Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Welcome. Welcome.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Hmm! So happy to be here with you all.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): just taking a moment perfect to get presence.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Scrap some water, maybe a pen or
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): piece of paper.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And what journal, if you would like to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): take some notes?
Okay.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so I'm with you today. on
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the months, you know he can land of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): what is colonized, as I think this is upstate New York at Kropalu Center, leading a retreat
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): called the Yoga of Solidarity.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and it's been really
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): a lot like a lot. really, a lot of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): a lot of space to hold. And also like, show me again the importance of the kind of space that we're creating together
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): like. Why, it's important that we do the work of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): caring for and and honoring yoga's roots.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so in a moment. We'll just take a a breath to kind of gather ourselves.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I also want to ask Juliana, could you? Julian is here, supporting me and and helping out with tech and stuff. Could you drop the the question that we got into the T for me? Not the group chat, but just directly to me. my tech is a little bit
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): less expansive than normal because
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): of being not white, like hardwired. And then also, there's a storm happening here. So just for full transparency of what's going on, it's been like beautiful weather, and sunny and warm, and there's like a big storm that just came in, and so the power went out. So I'm with you on a backup generator, so naming that if the power goes out all hot spot and come out on my phone.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and if for some reason, you know, we'll we'll troubleshoot if we need to. But right now it's it's pretty solid. So.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yes, and then
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): welcoming yourself into the space in whatever ways
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): whatever ways support you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and we'll take some breaths together in maybe lifting your hands up above your head. breathing out, bringing your hands down
right
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and more time like that, or any amount of moving
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): your arms up and away from the earth
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): in hell, maybe gazing up, exhale. Come down
it center.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): That's more
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I'm feeling into your presence here. Maybe the ease and nourishment that comes from Yoga.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and also the
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to fire, the toughest, the desire to create change.
and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): holding those in like a dance or a balance.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So if you can imagine in your mind's eye while we do this visualization.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): The last time that you felt kind of a sense of holding that tension.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and it might have literally been like playing tug of war with a
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): family member friends like pulling on rope, and there's like a give and a take. And if you let go they're gonna fall
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that if you pull.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): maybe you'll pull them over to your side right? There's like attention that you're holding when you're literally tugging
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): on a piece of rope or string.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): maybe with holding tension.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you know, trying to make institutional change while maintaining personal relationships.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): family members
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): between
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the desire that you have and maybe the job or the working conditions that you're in
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so many ways that we hold tension.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And there are many ways that Yoga supports us
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): with these tools and these skills
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): or bringing ease.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I also
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): acting.
I'm creating change.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): One of those tools is the breath
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): meeting in reading out
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): another of those tools is grounding and feeling yourself grounded on the earth, supported by the earth.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It's your feet, whatever supporting you.
Okay.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the tools of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): all of the ways we build ugly. We build fire
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that might be visualizing a flame that you're
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): parts in the belly
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): might be breathing a little more intensively. So you stimulate the digestifier and fire within.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I'll take one more breath here.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): utilize the tool of orientation, and as we come out of meditation.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): looking around you, taking in form and color
shape.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I miss you the classroom.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I'm going to turn my computer so you can see
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that there's like back to blankets and blocks. And
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): it's cool. It kind of feels like I'm at Yoga college or something.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so orienting yourself in space. And this is not the room I've been teaching it. So I'm also just letting myself come into this space.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Hmm!
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So the question we got one question.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that was kind of on the team that I was guiding you, guiding us with.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and that is, we've been thinking about the practical use of their yoga practice.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Shut up the
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the community check in and pedal yoga, for this checking question, and it's like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): for me. My practice is a question. My practice helps my life be easier. I've learned to be gentle to allow to not force
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): with that said, especially from this program, meaning Yoga class curator. I've come to value heat effort that us and I was wondering if you could talk about this.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): perhaps seeming contradiction between ease that Yoga encourages and the D Us. The fire that's needed to make waves transformation and change
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): just wanna check. Can anyone resonate with that question?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So
for me. it's
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I remember hearing someone, let's say, like, arrested warrior is a more
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): effective warrior
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): like we're more powerful when we're
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): aligned and unified.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And I think about we've talked about this in past office hours, and I'll share in more detail about this in the future. But
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): if this is like a basic model of our brains, right? This is from Daniel Goleman. And when we're
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): what this is kind of like fight or flight, our emotions rational, critical thinking.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): If we're here, we're all in our emotions. So we're like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): in a tantrum in a panic down here. It's really hard to create sustainable teams, it we're just in like feelings and survival.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): But Yoga helps us. We not just like.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): think rationally, but be a in a unified brain state. It always has this. There's a free chapter of my book that's available. If you don't have my book.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you can get it on my website.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and it goes into the roots of trauma-informed yoga that have always been there in yoga philosophy and Yoga practice, and gives
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): some of the tools that I brought forward today.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So it's this balance right of, and of sort of wisdom.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): The Jana Yoga, the the wisdom that comes of knowing when it's our time to pause.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and when it's time to move and to act.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And there's no rule book for that it's just a practice. It's a practice like Yoga is a practice. And so, for example.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): where I am on the retreat, there have been a number of things happening right? Because we're in an institution in a space that is wanting. Folks like me, you know, and other career folks trans folks, people of color.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): but not quite equipped yet to really hold us. And so there's microaggressions around pronouns around bathrooms
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): around. Are you working here versus teaching here? Right? So there's all of those things happening.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And sometimes folks want to jump in and fix
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the problem right? So I'm just giving to like really real concrete examples.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Oh, can we all go around and share our pronouns? Can we do that? And and maybe that's helpful. But sometimes, what might be more helpful is just pausing.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): not rushing, to fix
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and being with being with the
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the relationships that are there in the moment, being with one's own experience, right listening.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and so that balance that dance, I think, about holding
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): a rubber band. So for folks it's kind of a dark rubber band, but it's my hair tie.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yoga, is this holding of tension.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you know. On one side is like the world we're in, and the other side is the world we want. and sometimes they're really far apart.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): But if we pull and there's all my attention and we're pole, we fight, fight, fight. What happens right? The rubber band breaks.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): we collapse.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I've certainly had my time. So, for now, of like I, I was forced to stop.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then, if we
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): we just are all in our bliss and our calm, and our happiness, and our whatever joyful place. But all these things are still there, right? The conditions are still there.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Detention
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): goes out and it collapses, and there's there's no change that happens.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so it's it is a practice. And that's why I love this question. I can't give you a rule book, the person who asked it, or anyone who also has that question. But I can say, this is part of the practice. It's
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and Iraq, right, like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): is.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then, like doing every action you must do, but not being attached to actions, to actions, fruits
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that balance between harmonizing, harmonizing, harmonizing. So you can take the next right action.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): for me a big part of it. And I'd love to just invite into the space any comments or questions or thoughts on this. I do want to share about cultural appropriation after 2,
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that. So we're not going to spend all our time on this. But
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): A big part of what helps me know if I'm like to, in my ease, is having accountability, having friends.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): colleagues. people who
and be like, hey?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Can you help hold this with me like? Can you help advocate for trans rights
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to me as a cisgender person or that I can be like, hey! Can you help hold this with me? like the amount of South Asian eraser and yoga.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you know, and we can kind of help
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): down to like, hey, you're doing a lot.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I had friends. Say this to me recently, like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): she's my. My. My colleague was like she's had this. And then she did this she did the yoga, you know, like Yoga festival, yoga rest of all. Does she ever rest?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And I was like, Oh, nice little message of like, hey? Maybe rest more like, take more naps right like. So called into that ease, and we get to do that for each other. No one knows better than you. Right? You're that you have the Phd. In you. and and yet we can support one another. So any thoughts on that balance, and I'm just seeing a lot of
I have not seen your
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): anyone like to speak into the space.
Elizabeth McMillian : I can add something to that.
Elizabeth McMillian : Hi, Elizabeth. Yes, please.
Elizabeth McMillian : speaking to that too, and trying to find that balance. What I know for me at least helps, is when you do feel out of balance where in your body are you feeling that? And let that kind of be a guide of okay, like, am I on the edge of doing too much and not really being at ease. And then, when you are at ease.
Elizabeth McMillian : and notice when in that ease, you feel like you're starting to like, be stagnant, and it, and what that makes you feel and like. If you can identify how it feels in your body that can help you. Better gauge like where your balance is.
Hmm. yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): we're in a mind-body practice, right? We're drawn to Yoga as a mind-body practice for for a reason. And in that tool that skillfulness of coming back and checking in with our bodies. Thank you for that.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And Avery said, Feeling this deeply, I was in a job I recently left where I thought I could, might be able to make institutional and systems change. But my body was in a constant state of overwhelming something in the felt out of alignment so important, right? If we had to take
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): note of those cues.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I absolutely felt the rush urgency to see change in my body. Body couldn't keep up. And Bonnie says, Do we both just have and leave the same job? So yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and I just want to like spiritually highlight her. The
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): my body was in a constant state of overwhelming, and something in me felt out of alignment
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): like we sometimes don't know here, but we know here.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and so slowing down that pause again in order to be open to bodily wisdom.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Karen, Reminded me of that question of the meditation. And Hi Karen
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): May I consume in ways that allow
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): for others to also have what they need, may stand against oppressive systems, exploit and create more justice and equity for all.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): maybe mindful in life, and reduce attachment to a limited sense of self, ego or sense impressions, and merge with my highest self the divine and oneness. Thank you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Thank you. Thank you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So as we move into talking about cultural appropriation, I wanted to share on that and share my screen and do kind of like a a bit more, deeper dive.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Just. I would like us to also hold this like the balance of ease and efforts.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Also the understanding that we may not get closer meaning like it might not wrap up in a nice little boat like. Here's what to do.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): We may leave with more questions. We can always come back in a future office hours and talk more
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and so to just hold that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): we'll bet
attention.
Okay.
let's see.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): can you all see my screen?
yes, awesome.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So we're exploring, unpacking cultural appropriation. This is The slide show is one that I give sometimes when I go out and teach. Sometimes I add more to it. But
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I like to just name
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): who I've learned from when I share.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So my teacher, Shankari, Kavir G. Satish, Kamar, Dr. Tara Sathia, or in that tea, Roy, Dr. Brendan is Shiva Aisha Mason Tik that Han Dr. Reverend Lawson, Patrice colors, and many others.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and so our aims
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): are to honor and embrace your of his roots as we embody Yoga to teach and take aligned actions moving forward. And then to understand key concepts like cultural appropriation.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): power, privilege, cultural appreciation.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And when we talk about yoga right, there's
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): there's misunderstanding about what Yoga is, and that's part of what we're counteracting with over cost, curator, and other ways, that you might be exploring the depth and the heart of Yoga.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): But the problem with these misunderstandings is that they dilute Yoga teachings to the point where Yoga is barely recognizable at all.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): But within the tradition are the seeds. We need to understand how to honor the full expanse of what you is. And so I took a picture of the Gandhi Ashroom and Larda, and what is so powerful to me about this is, there's still mostly women working there, village women who go and live an Asher in life and devote themselves to these these observances
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and serve in the community, and these might look really familiar. They might look like some of the Yamas in Yemen's, like truth, sectia, nonviolence, I mean. So
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): ramataria in the Ashram. It's it's chastity.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): no sexual activity. But outside of the Ashram it's like care of our sexual breath, lifeforce energy.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): non stealing session bread.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): There's a few different ones like service, right? If we're going to eat, receive. We also work for our food doesn't have to be the we don't have to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): one to one. So
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): control of our senses, partihara fearlessness, the quality of religions meaning not. And this is really key, especially in India, where sometimes Yoga can be used to oppress as a tool that anything can be a tool or a weapon. So you'll get self can be used as a tool to a press outcast or dial it folks or religious minorities.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): whereas Yoga, as a practice is one of equality, of religions, not of exclusion.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so they added it. Removal of untouchability and sweat is she that's like self reliance. So cool.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): follow the above observances with humility and result.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And I share this to say, like Yoga is a living tradition, right? Like there is people actively practicing and living all over the world.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): including us.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and we get to be the ones that bring that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): revolution of understanding of what you get is forward.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): however, in Yoga and and wellness in the West. There are some.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and so I want to ask you, and you can drop this in the chat. Has there been a time for you when Yoga or this felt inaccessible?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Or why might it feel or be an inaccessible to some, if not to you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and to consider multiple and intersectional issues, such as class ability, race gender culture.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): knowing that issues of appropriation and accessibility can start before folks even enter into like a Yoga space healthcare space on the space studio or online
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): stop sharing. So
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I guess another way of asking, this is like, Who's left out right? Who do you not see in Yoga spaces?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yeah, the prices of classes are expensive.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): larger parties.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): cost and class time.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So it's not welcome because of size, race, or economic status, deaf or blind or urgent classes upstairs. Yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): focusing fitness, marital status, neighborhood accessibility, pressure to perform.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It'd be financial right. All of these things
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so you can keep them. Keep them coming.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And it's not just who is missing. It's also who's in leadership, right? This practice that for thousands of years has been practiced by mostly black and brown folks.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): When you think about where you are.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): what percentage of blank right in Yoga are led by Indian folks, Stacy folks of color.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So what percentage of Yoga classes. what percentage of teacher trainings
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): or workshops. looks festivals.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And now that I'm here on this retreat like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): retreats, you know, retreat experiences and who owns the retreat centers.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so I'm gonna stop my sharing again. Just so I can actually see you because I want to like.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): really, get this like where you are
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): like, can you kind of approximate the percentage.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I would say, where I lived in Orlando was like 8 of the studios were by Popp.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): 3% South Asian
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and maybe 6, you know, or whatever 5% black.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And the rest
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): this white? Right? So. yeah, 2 to 3 in terms of retreat centers. I can't think of any in terms of why, it's I know my own Michelle Cassandra Johnson's.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): There's maybe a handful of others. Of course there's some in India.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): This complexity, though for various reasons, including some of the like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): fundamentalism that I mentioned, also patriarchy. So, and then abuse within. Let me just and so I don't always I not. There's no lineage where I feel comfortable at this time, recommending someone go
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and study in India because I don't
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): have the confidence in those other aspects. Right? The interrelated aspects of honoring the roots
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and caring for people. Now, social justice.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and basic rights, you know, like women's rights and trans rights, like queer rights like that. That stuff is tricky.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Telsey, at the studio. It chat. I'm the only person of color.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): All of the studios are wide on. Yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Hmm.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yeah. And for some of us it might be like where we live.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): but also like who's on the reading list right for like.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): if those folks are teaching teacher trainings in where you live, who are they bringing in as guest teachers like folks are online. There's tons of us now that are so
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): do they bring in those voices right? Those are all things to think about.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so Yoga is union.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Whatever causes separation within ourselves or with others is not unity.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It's not Yoga. And whatever leads us towards unity is here, that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and this is really powerful right. If we think back to like all the answers we just gave.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): where is the actual union right? There's a lot of separation.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so we can look at values from within Yoga itself
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to bring into Yoga classes and programming.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So you can think about your actual values, like what values are important to you. And remembering that Yoga is this organized system of Yamas Nyamas.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): all of these things as well.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It's gonna look at the chat. Yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So I'd love to see what other values before we get into talking about
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): cultural appropriation like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): we've got, you know, maybe a him some, maybe satya non harm, truthfulness.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the ones we've been exploring. But maybe there's other things. And and you know the yam is the way that we laid the out here.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It's just one way, there's other. Write ups of you know, big ethics that include other things like fearlessness include other qualities like faith, you know. So
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): there's more, there's room for more, more expressions of your values.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Selfless service. Yeah, thank you.
I can keep dropping those in
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): self empowerment in great.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And I think it's really important to to come back to these values right as we. That's part of what helps us hold the tension between the world we want and the world we're in.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So what is cultural appropriation? It happens and exists in a context of systems of power, oppression, and privilege.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So what
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): are those things? Right? Like? Power is everywhere. Power is neutral. It's neither good or bad, but it can be used
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to impact folks empowers literally, the ability to to affect change, to impact.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So privilege is an unearned advantage given to some over others and supported by structures of.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so we can think about
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): privilege in my book. I wrote about it this way. The privilege on one side, like ways, were advantaged by systems
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then targeted systematically or systemically disadvantaged. But I actually think it's more complex and just like a tea chart. It's even more complex than the circle
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and the circle.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I'll just kind of break it down right in the middle. Is power, right? The ability to affect your will on the world
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then around the outside, and this is oversimplified to It's kind of flattened and doesn't address intersectionality. But
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): if we take citizenship, someone who is a citizen is closest to proximity of power. So my documented is next, and someone undocumented as far as out.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): same with skin color, right white folks closest to proximity to power. And the systems were in. And these systems, you know, you could write up like around where it would really be in the center, like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): legal systems, educational systems, health care.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): politics, right? All across every aspect of what it means culture. what it means to access and impact the world.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so someone like myself who's different. Shaded. I put myself like closer in here, right like scan, to have privilege.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I have more proximity to power.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Then my dark skin comrades and siblings and family members.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And I experience still experience marginalization compared to white folks.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so there's ways that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the closer we are to proximity of power. We experience privilege. and we can act to support the folks who don't have the privilege that we have.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So this is, I know I wanna just check the chat cool. I dropped in. If you well in the centers. And by, not like.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I'm gonna check that out a minute.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): okay, so what is oppression?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): The question is systemic institutional power. This come to be historically and continues over time. It allows certain groups of people to assume a dominant position over other groups.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and this dominance is continued at an institutional level.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then cultural appropriation
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): is the UN. Acknowledged or inappropriate adoption of customs, practices, ideas, etc., of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so simply put cultural appropriation is stealing.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It's always based in 2 factors. Right? That power imbalance, and then heart to the source culture. And I'm going to stop sharing and see if there are any questions.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Sorry it's muted. But sad. Is that so? It's create privileged layers. Karen says, even amongst by pot.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yeah. And a lot of times like that happens in connection to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): proximity to whiteness.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So it gets very, very
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): tricky. Because
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that's why we talk about like white supremacy, because it's
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): one. These cultures like white supremacy. Culture harms everyone right. It harms white folks, too.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): it often marginalized and harms folks of color more. And folks of color can perpetuate white supremacy just like women can perpetuate patriarchy, you know, and even misogyny against other women.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): because there's systems and structures. So that's a piece of it
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): trying to remember
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): how to pronounce your name, is it? Can you unmute and say it?
Aine she/they: Thank you, Susanna. I was. I was gonna just say exactly what you said so I'm not sure that I really have that much to add. But what
Aine she/they: was resonating
Aine she/they: for me in in my life when you were talking about. when you show the slide of you know what is cultural pro appropriation is is stealing, and that it is taking something from another culture that does harm to the people from that culture. And I was just thinking about how it also just does harm.
Aine she/they: And that is often my way in.
Aine she/they: That's what I choose as a way in, because as a weight cisgendered woman teaching Yoga in a white cisgendered woman, owned business
Aine she/they: with owners that I do not feel ethically aligned with.
Aine she/they: just to put a point on it.
Aine she/they: you know. for me I find one of the easiest ways to get into
Aine she/they: esteem. As you know, non non-stealing, non cultural procreation is how the systems of oppression oppression oppress everyone right? And we need to look at the specifics of who is being harmed the most.
Aine she/they: and
Aine she/they: that we are contributing, not just to the harm of the source culture right of Southeast Asian folks right? but that we're continuing to support the oppression of ourselves as white folks, or as Cis folks, or as whatever. And that
Aine she/they: just makes me
Aine she/they: really
Aine she/they: relieved that I can give voice even in a studio that doesn't feel
Aine she/they: really a safe to me, and a lot of ways that I can nonetheless try to
Aine she/they: do what I can to teach the way that
Aine she/they: is aligned with these principles.
Aine she/they: and I just want to say that. That's you know what you were talking about today in the slides. I've seen them when I went to your like on, or don't appropriate like the first free offering I went to with you like 3, 4 years ago, and since then, like there is in a class that I've taught well, maybe 2 or 3 when I've been like completely
Aine she/they: blitzed out, or in an uncomfortable circumstance of supreme whiteness that I wanted to run away from. But I mean always there's a Yama always there's a sutra, always there's a niyama always. I've walked through all 8 limbs of yoga. It took us like 15 months, you know my glasses. And so I just, I'm Anyway, I'm going off in a little bit of a tangent. But just yeah, that the systems continue
Aine she/they: to a press and
Aine she/they: white folks
Aine she/they: I see, and I interact with really struggle to handle that right. And so calling out how it's all interconnected is been a helpful way in.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yes, thank you. And I love that you were back there back all the way back. Did I do that slide show and a free thing, or was that in my well, I don't know if it was this exact same slide show, but like there's, you know, snippets of it that I'm like, right? And I mean, I remember, you know, it was it was 2,020.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yeah, I mean, the the thing is, the contents doesn't change.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): The the tools don't change, but our skillfulness and applying them deepens. And And so I want it equip all of us, really, because I think it's helpful to not just depend on.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): For first of all, it's also like a lot to ask of any one person. and it's a lot of emotional labor right for me as as the South Asian woman to be like like, I think I've become known as like, Oh, Susan is the go-to person for cultural appropriation. But that's like that's an impossible
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): role to hold. And I'm not interested in holding it either in terms of being the one that gives people answers as to, is it okay to do this or that? Because
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): actually think it should be on all of us
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to look at these systems and dismantle them and create new ones right beautiful ones
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): together. And so the tools so these criteria that anyone can address right and look at and assess
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): based cultural appropriation is always
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): based in a system of oppression. If it wasn't, it wouldn't be cultural appropriation, and it
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): involves power, imbalance and then harm to the source culture. And so we see that with Dominism we see that with plant medicine, with Tai Chi, with indigenous, you know, practices and artifacts, all of those things.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): We also see it in Yoga. And I'm going to break down 2 examples, glamorization and sterilization.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yeah, okay, well, folks want you to represent an entire race or group, educate them, to make them feel better right versus them, learning and practicing their own. Yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so we talked a little about this. You I I think maybe we can just kind of reflect on it right like, where maybe, have you seen appropriation? Actually, sometimes it could be helpful to name specific things. So maybe drop those in the chat. Where do you actually see cultural appropriation showing up and naming? It is that first step. Sometimes it can be so disorienting, particularly like I want to center folks of color to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): one.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I think sometimes other folks of color are confused about how to relate in a way that's
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): honoring because they're like they here. Oh, we need more folks of color representation, but also don't know how to honor
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that this particular culture, and then to Chris out, these are folks that can be really disorienting because.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): due to colonization and oppression.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): We've lost a lot of the time, our direct connection to our practices. And so sometimes the only way to learn like I think of my friends South Asian friends who, like. They could only learn Yoga from someone
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): who like, if in an appropriated circumstance, right? So
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): then we can also think about what we can do and how it might we interrupt. Yeah, so sip and stretch classes, vinyas, and you know, fear and clocks.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I wonder?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yeah, there's stuff we can definitely do, Bonnie. Besides that. just not participate.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Let's talk about this. I'm so glad. Oh, blocks
that again.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): beer and block so weird the things that people come up with
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): fitness based deal there.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): no. Must stay in bed. Yeah. Yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And these things.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the land as aggressions, microaggressions, harms right? So
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): cultural corporation happens usually in these 2 forums, and also just desecration.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): like disrespect to the culture. So glamorization
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): is a practice of appropriation. Take involving taking cultural practices out of context, putting them on for the purpose of looking exotic or cool. And so here you've got a white person wearing a Bendy also appropriating some native American like hairstyle and and art, and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the very thing that she does. And this happens, you know, like models or pop culture icons. They do this every like 5 years. I feel like I'm like, oh, I'm I'm in my, you know, like Bohemian avant-garde era, and I'm wearing a Bendy now, and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): they everyone's like, oh, they're so free and cool. But folks from within the culture are haunt, you know, actually experience violence. And then also.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): called dot head for that same act right? So that's part of the harm.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And then sterilization. Yeah. God, it's got us in the bathroom. Yes.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): steer lensation is almost the opposite.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It's a form of cultural appropriation that occurs when one sanitizes the practice by taking cultural elements out to make it more palatable to the dominant culture.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so here's 2 examples. this book is in many Yoga book source the no own zone and no chanting, no Granola, no Sanskrit practical guide to Yoga, it's so disrespectful like there's. For one thing, Kernel has nothing to do with Yoga that we don't eat. That's
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): but chanting is part of Yoga. So in script. This is one of the languages that Yoga was practiced and taught in.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and and so that book would be a
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): harmful example. And then Scientific American right before the pandemic.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): some of Iti Panama. Equal breath inhaling for for hold, exhale for 4. Hold out that one
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): They had this amazing huge study, really great, you know, like Cardio coherence breathing, they called it some of it to the rename.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): can stabilize the heartbeat and have a powerful ability to damp and anxiety so wonderful findings. Again, Yoga practitioners have known this for thousands of years.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): but they never refer to the source where this comes from which is, it's in the Vedas. it's in the it's literally described, you know. So it's like bad science. Cite your sources. And so I like this Tweet. It's a little bit snarky, but
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): it makes sense because it's, you know. so much harm
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): one by to around seal steel knowledge from ancient Indian cultures. One rename it to 3, claim it as your invention and for attack native traditions as superstition. History of the West.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Okay. Another example. literally, in the costume section
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): of a Halloween store. Close that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): my family members where
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then here, not all studies, you know, dress like this. There's different ways that spiritual practitioners run and see. It's in India. Address?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): but that's just that distinction.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So folks get lots of questions like, I get the question a lot, why is cultural preparation not just an issue of progress or a natural outcome of a more globalized world?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And I would say,
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): historical oppression, current eraser racism, power, imbalance, and social inequities.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Those are big things, right? People may not actually be willing to see those. And so I don't always rush in. If someone's like Karen, you know, had a moment where, like a massage teacher, they know. said my friend, practices Yoga, that focuses on the breath.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): That's why is there another kind, right? Like, I don't always go into all of this. Someone's like, why are you talking about? I don't think cultural appropriation is a thing. we're what are you not going to let me Indian food now, right like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And again, if we go back to power and harm.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): if it's food, and it's an Indian owned restaurant, right? And I'm just going in. And or in my
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): context, like, say, it's a Thai restaurant. I am not Thai and I go, and I enjoy it their food
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and pay them for it. There's there's an imbalance of power, but there's no harm right there's there's
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): exchange.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): If I go to Thailand, and I take a recipe for some kind of Thai food, come back, mass, produce it, and sell it.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): That would be hard right? That's material part.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I don't know what you're referring to around
and it
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you can let us know, maybe in the chat. So
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): how do we address this right? Let's get to like, what can we do? Because Bonnie asked like, can we do anything other than not participating? And I think yes, we can.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So we can one connect
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): with the cultures that like, especially if we're teaching Yoga that Indian culture primarily different from one's own. If you're not Indian
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and respect the mode, the codes, mores, values and practices of the culture. This can happen when we uplift and give back
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so cultural appro appreciation is the exact opposite of appropriation, right, so power, imbalance to power, balancing, and harm to non harm.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so power, balancing and not hard.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so we can utilize our power, privilege or advantage to uplift and support under resource groups or people, so that might mean
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): stepping back, pausing, doing less, inviting in, you know, using power and privilege to uplift others. I get asked every
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): For some reason. I don't really don't know why, I guess, because I talk about pronouns and things.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): but I get asked to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): teach on like trans inclusion and yoga spaces. I'm not trans, and I'm not non-binary.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and although I don't like deeply connect with cisgenderedness. I'm not the best teacher for that. Right? So my
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): actions of power balancing is, hey? Here's like 10 wonderful teachers.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): You should hire them and make sure you pay them. Well, you know this is, I'm not going to give you their names if you're not going to pay that. So that's an example of sharing power, using my privilege or advantages. Maybe it's easier for them to come to me, because I see.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you know, like like a Cis woman. So for for
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): non-indian folks, how can you help
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): non harm a hemset, reduce or mitigate harm or actively uplift source culture. And it's people. So one is like, teach the full expanse of what Yoga is, but also, like financially, socially, politically, emotionally, and culturally care and support.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): There's so many ways right? Like,
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Okay, let me stop for a second. So I just had someone reach out
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): a grad from one of my trainings, one of the teacher trainings who's starting to teach and bring Yoga as part of a suite of wellness practices, and she's like you do bypass scholarships. Right?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I'm going to have your
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): your Scholarship Fund on my website. And so, you know, I don't know how much will be coming in. I don't know how much it's actually going to be. But I'm gonna actively every month.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and some percentage of what comes in send to the Scholarship Fund and educate folks about. Why, that's important.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And I thought that was so. I'm bringing up this personal example because it was so touching, because no one in all these years
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): no one's actually ever done that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): right and
and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): then other examples of use myself. Right? So I taught a workshop
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): called belonging for South Asians, and we were addressing like a number of things like how we don't belong in wellness, but also like cast
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): inequity, anti- blackness in South Asian space. And so we donated
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): trying to remember if I think it was 1010 to a quality lab that works on caste equity and 10% of the proceeds to an organization that that works for black uplift.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And that was on the sales page. Right? The information page about the program. So we did it for a number of reasons. One is, we wanted South Asians who share those same values.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And 2 is we wanted to really make explicit. And there was scholarships and everything we had, like, I think 50 of the tickets were. The spots were full pay. 25 were half price, and then the other 25 for 25. I mean, we're free.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so it was like 2,010. And so in that way we were working to try to create equity. imperfect right, but power balancing and not harm.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So now I'm going to stop talking
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and see if you have any comments or questions. Yeah, Glenda is medically based. Meditation trains that never give credit to Yoga. It's so hard that whole like let's make it accessible.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It's so. It's such a
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): discredited, I think, to communities of color, particularly in disabled folks, and all of that to be like, oh, they won't understand. Sounds like it's okay. You can explain to someone like a term. And Sanskrit and make the connection and point to where they can learn more.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so any comments or questions. I know this is a lot. They wanted to take some time to really explore.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Okay?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Oh, Karen and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I'm going to ask you how to pronounce your name correctly. Is it Constantina? Come to you in a second, Karen. We'll go to you first.
Karen McMillan | YINpreneur: thank you. This is obviously helpful, and you always in my mind that I'm thinking about always in mind.
Karen McMillan | YINpreneur: I put, I think, a portion of it in the chat, but I think about it more. It's
Karen McMillan | YINpreneur: I want to be this true Yoga advocate.
Karen McMillan | YINpreneur: but I also don't want to run around connecting everyone. So
Karen McMillan | YINpreneur: I'm trying to learn to balance. So, for example, that same massage, she's lovely. She's coming from a good place. She's a little of power.
Karen McMillan | YINpreneur: but she doesn't have the knowledge, as most of us don't. And so when she went to say Not a stay at the door. Goodbye. I walked out, and I was like, I can't. I just can't anymore like tack back on the door of the way.
Karen McMillan | YINpreneur: It's not a goodbye greeting. And then
Karen McMillan | YINpreneur: she was fine with it, and I said a little more about You know it's
Karen McMillan | YINpreneur: and I'm wondering what to say. and later I just texted. I said, maybe lessons. Just goodbye.
Karen McMillan | YINpreneur: But
Karen McMillan | YINpreneur: I'm just wondering I I feel very comfortable with her.
Karen McMillan | YINpreneur: But I just also wonder when am I being an advocate? And what am I really just being a know at all?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I love this Karen. I think about this a lot right, because, especially for folks like when we're early on in our
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): maybe maybe not even early on that. It's like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): like we kind of go into a space and like, Oh, there's all these appropriate things, and we look at where our friends who share our same values. And we're like, And they're messing up, you know, and it's like.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Is that really helpful? Or is it helpful to kind of get on the same side and not be like I am holier than now. So I try to do like what you did like.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Be on the same side with folks, you know and and really like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): us
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): like. Why do you have that goodness statue where you have it? You know. What is the significance of it to you? Would you be into like I'd love to share the significance for me.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and I want to just put a caveat of like, particularly for folks of color or in yoga context for South Asian folks. We might not have the energy of the spoons to have those conversations. So you there's no expectation like there's so many appropriate things where I am right now that I am not addressing, you know, like I can't, because I also need a retreat, and it's too much energy.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and also
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): it can cause direct right? Like, it's like being being under that to us. But when there's time when there's
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the possibility of trust
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I like to try to get on the same side now, for folks in bodies that are more privileged, or experiences that are more privileged.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I think it is great to be in the practice of addressing things, trying it out, you know, interrupting, asking questions. I think curiosity. Karen is always such a good tool because it takes out the like. I am better than let me tell you. It's more like, Hey, I'm curious about this. Can you tell me about this? Why, or you know. What does that mean to you?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And then.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): if all this fails, send them like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): a Susannah article, you know. Hey? I read this. How did you come into your Yoga practice, it would make me think, okay, once you read it and let's chat, you know. Would you want to read it? And then, Tab, you know, like you can utilize. Oh, I've heard this great podcast Yoga is dead, like.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): listen to the first episode. It's got an intense title. You might, you know, you might feel some kind of wait. Let's listen and talk about it right like that I feel like you can utilize the resources that are out there to get into conversation, carry out curiously, that's yeah intent.
Karen McMillan | YINpreneur: and let them be. Listen to them.
Karen McMillan | YINpreneur: But we also have to, you know, work against the but I I think it's honor.
Karen McMillan | YINpreneur: You know the trust.
Karen McMillan | YINpreneur: because I felt comfortable. I
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yeah, that's key. That's key. And I also want to invite folks who are in more privileged experiences. So like you Tail, Drake says, like, when you step into a little bit of discomfort, it allows me to step into a little more ease.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so maybe it is awkward, right? Like I.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I've been interrupting different things here like microaggressions on different things, and I try to do it in my trainings, too, and it's not easy to act as an ally kind of actually gives us some of the disk privilege of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): existing in that target reality.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): But it's so small, right? It's like my hour of discomfort, of having interrupted a gender based microaggression.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you know, or maybe, like weeks of a little bit of awkwardness with, say, like up here, or a boss or something, you know, and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and it may help to bring
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to bring ease for other folks who are targeted all the time.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Thank you, Ken, passing to you. you can pronounce your name for me.
Constina: It's Kunstina. We had it right the first time. Perfect. thank you so much for this this topic, and sharing the slides. That's my first foray. And looking at the slides as a whole, and I do have your book. So I have been gleaming through it. The thing that came up for me during this whole conversation. Is that
Constina: all I kept thinking was, this is a mirror representation of the black in the world.
Constina: the appropriation.
Constina: so far, I mean? How many Afros do I see of people who are not around during Halloween? And I'm like, Wow!
Constina: And then you go into the black face, and then you go into sign to wrap, and then you got the R and B, and then you have the jazz, and then I say to myself, when it is in But I say all of that because it gives me I, as you had mentioned earlier, I pause every time I go into a Yoga class, or when I'm
Constina: teaching a class. And I reference the historic nature of the practice itself. because I'm consciously aware of how it can be co-opted
Constina: and misrepresent it as authentic from me. And it's not
Constina: this, this is coming from way before me, and the me before me, and to me, before me me and and it's to me is really important, and I will be honest with you. I I am so horrible at Sanskrit I'm just. I'm trying to. I'm still trying to get English together.
Constina: To be honest about that, however, I do try my best, and I do group it up, and I say you might want to go online and look it up yourself. But you know this is where it comes from, and I explain it.
Constina: But the to go back to. What Karen had asked about is, I I think, when you build a level of trust with an instructor, it's a great way to segue and be honest with them. But I agree with what somebody had said in the comments, sometimes just asking a question like, What does that? I think you had said, it's an what does that work mean to you.
Constina: you know, and then gently guide them towards other resources. I like that suggestion as well. Okay, thank you. Everyone. Great.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Thank you, Christina. Thank you so much. And it's so true. There's so much oppression and and exploitation and appropriation of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): black culture. And
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): this is why it's tricky, right? Why, we can't just like jump to appreciation. Because in an in a system where there's so much inequity to appreciate is to actually continue to oppress.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And that is true.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Whenever there's power, inequity. And so it's like, how do we balance power? Not just appreciate, but actually decolonize.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yes, Karen, bond braids and kormos when on vacation.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Not funny. Yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So, Derek. And and I'm sure that it will come back right, and and people will will need to to learn.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): because again, like particularly with braids and corn rose like the very
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): styles that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): black folks are getting
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): like not allowed to go to work.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Oppressed in schools
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): like those are the styles that virtually dominant culture can wear and be called cool or up on guard. Right? So it's again. It's
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): cultural. Appropriation is like A.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It's a good metaphor for this. I don't like the canary and the coal mine. It's like a
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): feel like there's like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): those like certain birds that who right when there's going to be or or call when there's going to be like a storm
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): or an earthquake like. It's like a sign of imbalance and oppression, and can help us move towards
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): towards trying to create equity.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So thank you for taking this exploration.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): it's one that I think is never done really like. It's one we can always circle back to and deepen in. I also know that it may have stirred up more questions. And I really want to remind you, Julian, I don't know if you have the link easily to the the questions form.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): But you always get email that I like 4 days or a week, or something before our office hours. So if you have other questions that come up. Please please ask them, because I love to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to think ahead about what's on your mind and heart. And this came from some questions that folks had asked, that I wanted to share more kind of workshopy. but we also just talk, you know, so I'll see you in a couple of weeks, and then
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): for I'll go into and put up. You can make it, and in our next office hours.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and I think we'll close with I'd love to invite you to thinking of a concrete action like in that holding of tension between ease
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and efforts. One concrete action for ease
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): like I'm gonna go take a nap or rest.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And then one concrete action for effort, for creating change, for service.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): gonna explore more about how to interact some of the inequities happening right here where I am.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And then if you bike, you can drop those in the chat
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you can unmute and say goodbye. It's been such a joy to be with you all. I really really
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): really value our times together.
Karen McMillan | YINpreneur: and I'm so grateful we can do this.
Karen McMillan | YINpreneur: Thank you so much. Everyone.
Beth Nelson: Thank you.
Jayce (she/her): Thanks so much.
Constina: Thank you.
Morty Lovebug: I thank you. Bye.
Constina: thank you, Susanna. I just wanted to share out loud that I I host a community class here in Costa Rica, and what we've done. Talk about giving to some place local
Constina: all the money that I receive. I get to a local family that's in need. Wow.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that's so powerful.
Constina: Yeah. And it's it's it's one of these things where you do it because it's selfless. It's it's
Constina: other people have. So I just transfer the money to people who don't.
Constina: That's simple, right? It can be.
Constina: anyway. Thank you so much for this. I really do appreciate you.
Aine she/they: Thank you. I appreciate you.
Constina: Alright. Bye.