Hey fellow authorized ashtanga yoga teachers! y’all gonna go to “Bill Cosby school of comedy” or “the R Kelly Institute for Balladry”? What if they gave you your degree with the guys face on it and made you hang it up in your class room? Are you going to do it? If you wouldn’t do it, why not? Could you support an organization that demanded you do?

A while back I was the victim of a hate crime — I was assaulted and hospitalized for being other.

They took nothing except my illusions. And I’m left asking what kind of other was it that made me a target:

White in a black neighborhood?
A perception of Gentry in a neighborhood undergoing gentrification?
Being queer?

I’m not sure what exactly cause it. “White faggot” isn’t quite enough to go on.

What the media does with marginalized communities and race relations is appalling. The questions it asks and posits are cheap (I’m looking at you, Roxanne Gay).

I implore everyone reading this to leave your gated communities and engage. Ask better questions. Thank you for checking up on me. And remember: I love you. I’m sorry you hurt.

Also: follow the patterns. The Smullet thing is too close to the Lincoln Memorial thing. Somethings fishy.

It’s hard to laugh at the Smullett memes.

Some of us have faces held together by laffy taffy and metal plates because we actually were brutally attacked on the street in a random act of violence for no reason other than pure hatred.

Please be aware that by making light of this situation, it becomes a way of diminishing the realities of hate crimes in America.

Funny that it’s my straight white cohort sharing them. Your lack of empathy is worth examining.

Are you signed up for the DC Ashtanga newetter? Here's this week's!

Two years ago I had an inkling of Jois’s abuses of power. I also had plausibility in my internal denial. I think Nigel has so eloquently stated so much of how i feel. I was reminded this morning by my statement of gratitude for Jois’s work from those two years ago— I am no less grateful for his vast accomplishment but also no longer interested in a purposeful naivety. Have nuance here— and leave space for others to do so also. And in the interim, please stop diefying, explicitly or implicitly, a flawed, complicated human. If you have real interest in helping others heal their traumas, take down your icons and your alters to an abuser.

I had the wonderful opportunity to chat with my dear friend Stuart and Micah on their engaging new podcast— Yoga Teacher Talks. We discuss inclusivity, holding space, and what goes into *teaching* yoga. Oh— and we talk chanting!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/2-were-all-gonna-die/id1476339595?i=1000448031718

Mike has a long read for you today. I know him from his time as a working stand up comic— his live performance was gifted. His writing is clear and powerful. Give this a read, his perspective strikes me as valuable.

As some of you know, I'm headed to the cloud forest of Ecuador, outside of Quito. If you were ask me why, I'd tell you to "plant some trees. "

The trees and the planet are trending right now, aren't they? Maybe because the whole world is burning and things are about to get really fucked. Thats likely. But, thats not why I'm headed down there.

Yes, I'll tell you I'm going to Ecuador to plant some trees... but the truth is, I'm going down to do whatever the hell it is Kristen is doing.

For a good long time now, I've been in the business of earnestly learning from her. It's been a good choice on my end to value her knowledge... I truly don't know what I'd be if I hadn't made that choice long ago.

You can get in on this, too.

Here's the deal: you don't have to go plant trees-- for $18 a month, you'll help Kristen plant a lot of trees. And you'll get some yoga videos. Good karma stuff all around. She called the Pateron level "Karma Yogi" for a reason, and it makes me smile.

On top of the good vibes and some chocolate, you'll also get some yoga and recipe videos. Like this one. I teach ashtavakrasana very similarly to KK-- it would make sense, of course. She taught me how to teach it.

Go sign up. Get some yoga videos. Save the planet.

Tell people you're saving the planet. You're helping. And you will be.

Or don't tell anyone and just do it for yoga videos... your money will still fund the trees.

Or, be like me, and donate and tell everyone and still try and get some clout and maybe you'll never watch the videos but you'll at least in some small way be able to give back and you're gonna do it because it honors your teachers.

<3

https://www.yogajournal.com/practice/a-sequence-for-political-resilience

About ten years ago, i set a goal for myself to be on the cover of yoga journal. Today, i made it to the homepage.

10 years in, I think that's about right. Time and dreams change. Markers of success evolve.

Back then, I imagined that my perfect form and smiling face would make a valuable representation -- and mark an internal validation.

As practice is wont to, I eventually had a realization: I could do better. I wanted to share something more substantive than just form. The marker for validation had shifted dramticay.

I wanted to share some part of what practice had shared with me-- something that has helped me grow and thrive and that I have seen do the same for others time and time again.

Well, here we are. I talk about resilience. I share a modified primary series. I tried to use explicit language so as to maximize value and minimize confusion. .

I'm honored and thrilled. Simply in existing, it represents those who might feel marginalized.

I'm out, I'm queer, and I'm big. I'm a yoga practitioner who shares a powerful and potent practice steeped in tradition and that has a veracious efficacy.

I hope you find it useful, for yourself or for others

https://www.yogajournal.com/practice/a-sequence-for-political-resilience

About ten years ago, i set a goal for myself to be on the cover of yoga journal. Today, i made it to the homepage.

10 years in, I think that's about right. Time and dreams change. Markers of success evolve.

Back then, I imagined that my perfect form and smiling face would make a valuable representation -- and mark an internal validation.

As practice is wont to, I eventually had a realization: I could do better. I wanted to share something more substantive than just form. The marker for validation had shifted dramticay.

I wanted to share some part of what practice had shared with me-- something that has helped me grow and thrive and that I have seen do the same for others time and time again.

Well, here we are. I talk about resilience. I share a modified primary series. I tried to use explicit language so as to maximize value and minimize confusion. .

I'm honored and thrilled. Simply in existing, it represents those who might feel marginalized.

I'm out, I'm queer, and I'm big. I'm a yoga practitioner. What I've shared is what I know to be a powerful and potent practice steeped in tradition and that has a veracious efficacy.

I hope you find it useful, for yourself or for others

I am fascinated by ritual.

They have so many different forms and varied affectations— different elaborations, steps, and varied repetitions — I love them.

I am often *taken* by them, and occasionally my attention is so captivated it makes me want to try it. This medicated ghee speaks to me, and shows me the value of Annette’s practice in so many different arenas of life. Makes me want to participate.

Thanks, Annette!