Yoga is popular for many reasons. It is an exercise that is both relaxing and has huge zen benefits. If you have ever been to a class, you may have noticed that there were only a few people of color. Of course every class is not the same, but it is well known that majority of the practitioners are white women.  

An XOJane reader wrote in saying, “I thought about how even though yoga comes from thousands of years of south Asian tradition, it’s been shamelessly co-opted by Western culture as a sport for skinny, rich white women… I realized with horror that despite the all-inclusivity preached by the studio, despite the purported blindness to socioeconomic status, despite the sizeable population of regular Asian students, black students were few and far between. And in the large and constantly rotating roster of instructors, I could only ever remember two being black.”

However, Teacher Calia Marsha has decided to take a swing at the yoga world by beginning teaching classes in the Prospect Heights area of Brooklyn. Women of all races, cultures and sizes can come together Sunday’s for an hour and a half class for the price of $16.

Marshall writes, ”Yoga classes are really expensive and not accessible to working class or low income folks. I’ve been in this community for a long time; I don’t see myself reflected in the community very often.”

 

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