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    TheRealMarthaJones3.0Terrell Jermaine Starr
    5/06/19 1:39pm

    I love yoga and I go to a studio in a SE Asian neighborhood, so I have only ever had SE Asian and Indian teachers, and that’s where I see most of the blk ppl to be honest. 

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    MssaywhatitisTerrell Jermaine Starr
    5/06/19 11:56am

    I think I can benefit from this as well. My bf used to do it and he said that he really enjoyed but now he works 16 hours a day. So, not much time for yoga but I’m determined that we make time. It’s much needed for both of us.

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      Rooo sez BISH PLZMssaywhatitis
      5/06/19 4:00pm

      That’s what DVDs and online practices are for. I’m a Pilates person instead but it’s still a mindbody practice (my dance accident knees and yoga have a long story), but I have subscriptions so I can practice by myself when I can’t get to class.

      One of the Dora Milaje from Black Panther is a Pilates instructor on the West Coast :-)

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    sTalkinggoat, first and last of his nameTerrell Jermaine Starr
    5/06/19 11:59am

    I did yoga for awhile while I was weightlifting. It did a lot to increase my thigh and ankle flexibility and really improve my squat depth. I could have done without all the pseudo spiritual commentary sprinkled throughout though.

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      itsnotaboutthepastasTalkinggoat, first and last of his name
      5/06/19 2:01pm

      ...it was originally (and still is) a spiritual practice. Yeah it has health benefits, but that’s like saying “church was cool but they talked about the bible a bit too much.”

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      sTalkinggoat, first and last of his nameitsnotaboutthepasta
      5/06/19 2:17pm

      Yeah, I’m sure the 24 year old personal trainer/model/influencer who taught the class holds deep knowledge about Hindu Yogic traditions and it’s not just window dressing marketing. 

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    AfroNunTerrell Jermaine Starr
    5/06/19 1:04pm

    I started doing yoga two months ago and it has really changed my world. I’m usually the only black girl there but I do see black guys there from time to time. We have to take care of ourselves, it’s a rough world out there fam. 

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      BURNING ICEAfroNun
      5/06/19 3:33pm

      I am a 70 year old black who recently started reading a book my wife gave me, who has been doing yoga for years. The book and starting to use the the poses has really helped me to mentally focus my mind and body and help me process America’s racism, the orange asshole’s stoking of everybody’s anxiety.

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      Mila K.AfroNun
      5/06/19 4:37pm

      So happy for you. Life as a Yogi has been super dope! I talk a little bit about it on my podcast. It’s wild learning how to live after being alive for almost 40 years lol. 

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    R0n1nTerrell Jermaine Starr
    5/06/19 12:42pm

    Yes self care is important, and I’m sure I would benefit, but I live in Colorado.

    http://directory.yogagreenbook.com/blackyogis/

    There aren’t any studios I’ve seen/experienced here where I a)will be one of 2 men (not a problem but still) or b) be THE only Black man.

    So my question is it a demand problem or an outreach problem?

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      Von Clyderdale: Exiled from JezebelR0n1n
      5/06/19 2:34pm

      I am always surprised by the lack of color in yoga? I live in Atlanta (voted The Root’s Blackest City) and at my studio we only have two black teachers! One is a man, one is a woman. We got... idek how many white ones. It always surprises me!

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      Mila K.R0n1n
      5/06/19 4:47pm

      To your question both and, yes it’s a demand issue and an outreach as well as time, money, energy and abilities. I also believe there are lineages where you will see more black students represented such as Kemetic Yoga in comparison to other lineages. 

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    HypestylesTerrell Jermaine Starr
    5/06/19 12:35pm

    hopefully Yoga as a health practice will continue to grow among black Americans.

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    SpartanTerrell Jermaine Starr
    5/06/19 1:39pm

    Great read.

    Keep spreading the word Terrell.

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    Pedantic PontificatorTerrell Jermaine Starr
    5/06/19 2:27pm

    Hooray!

    I used to go to class at a gym with this absolute gem of a teacher. She used to drag in the snickering weight lifters, and then she would stress the hell out of them with an intense practice. It was so satisfying when the realization would dawn on their faces that yoga was NOT as easy as it looked.

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    MangoMojitoTerrell Jermaine Starr
    5/06/19 4:46pm

    My company pays for a gym membership in the building’s gym here in Chicago, and I used to take the noon class. I was the only black person in the class (I have since stopped because I do not like how the new teacher for the noon class teaches the class. She’s a lovely person though. I’m just not down with her flow). We did have a couple of white guys rotate in and out - but they were specifically there because they were working on flexibility at the encouragement of some other trainer - not because they really wanted to get in touch with themselves.

    I was always the only black person in the class. There was a black woman who taught the evening class, but even then, all the people who I ever saw in the evening class were pretty white.

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    BensonDuboisTerrell Jermaine Starr
    5/06/19 5:04pm

    I’m glad that another brother is coming to see the light on yoga. It has been co-opted by so many exercise-latte White women that people forget its part of the Ayurvedic tradition. When I tell people to think of yoga, I tell them to think of circus contortionists because that little box you see them squeeze into is the end result for a life of yoga teachings. Not to get into the box, but the core strength and flexibility to be able to contort your body into any shape you choose. It’s all about control and many many brothers could use some real deal mind body that these tree root chewing clowns always seem to wax poetic about.

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