In writing this
four part series on decolonizing yoga, I have to admit that this post is the
most emotionally difficult for me to write. So I'll begin by giving a trigger
warning: The following exploration of modern hatha yoga's relationship with the
settler colonial State discusses settler colonialism's relation with
patriarchy, the devaluation of Indigenous women's bodies and the subsequent
violence that Indigenous women face. I recognize that I as a white, Canadian
settler am implicit in that violence, and I argue that recent developments in
North American yoga culture further entrench that system.
Colonialism used
and continues to use racism as a means of creating a 'biologized' (and
therefore natural) Other that the colonizers need to defend themselves against.
It then follows that the death and disappearance of the body of the racialized
Other will improve 'our' (the colonizers) everyday lives. In a settler colonial
context such as the one we have in North America, aka Turtle Island, Indigenous
peoples are the ultimate Other that must be erased in order for the colonizers
to settle the land and claim all it's resources. Indigenous bodies become a
sort of pollution that the settler colonial society must cleanse itself of,
however since outright genocide isn't particularly acceptable, a mass
extermination of Indigenous bodies isn't an option that the settler colonial
State can consider. Cleansing in seemingly isolated incidents, especially those
that often go unreported, such as rape, remains a viable possibility. If it
sounds absurd, it's because these stories are routinely brushed under the rug, and even, when
the story does make it into the media, there are various racist narratives that
settlers can employ to dismiss the case as an isolated incident, such as the
recent case of Loretta Saunders' murder (one of over 800 missing and murdered
Indigenous women in Canada).
How is this even
possible? Settlers, and I include myself in that label, have been taught that
the time of Indigenous ways of living are over, and any lasting remnants have
no hope of survival. And why bother trying to reverse years of social
conditioning to devalue Indigeneity when the whole situation seems hopeless and
we as settlers benefit from the violence against Indigenous peoples everyday?
Because as Darryl Leroux, Loretta's thesis supervisor, points out this is a
pattern of violence that has been going on for far too long: Loretta was dumped
in a ditch on the side of a highway in a province that use to pay European
settlers for the scalps of Mi'kmaq women, children, and men. The 800+ missing
and murdered Aboriginal women in Canada are not isolated incidents, they're
part of a larger story that settlers play a direct role in. Settler society
needs to change or this pattern will continue. The problem does not lie with
the Indigenous peoples, although they certainly experience the affects of
settler colonialism, the problem lies with the settlers to who continue to
support this system of violence.
So what does
yoga have to do with this? In the last fifteen years yoga has become
increasingly absorbed into mainstream, settler colonial culture, while
simultaneously beginning to reflect the toxic values and norms of settler
colonial society, including the devaluation of certain bodies in favor of
others. Bodies that conform to the image that has become associated with modern
hatha yoga are valued: young, white, able-bodied, cis-gendered, unusually
flexible women. These are the bodies that are featured in yoga publications,
advertisements, art and viral videos. Anyone who does not fit this narrowly
constructed mould does not belong in this exclusive club, regardless of whether
or not they would benefit from this practice.
The new image of
yoga that has internalized the value system of settler colonialism also
perpetuates this system by branding yoga as a product that if bought will make
one feel happy and peaceful, and be a better, more likeable person (in addition
to skinnier, flexible and more "beautiful"). As such, yoga has become
a willing accomplice in perpetuating the capitalist consumer culture that is
dependent on extracting resources from stolen indigenous land.
Furthermore, this
yoga brand completely excludes any conceptualization of yoga as a practice that
can be emotionally difficult, that challenges practitioners to think about
death and deal with emotional baggage. No, this yoga brand is a sanitized
version of modern hatha yoga, itself a product of British colonialism in India,
that contains only the aspects that are nonthreatening to settler colonial
narratives. While texts going back as far as the Yoga Sutras acknowledge that
the physical body internalizes experiences of trauma and violence, that
teaching is ignored by the commercial yoga brand.
Some Indigenous
women can pass for white women, and may be skinny and cis-gendered and
especially flexible and wear Lululemon pants, I have had these women in my
classes, and had they not self-identified to me I would not have known their
status. However an externally focused conceptualization of race is an outdated
and superficial one that degrades the significance of community ties. Loretta
Saunders may look white in the pictures, but she was still an Inuit woman, and
the violence she experienced as an Inuit woman is not unusual. So even the
Indigenous women who can 'pass' as bodies to be valued in yoga classes will not
necessarily find a safe space there. While some teachers are aware of the
potential for survivors of trauma to attend their classes, the responses are
varied. Some teachers ask for permission before touching their students'
bodies, others don't. Some acknowledge that certain poses can stimulate a lot
of emotions; others focus entirely on making poses look right.
A decolonized
yoga practice cannot be all about what that practice looks like. The emphasis
has to be on what that practice feels like. Alignment is important in order
ensure students' safety in challenging poses, but equally important is supporting
the internal practice, and that practice is for anyone regardless of whether or
not settler colonial society values their body or not.
For more
information see
"Settler
Colonialism and Carceral Control of Indigenous Mothers and their Children:
Child Welfare and the Prison System" by Laura Landertinger (forthcoming)
"On Denialand Distraction: Common Responses to Colonial Violence" by Darryl Leroux
"How Yoga
Makes You Pretty: The Beauty Myth, Yoga and Me" by Melanie Klein in 21st Century Yoga
"Questioning
the 'Body Beautiful': Yoga, Commercialism and Discernment" by Frank Jude
Boccio in 21st Century Yoga
"Retailerslike Lululemon know how to make money: make women feel bad" by Heidi Moore
Yoga PH.D by Carol Horton
"Yoga andDiversity" documentary series by Global Mind Body