World News Trust World News Trust
World News Trust World News Trust
  • News Portal
  • All Content
    • Edited
      • News
      • Commentary
      • Analysis
      • Advisories
      • Source
    • Flatwire
  • Topics
    • Agriculture
    • Culture
      • Arts
      • Children
      • Education
      • Entertainment
      • Food and Hunger
      • Sports
    • Disasters
    • Economy
    • Energy
    • Environment
    • Government
    • Health
    • Media
    • Science
    • Spiritual
    • Technology
    • Transportation
    • War
  • Regions
    • Africa
    • Americas
      • North America
      • South America
    • Antarctica
    • Arctic
    • Asia
    • Australia/Oceania
    • Europe
    • Middle East
    • Oceans
      • Arctic Ocean
      • Atlantic Ocean
      • Indian Ocean
      • Pacific Ocean
      • Southern Ocean
    • Space
  • World Desk
    • Submit Content
  • About Us
  • Sign In/Out
  • Register
  • Site Map
  • Contact Us
  • Russia's War and the Global Economy | Nouriel Roubini
  • U.S. Considers Radical Rethinking Of Dollar For Today's Digital World | David Gura
  • Why is Israel Amending Its Open-Fire Policy?: Three Possible Answers | Ramzy Baroud
  • WATCH: Republican National Committee Abandons America
  • ‘Previously Unknown Massacres’: Why is Israel Allowed to Own Palestinian History? | Ramzy Baroud
  • The Revolt of the Imagination, Part One: Notes on Belbury Syndrome | John Michael Greer
  • Human gut bacteria have sex to share vitamin B12 | University of California - Riverside

Yoga’s Pose: White Supremacy | Mickey Z.

More items by author
Categories
Edited | Front Page Stories | All Content | Culture | Spiritual | North America | Commentary | Commentary -- WNT Reports | FlatWire
Tool Bar
View Comments

Photo credit: Mickey Z.Photo credit: Mickey Z.

Mickey Z. -- World News Trust

July 15, 2015

One of the greatest victories of white supremacy is conditioning white people to think it only refers to slavery, segregation, skinheads, and the KKK. 

One of the most important steps towards becoming a more aware and effective ally is recognizing how white supremacy (like male supremacy) is everywhere, maliciously interwoven into every aspect of our daily lives. Even those trendy yoga classes.

Of course, with its elitist pricing and resident rapists, yoga does not lack for capitalist and patriarchal elements, but this specific article began when I happened across a white male face smiling at me from the cover of the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health catalog.

Three pages in, Kripalu CEO, David Lipsius writes: “One of our core beliefs is that personal growth and development is a never a one-size-fits-all endeavor” and “Kripalu celebrates these differences and welcomes all seekers in a way that meets each individual exactly where they are.”

As I thumbed through the catalog on a crowded M train, I decided to see how this commitment to diversity played out. My informal count of the programs offered and how many of the teachers and/or presenters were people of color:

Programs: 241

PoC: 19

How is this meeting people “exactly where they are”? Which people? 

Just being able to get oneself to Kripalu’s location in the Berkshires involves a fair amount of class privilege -- never mind the actual fees and costs of the facility -- but once there, how does roughly 92 percent of the teachers being white not qualify as “a one-size-fits-all endeavor”?

Consider the subliminal conditioning of such numbers. Yoga is created by a non-white culture which is then conquered, occupied, and colonized. Fast forward a few centuries and now rich white people are the “experts” -- sanitizing, commodifying, and selling yoga back to other rich white people as self-improvement.

Self-improvement? It’s long overdue to start thinking beyond our privileged selves and recognizing the reality that white supremacy is not always about overt violence or the use of racial slurs. It is with us, in the most insidious of ways, all the time. Therefore, challenging white supremacy is a 24/7 commitment. Are you up to the task?

If so, I’d like to close by sharing one of the most crucial lessons I’ve ever learned as an activist: The most fundamental white privilege is choosing to remain unaware of white privilege. 

Stop posing and join the struggle.

#shifthappens

Mickey Z. is the author of 12 books, most recently Occupy this Book: Mickey Z. on Activism. Until the laws are changed or the power runs out, he can be found on the Web here and here. Anyone wishing to support his activist efforts can do so by making a donation here.

Creative Commons License
"Yoga’s Pose: White Supremacy" by Mickey Z. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://worldnewstrust.com/yoga-s-pose-white-supremacy-mickey-z.

back to top
  • Created
    Wednesday, July 15 2015
  • Last modified
    Wednesday, July 15 2015
  1. You are here:  
  2. Home
  3. All Content
  4. Edited
  5. Yoga’s Pose: White Supremacy | Mickey Z.
Copyright © 2022 World News Trust. All Rights Reserved.
Joomla! is Free Software released under the GNU General Public License.