Skill in Action: Michelle Cassandra Johnson
/
The country you and I live in was founded on the principle of white, straight males of wealth being superior, and everyone else being inferior. [It] was set up in a misaligned way that didn't allow for everyone to experience freedom [which] impacts our minds, hearts, spirits, and bodies. We live with this misalignment, trying to move and relate to one another from a place of dis-ease caused by that misalignment.
What furthers misalignment is the cultural pressure to deny what we know to be true—pressure to be silent about inequity. I invite people to notice how the cultural landscape is landing in their physical body, and in their heart, mind, and spirit.
We are in connection with one another and the culture and it's important to understand our position and our proximity to power in order to figure out how we can create alignment with the collective. The physical practice of yoga invites us to explore alignment and to notice when we are out of alignment and then to adjust accordingly. Similarly, I believe we can adjust, dismantle, and disrupt systems of oppression in order for the collective to move into alignment. The philosophy of yoga teaches us about the yamas and niyamas, ways of being that are very rooted in creating a just world."
READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE
- Michelle Cassandra Johnson, author of Skill in Action, Radicalizing your Yoga Practice to Create a Just World. @skillinaction
