Christians Practicing Yoga

View Original

Diversifying My Yoga Feed

Allyson Huval

I sat on my couch the morning of #BlackOutTuesday feeling overwhelmed. I felt so moved by seeing my feed completely black. Black is the color we associate with mourning. Millions of people mourned the systematic racism in our country and its devastating effects on the lives of our human neighbors. But, as Angela Joy writes, “Black is a Rainbow Color.” 

I recently wrote a blog post dedicated to highlighting Indian-Americans and their relationship with yoga (watch for it to be published next week). At first I could not find Indian-American yoga practitioners anywhere! I had to seek out the people that should have been seen years ago.

This week, I thought of how many black yoga students I actually taught and wondered if I knew any black yoga teachers. It seems preposterous to consider because of course I have. The disappointing part was that I could count all of them on two hands. So I searched and once I did it was easy to find. 

I’ve recently diversified my yoga feed to include Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC), seeking new perspectives outside my typical feed. We will also be launching an account for CPY soon.

Below are a few tips for diversifying your yoga Instagram feed. 

  1. Go to big name yoga pages and look for BIPOC yogis. These pages can be Yoga International, Yoga Journal, Yoga Alliance, etc. Follow the BIPOC yogis tagged! 

  2. Once you have your launching pad, follow other allies mentioned. Go down the following rabbit hole. Like and comment! This changes the Instagram algorithm so you will see BIPOC posts in the future.    

  3. Follow #blackyoga hashtags! My favorites are #blackgirlsyoga, #blackmendoyoga, #yoga4blm, #blackyogipride, and #yogisofcolorcrushingit. 

  4. Follow yoga studios owned by black men and women. You can easily find them using #blackownedyogastudio. There are posts out there that share where you can find black owned yoga studios that are streaming yoga classes. 

  5. Highlight BIPOC yogis on your Instagram stories. 

  6. Check out my list of favorite BIPOC yogi accounts below! You can also access them by viewing my “diversity” highlight reel on Instagram.