may be aware, around 2016, Barbie is almost fully jointed and they debuted the "Barbie made to move" line and the yoga dolls in terms of how they could be positioned more actively. Although our work has tended to focus on college women, we were curious, what exposure to images of these Barbie dolls particularly effect college women's experiences of body image and affect? So we had -- a third debuted Barbie made to move, the Barbie fashionista, not very posable, and then the third had images to the control of the Lego Friends playsets. The cover story was, we wanted them to rate the quality of the images as marketed to sort of toy -- that five to 10-year-old girls would potentially like, so that was sort of the cover story. Each of the images were presented for 15 seconds. This methodology looks at other

Page 6 of 11 Downloaded on: 01 Mar 2021 8:03 AM YA - CE Workshop | Yoga and Society (USYACE2502B)

things, that looks at females, adult females, and we replicate some of those findings were dolls in college women. So we provided or administered state measures of positive and negative pre and post, and I'm really curious, if you wouldn't mind taking a minute in the chat, do you think we found anything? Do you think college women looking at images of dolls? No. Do others? Think yes or no? Maybe? Many do not. Okay. I actually think you did. It doesn't seem to be so much. There's a guy doll, they are there as well. That's a good point. For our particular study we are focused on the female-appearing dolls. I think looking at a typical Barbie would make me feel bad about myself. The typical Barbie, a fashionista, thank you for your con contribution. The traditional Barbie that you can't pose very much, they tended to, on average, report less positive body image, lower positive body image in that immediate aftereffect relative to these exposed to the Lego friends playset. So that was interesting.

There was a similar finding for the Barbie made to move, but more for the fashionista. How relatable were these dolls as it related to -- you know, comparing your appearance? And it was a nonsignificant trend that the participants that were randomized to the Barbie made to move, it was close to being significant, they compared their appearance to these flexible dolls. So again, that was an interesting finding. And I wanted to again recognize and applaud all the efforts like Yoga Alliance are doing to empower representation and diverse meeting of spaces. I wanted to highlight the work of decolonizing yoga and give back yoga in this regard. There are several books for those of you who might be doing a deeper dive that provide a poignant window to the experiences of individuals of diverse social identities and social locations and the intersection of them and their experiences with the practice of yoga in a very holistic and real way. Our lab is going through a very poignant, embrace Yoga's Roots, and then, additional resources for those who might be interested, in addition to those that are offered by Yoga Alliance, I certainly recommend the accessible yoga podcast has a lot of wonderful topics related to diversity, equity, inclusion in yoga, including Kelley Palmer, she has a pod cast, dismantling white supremacy in yoga, and honor, don't appropriate yoga, and Curvy Yoga offers yoga trainings in this regard. So in terms of what we have on the horizon, in terms of our research lab, I wanted to frame this in terms offer how encouraged I was a few years when the former editor in chief, Carin Gorell, said, that it is my ultimate wish, not only for this issue, but for the yoga community as a whole, that we, as yogis, commit to remembering that we are all united and to doing what we can make this beautiful accepting practice available to anyone who wants it, regardless of gender, race, size, ability or socioeconomic status. In that spirit, I'll ask you the same question I promise to continue to pose to myself. What will you do to help make yoga more inclusive for all? Now, we have another five years to add to our previous analysis and we'd like to address that more systematically, but I can at least anecdotally, that we'll find that is the cast. And lastly, another project we have on the horizon is engaging with Jessmyn Stanley's the Underbelly app, and it's a pilot acceptability, feasibility trial. We'll invite 30 Black college women from higher weight from UNC and others, Greensboro, to engage with the app as well as the everybody yoga self-help book and even though we're focused on this approach, we will be collecting some preliminary efficacy data for embodiment and well-being. So, again, Dianne Bondy has been popular, an invitation to start where you are. There are disruptors and acknowledge -- I'm so encouraged that there are disruptors and agitators who are showing society, media, and spaces that yoga that yoga should be inclusion. So thank you for letting me bring more diversity, equity, and into the practice of yoga and yoga itself. Thank you so much. >> KIM WEEKS: Thank you so much, Jennifer, that was amazing, such a great presentation. Thank you so much as well, Dr. Sat Bir, March 9th, we'll be back to tell you more, the lack of

Page 7 of 11 Downloaded on: 01 Mar 2021 8:03 AM YA - CE Workshop | Yoga and Society (USYACE2502B)

inclusion in yoga, as much as we do see this changing. And I would also like to say a couple of things before I start to get to the questions. Right after George Floyd was killed, Yoga Alliance hosted one of the most powerful experiences that I personally had on racial and social justice, it was a Friday, and I'm sure sat Bir or I could show you, but if you want to listen to BIPOC global practitionersSat Bir or I could show you, but if you want to listen to BIPOC global practitioners, it was powerful in a week that was life-changing for many, but a reminder of these issues also for many. So I just want to say, if you'd like to continue, you know, diving into some Yoga Alliance programming, that's a really good place to go next. I really kret Yoga Alliance so much for what we've done over the -- credit Yoga Alliance for what we've done the last several months.

With the staff in the United States be reflected of general distribution, I guess, was the question? >> DR. SAT BIR SINGH KHALSA: The United States Government and others have spent more doing yoga studies in the United States and also in Germany and Poland, and you do see some differences. In terms of gender, there is a survey done in India showing the gender disparity there doesn't exist, about 50/50 with women and men practicing. But in one European country, 90% women. So there is some variation, and the US is the US. It's not similar totally to other European countries. >> KIM WEEKS: Would you want to say anything about that, Dr. Webb or anything about your data? >> DR. JENNIFER WEBB: No, I would say the data we have is a little bit on the small scale, emerge ing to intervention work and we're limited to sort of more Western-based magazines. So that would be interesting to do a cross-cultural analysis of the representation of these themes within other yoga media internationally for sure. >> KIM WEEKS: Somebody asked a question, she's creating an inclusive international yogaInternational Yoga streaming channel and asked for your guidelines and support in doing that. >> DR. JENNIFER WEBB: I might be able to perhaps put you in touch with some of the leaders of accessible yogaAccessible Yoga, for example. That's outside my wheelhouse, but I applaud your efforts. That's wonderful. >> KIM WEEKS: So let us know if you'd like us to be in touch. I'm not sure -- I'd like to ask a question, listening to the interview this morning. There is something that he said that I wanted to bring in the conversation that seemed so germane to how, the how, how we do this, and if every African-American has five cents for ever dollar that every white person has and it takes money to do yoga and, you know, we're looking at these images of -- the whole thing just feels so much -- so like white privilege because these spaces -- this is what made me think of the call, the Yoga Alliance had, I believe it was June 9th, that Friday, in which there was a lot of conversation about what, you know, white-owned studies can do to bring people of color in to them. And several of the people on the call when asked this question, because there were chats flying into the Q&A for questions, the question was, you know, have you ever thought about whether or not you made your space safe? Because I just want to talk about the safety issue and how this sort of privilege makes you -- some tone Deaf to the experience of others. Is there a recommendation that you all have both thought about in your life? Jennifer, you, you know, professionally, you know, completely -- what would you recommend to yoga teachers who want to open back up in COVID spaces once COVID -- you know, once we open back up? How to create a safe space? Because I walked away from that call, for example, listening to that exchange and that interview this morning, why would people of color want to go to white spaces and practice there? That's one of the things that Gail Parker makes in her book, restorative

Page 8 of 11 Downloaded on: 01 Mar 2021 8:03 AM YA - CE Workshop | Yoga and Society (USYACE2502B)

yoga for ethnic and racial trauma. >> DR. JENNIFER WEBB: This is such a complex challenge and I'm appreciative for the challenge of seeing what could be possible. I'm -- when there are teacher trainings on a sliding scale or donation-based, so it's not just a one-size-fits-all sort of being, for these workshops and things like that. But also recognizing that even though we are trying to, or reclaim sort of the physical space post-COVID, I think it's going to be useful to talk about possible hybrids. The accessibility is not only about creating that welcoming physical space, but also for individuals who might want to, you know, still stay at home or at least a part of the time and that can create that sort of safeness when they're in their home which could be a segue for them maybe feeling more comfortable to actually start practicing in a physical space. Those are a couple of things that initially come to mind in terms of the financial access to the training and to the content and also recognizing that maybe in the future, we'll have more of a hybrid with studios, other kinds of spaces. And where are these spaces? Are these spaces, again, in the communities that we're trying to sort of encourage and target? Are we keeping in mind some of the other constraints about flexibility of timing, childcare? I think it's really neat, there's at least one studio here in the Charlotte area that does provide Charlotte care where the adult can actually practice yoga, and, obviously, as well. child care where the adult can actually practice yoga, and, obviously, yoga for children as well. >> KIM WEEKS: As a parent working online now, I don't know how many parents are going to come back. You're spending as much time going to the class as you are in the class, so if time is your main currency, it might be these young working parents -- so thank you for that answer. That's great. Is there anything else you want to say about that, sat Bir? >> DR. SAT BIR SINGH KHALSA: It's not so much the question of fixing the current studios. It's starting younger. So my answer to everything with yoga is bring it into the schools. My friends at the holistic life foundationHolistic Life Foundation are teaching yoga at inner city Baltimore schools and they've been doing this for years and now some of the kids who have graduate from elementary school and adolescents are becoming teachers in that school system. That's how you start to broaden this across the whole demographic. You teach it to children who have more time on the children, by definition, racially diverse, because everyone is in the schools. So that's the long-term solution. >> DR. JENNIFER WEBB: What's been your experience in terms of the currency or credibility of particularly maybe in public school systems in different regions in terms of being open to have children access the practice? >> DR. SAT BIR SINGH KHALSA: In general, I think the schools are very open. The only pushback you get sometimes is the idea of religiosity, and the school administrator will believe, falsely, yoga is a religion, and they say, you can't teach yoga because it's a representation of the Hindu religion, which it's not, it's just the mind-body practice. We've seen good feedback, and the schools are really desperate. They have a huge mental health problem with the kids and we know it can help them self-regulate and change their behavior in positive directions. . >> KIM WEEKS: Even more so after COVID. We'll have more programming and children will hopefully be filtered in after we got off online and back in person. I wanted to say that one person actually put it much better than I'm did and I'm grateful and would like to say it outside. The reality is, people want to act yoga but will not come unless there's an assurance it's a safe place and meaningful and vulnerable, this means that someone shares an identity. I've had people say that they will not come unless I, or a person of color, am teaching, and that has me think of the yoga cooperative in Denver, Colorado, where I happen to be moving in a few months which has all people of color training, and they are so impressive, so amazing, and, you know, I was there. A bunch of them were on this call last June and I've been

Page 9 of 11 Downloaded on: 01 Mar 2021 8:03 AM YA - CE Workshop | Yoga and Society (USYACE2502B)

on their site off and on by them, the donation has come up, because people were saying, how can I give money, how can I help? That might be a way, if you're not a person of color, therefore, would not be in that training, you could help them do these trainings to have people of color out in the world teaching yoga.

And that makes me want to ask the question to both of you. You look at the Yoga Alliance, the membership database, the Yoga Journal, the subscription database is all, you know, mostly, you know, women who look like me or are generally in my age range. What path do you recommend people -- yoga teachers -- let's stick with yoga teachers for right now, how to train themselves? Because I think it needs to be a training, it's not, pick up Gail Parker's book and read it and feel better because you've read it or you have. If I'm in yoga 1, and hopefully this will happen, there has to be an online requirement of -- and a bigger requirement of 500 for trauma, you know, sensitive yoga and/or racial and social justice training basically as it relates to yoga. So what recommendations would you have there for those of us on the call who want so much to make sure we are always questioning our inclusive diversity, accessibility approaches? >> DR. JENNIFER WEBB: Well, a big part of that would be, again, the currency of those who are able to make those decisions about what the teacher trainings consist of and try to make that case with them so that, again, at some point, I don't know how the curriculum might have changed over the years. But if it's not, you know, been 100% the same over the duration it's been available, there have been points of opportunity to reflect and to consider that now, particularly now, that this needs to be an essential component and that's something that's viewed as an optional kind of boutique component. >> DR. SAT BIR SINGH KHALSA: I think we're already starting to see this in the academy institutions. Howard University does a strong push for the faculty toal take racially sensitive courses, and that's a model. The yoga training institution, you follow what's been done and started by many academic institutions in this direction.

(Overlapping speakers). >> DR. JENNIFER WEBB: And at the same time, it really -- sat Bir's perspective, even the stakeholder and those who have on the , is this something to check off the list, versus, is this an opportunity to be deep, reflexive, authentic, and deal -- grapple with these issues authentically, so it's not just a check box. Check. Diversity and equity. >> KIM WEEKS: I certainly hope -- I really hope we're past any of that. I hope that's over. I hope that at least everyone on this call, you know, we're approaching it with, again, the humility of understanding that privilege has hardened our ears and C colon (indistinguishable) at the top and start there, because that's what we've been taught. Okay. So we have -- great questions are rolling in, right, as we're about to finish. So I'm not going to be able to get to any more of the questions except there were lots of people that thanked you both very much for your presentations and people asking questions about starting the inclusive conversation with studies that don't forgot to BIPOC. I mean, the suggestion about looking to academic institutions as leaders in the field, and be your leader. Be a leader in the field. If you're on this call, it's because you called enough to learn. Take what you learn and share it with people. You know, is there anything last you all would like to say? I'll go dark here, so please, just say good-bye to everybody?

>> Again, I think we might underestimate the power that we can influence. >> DR. SAT BIR SINGH KHALSA: I'd like to say the research is important, our media perception, our public perception of yoga. The more we can understand what's going on

Page 10 of 11 Downloaded on: 01 Mar 2021 8:03 AM YA - CE Workshop | Yoga and Society (USYACE2502B)

psychologically and sociologically with this perception of yoga, we're more in a position to address it. >> KIM WEEKS: Absolutely. I wish we could spend another three hours talking about this. Thank you for your time, Jennifer, and we'll be back March 9th and explore more of this, maybe we can be chatting and -- (indistinguishable), thank you so much for being here, and we'll see you again soon. I'm Weeks Well on Instagram, I'd love to see you all, and you've got everyone else's information on the call. Thank you so much. Bye. time, Jennifer, and we'll be back March 9th and explore more of this, maybe we can be chatting and -- (indistinguishable), thank you so much for being here, and we'll see you again soon. I'm Weeks Well on Instagram, I'd love to see you all, and you've got everyone else's information on the call. Thank you so much. Bye. (End of session at 3:01

Page 11 of Downloaded on: 01 Mar 2021 11 8:03 AM YA - CE Workshop | YA - CE Workshop | Yoga and Yoga and Society (USYACE25

Society (USYACE25

02B) 02B)

Page 11 of Downloaded on: 01 Mar 2021 11 8:03 AM

Page 11 of 11 Downloaded on: 01 Mar 2021 8:03 AM