Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Hello.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Hello! And welcome to our New Year office hours. January 2024,
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and we'll take some breaths together. I've lit a candle for us.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and I have a bowl of water
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): here as well, and so you can just receive the energy of the light. For many of us it's probably quite dark, and then also the refreshing energy of the waters
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): here.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): light some incense as we do our opening chant.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Hmm!
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So wherever you are, just finding a way to be useful, comfortable. welcome in. and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you can, if you would like. I have some incense here, sending you the energy and the blessings.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then you can
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): close your eyes if you'd like, or find a an easy way to be maybe shifting or testing in your chair.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and we'll open with one of the Shanti mantras.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and this one many of you might know from Yoga, class curator, or elsewhere. It is the prayer for peace for yourself for all for
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): beings in your life, and then for all beings, and we'll chant it 3 times.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I'll drop the words in the chat.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Me
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): pull them up.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Hmm!
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Nice.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): This is our prayer for the well being of of all
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): all beings, and an invitation to connect to that universal spiritual energy.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So as we're tanting. We're tanting a prayer, a tent that has been
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): with us like by us, I mean, like humanity for thousands of years. And so there's a way that we can just sort of chant as a
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): rote or ritual, or whatever. And then there's a way where we can be
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): tuning in aligning ourselves with the wishes of all those who've gone before us, and all those who come after.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and their wishes for their own freedom from suffering, and for the freedom from suffering for others in the world.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): also I just kind of wanna bring in, because I've been reflecting a lot as well on how Yoga is a very.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It's a kind of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Lisa branch that I've learned is a very inclusive and very universal practice.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): meaning you don't have to believe in a particular God. You can be an atheist.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you can believe, you know, or have a different faith. There's no, you know, there's no one way to practice. And so, as we're tanting, it's also not a.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It's not religious in that sense of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): adherence to a certain belief system, it's more general and spiritual and inclusive. And so that said, If there's another chant that feels more aligned for you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): then you're welcome to do that. You don't have to use these words. Because it's the energy, the sentiment of the wish for peace.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So wherever you are invitation to stretch your arms out up above your head.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then down to Heart Center. So just a few gentle sun salutes modified. Inhale arms up, maybe this time, as your hands go up, you have a gentle back bend. If you haven't stretched your heart towards the sky yet today
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): doing that, and then exhale hands come down, and now this time heart, face! Everything moves down towards the earth.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And as we do this movement again
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): bringing the connection to the elements, to the sky, space, air.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then exhale down
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): earth, water.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): fire.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): inhale
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and exhale.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and you can continue moving in this direction, or if your body would like to reverse that float so you're inhaling
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): your arms are going up and then coming back around.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And if you switched
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): now, feeling how this might feel a little bit different connecting to earth, water, fire, and then up air space.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and once more.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then finding your center not a perfect center, not someone else's seat or your seat that you had, you know, last year or a decade ago, or
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that you think you should have but yours right now. whatever that feels like looks like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): practicing Ahimsa and self care.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then bringing your body to a gesture of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): connection that could be just resting your hands on your legs or desk, it could be bringing your palms to meet
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): at your heart. We'll take a deep breath in and a full breath out.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): connecting to spiritual energy.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and as we chant, we'll chant one time this piece prayer for ourselves
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the next time have one specific person, or being, or animal or ecosystem in mind.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then the last time is for all beings, and you can have a particular group of folks in mind as well, or community or
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): watershed.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so we'll chant
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): deep breath in full breath out
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and inhale to chant.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Oh.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): loca samasta
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): sukino bavan! Do
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): low pow samasta Sukino bhavan to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): do ga summer star. Huh! Suki no bavan to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): oh.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): your arms up and out, stretching yourself wide and taking up space wherever you are.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): maybe a gentle twist to one side
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then the other.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and looking around your room, the space that you're in. maybe noticing
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): things that are
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): without even, you know
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you realizing it better, caring for you like the light or the chair, the desk or the computer.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So, receiving that care.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Hmm! Welcome, welcome, welcome, everyone invitation to share in the chat. I kind of feel like it's a new year. Let me let me just see if we can do this.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I want to.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): A little
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): we have
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): in my ytt's we do icebreakers and fire starters.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So icebreakers are a little more like, you know, kind of casual, and then like a little surface.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Not that surface is bad, but and then the fire starters are like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): we're going there.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so I think we'll do both and you can drop it in the chat, and if anyone would like to share out loud.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): icebreaker. we'll start with that.
And your option is to say,
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): a practice
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that has been supporting me lately. And actually, I think I'm gonna add a practice or a person placer thing right.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and mine, just to give an example. So you're welcome to drop it in the chat or share out loud. I have. I have 2 dogs. I think you. Many of you know this, because sometimes we hear them on the calls harmony and bliss, and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): harmony is a rescue. She's 8, and Bliss is a puppy, and Bliss is so cuddly and so he'll come, and just like wherever you are, just kinda like, try to, almost like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): a stuffed animal will like just climb into our my lap and then lay there. And so it's been really nice, especially I think maybe he's cold. I'm realizing actually, I'm talking that that. Maybe I need to get him like a little doggy shirt or sweater or something, but he's so cuddly right now
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): We're social creatures, just like dogs are. And so Harmony, who is never like a super cuddler. She just comes up, and you know, with her nose like pokes you to try to get you to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): pet her. But she's been more cuddly. And so the other night she actually like climbed up on the sofa and came closer. So it's been really nice to snuggle with with pets.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So yeah, would anyone like to share out loud? Practice person, placer thing that's been supportive to you lately.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and it's such a gift, too. I want to name that naming these, I actually feel like the distinction of icebreaker and fire starter is a little arbitrary, because it can go so deep.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and it's so helpful when you share what's supporting you, because then someone else might be like, Oh, yeah, I forgot that I could do that where I forgot to be mindful while I'm doing it, of it being really a an athima practice of self care or collective care, relational care.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Amanda literally just lying on my mat. Haha extended with hot packs. Oh, that's beautiful. Yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): thank you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Carly Joel, one of my favorite things about colder weather is this nuclear pet.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Caroline? My friend Kimberly, who says I am not too much. She has been the main person I can go to with all that is coming up with observing and engaged with this genocide. Yes.
I'm glad you have.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I have a friend who can affirm that, and then also just
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): affirming that to you as well like, you're not too much we need. We need you to care.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and all the work that you're doing.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Wait! I'll come to you in just 1 s. Rachel, journaling and singing have allowed me to both nurture myself and express a whole range of emotions. Yes.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): love that wait.
Wade benally: Hi! Good afternoon. What's been holding me like this past week is caretaking animals. I'm currently care taking horses and sheep, and just the way that they
Wade benally: They know your energy like they sense it. So if you're agitated, or afraid, or unsure of yourself, like they know it.
Wade benally: And so
Wade benally: it's been both like challenging, because I'm caretaking them in very cold weather, and we just had a lot of snow where I'm at
Wade benally: but
Wade benally: I guess the responsibility of caretaking them. And like that motivation of like, okay, like, I have something greater than myself that is like loving and needs care.
Wade benally: Has been like, really holding me. And then just like that, like, okay, I have to like check my energy before I like approach.
Wade benally: especially with the horses, like such large animals.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): That's really beautiful. Thank you. And did I pronounce your name right?
Wade benally: Or How do you?
Wade benally: Wonderful? Thank you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Thank you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Anyone else. Oh, yes, Carly.
Carly Joelle: Hi, there! So I'm someone who is perpetually just saying, I'm too busy to do things with friends all the time, and it feels true. Small business and life it's
Carly Joelle: there's always more to do. It seems like, but I have been intentionally saying yes to some friend time and I still have the same to do list, but I'm feeling just so much more supported. And you know, friends, we feed each other literally food. And so receiving that nourishment in the conversations and sharing meals and space with people. It's been really powerful, and there will always be things to do.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Thank you so much for that. And that reminder, yeah, there were time. Have been periods of my life where I like, said I was too busy to hang out. And now I've realized
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): oh, no!
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Might take us a little time. Might take some, you know, commitment to rescheduling and all of that. But it it's so important.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I'm looking at some others. Anyone else. Please raise your hand if you want to share
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Rebecca. wait! I wanna not miss anyone.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Eileen. The practice of putting on warm, cozy clothes as soon as I get home makes me feel safe and grateful for my life while struggling through the dark, cold weather. Yes.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I've been making a point of petting and making eye contact with my dog whenever I walk by, and she has been extra cuddly in return. That is so beautiful, Rebecca
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Avianna. So to intentionally drinking tea and pairing herbs to soothe whatever I'm going through like rose tea to support heart feelings. And so hmm!
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): That's lovely.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Great idea. Yes.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): during the end of December we connected with 4 former workmates pals from a former job. After 2 years of disconnection, the joy of feeling that certain kind of friendship connections might change, but don't disappear. Yeah.
I love that. I think about that so much, you know, like the friends how to your friend reach out
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to have a really deep conversation about being in their moving into recovery. A college friend and I haven't talked to them for a couple years. and it's like we're right there, you know. Even though certain things may, conditions may have changed the connections
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): when we put that energy and intention there. Such a beautiful reminder. And then, Rachel. Oh, gosh! How could I forget knitting? It grounds me. Natural fibers draw me in, and my grandmother was a knitter, so it feels like a connection. Hmm.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that's beautiful. Thank you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Anyone else up to. Shear.
Okay?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So I wanted to theme us a little on
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): self-care Anahimsa, beginning of the year, no matter where we are right, like the reminder that we can always like spiral spiral back around to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): each of the and particularly pair Ahimsa, with Spad Yaya with self-reflection.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): what truly supports you? Because in the busyness of holidays, and then with the, you know, all the flurry of like, let's set our intentions to all these things. Sometimes I think, at least for me, the locus of authority or awareness can be outside myself, and what I think I should be doing rather than actually like what is mine to do, and how I really want to care for myself.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so just that pairing of Ahimsa and Spad, yeah, yeah, like self-reflection. And I think it was. Rachel mentioned journaling.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): taking the time, you know now, or through the rest of this week or month to journal, and to be there and be present with yourself to bring forward us Vaidya practice, or you know, maybe you have a 10 min
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): period after work before you go, do some caregiving responsibilities, and you take a walk
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): just with yourself, you know, and and like. Open up the connection to nature, and then to to insight for it to come, or you have time for sit whatever that is right. So the self care of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): self-connection, self intimacy.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): because the more we can be intimate and aware of our own wishes and needs and desires.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the more we can care for them, of course, but also, then we can be connected to others and really be present in our
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): relational and in the world.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So I wanna share. We had one question this
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): month
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and let me double check if they want me to.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Sure who they are, why can I not see that?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Oh. okay, I can't see if they want me to say who it is. So I'm just going to leave it neutral.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Oh, yes, okay, I can. Yes, they're fine.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): alright, and let me check if you are here.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): No, so I think this person will be listening to the recording.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So they say I feel like with my privilege. I shouldn't be teaching at all, and and I. As I read this, I would love to invite you all to think about how you might.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you know, talk to a friend who shared this with you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so I feel like with my privilege. I shouldn't be teaching at all. I am trying to learn as much as I can culturally about Yoga, but I feel like it will be a lifetime before I can teach.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I've taken my 200 h Yoga teacher training and already taught 10 classes, but have since taken a break and re-engaged with learning. I'm 19 and I'm supposed to start teaching every other week at my University Student Recreation Center. I want to do this because I feel like it could really help cultivate a space of self nourishment, especially for college students. But I feel stuck in thinking about how I might use my power to uplift previously oppressed voices.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I also would get paid to teach, which feels reasonable for the work I'm doing. But is that profiting off someone else's culture?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And sorry. I know it's a loaded question, and no, no need to apologize. I
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): love bringing into the space. I might have mentioned her before. One of my Yoga teachers. Her name's Trinity, she used to say. You know, when you're like for those of you who've ever been at a club, or like somewhere where there's a lot of people, and you're having a really good time, and you're like dancing, or whatever, and you bump someone, and then you're like, Oh, and you have this moment of connection, and it's kinda like, Excuse me for partying, you know, like you don't have to say sorry. It's like, excuse me for partying right like, and that I'd love to encourage us to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): practice that a little more. You can literally use. Excuse me for partying or your version of it. But no need to apologize. I really appreciate this question. I also wanna say
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): how many people have felt this way, you can raise your hand or put a heart. Yeah, so and Bria, you're not
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): alone.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): There's like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): half of us, maybe more that have felt this way.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yes, Caroline.
Caroline: I was just trying to raise my hand to say yes, me, too, but
Caroline: I guess maybe the advice. But
Caroline: what was coming up for me when you were reading? That was I was like, Wow! What insight and openness for learning! And when when they said their age.
Caroline: I was like, Yeah, but then you can reach those people. You can reach those kind of 19 year olds that, like, you know, I couldn't reach, and you'll know what they need, and you'll be.
Caroline: You'll be inviting them to be curious, too, and you'll be bringing that through
Caroline: rather than from a different place. You know. You'll be coming from this kind of curious. I'm learning. I'm teaching you what I learn. you know. Let me bring in these teachers.
Caroline: So yeah, I was just thinking, yes, it's really valuable. And maybe I need to hear that myself, too.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yes, thank you so much. I'm so glad that I asked you to share, because that's
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that's so helpful. And then Amanda and Adriana, did you wanna share out loud cause I'd love to hear from you if you do.
Amanda Halls: Yeah, sure.
Amanda Halls: I think I work at a college. And so I work with a lot of students who are in and around this age group.
Amanda Halls: And I think sometimes.
Amanda Halls: this is a common question that students often get and at a college there's an end to your degree, right like. There's a terminal end of a Ph. D. Where you ask that final question, and you answer it, and everything said and done right. But
Amanda Halls: in Yoga. As I understand it, it's not. There's no terminal end. It's a lifelong practice.
Amanda Halls: So
Amanda Halls: I think it's important that you share yoga from where you are
Amanda Halls: whenever you are. and the idea that you're somehow it can only be shared when you're at the end of some road that you're trying to get to.
Amanda Halls: I don't know that. That's the way I've I've learned so much from my students who are 19 years old. I've learned so much from my students who are 22 years old, 26 years old. I think there's wisdom at every stage in life.
Amanda Halls: and if you're a part of this community and Yoga class curator, you're caring about sharing the authentic roots of Yoga. And, to be honest, I think from a young age we need more people sharing the authentic roots of Yoga, that's actually what we want. I don't think it matters so much
Amanda Halls: about the color of your skin as long as you're sharing it authentically.
Amanda Halls: So I would
Amanda Halls: express to her that
Amanda Halls: you know there's value in every stage of life and every stage of your journey.
Amanda Halls: and you don't. I don't think sharing the truth of Yoga comes with, you know you have to be 85 in order to share the truth of Yoga.
Amanda Halls: Right? That's just how I feel about that.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yes. thank you so much. I love that it's like you're reminding us of. There's no destination.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It's a process, and wherever we are in the process there's so much value for us and for others.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Adriana.
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): Hi! Everyone nice to see you. What a question that I've been grappling with for many years! I completed my 200 h Yoga teacher training back in 2,008,
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): and I was in Chicago at the time, and I was studying at a Yoga temple, which
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): the the founder was a white man, and he, through all the the books and teachings.
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): did acknowledge the roots of Yoga in India and more of the traditional practices, and I really appreciated that it wasn't a fitness, focus, or kind of trendy focus on yoga that I had experienced at many other classes, and places, and.
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): as you can probably tell, I am white passing, although I am a Hispanic and Serbian person, and
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): I've taught at Gyms, and I liked teaching at Gyms because there was always students there. I always had a large class, and I felt like we were reaching a lot of people that wouldn't normally practice yoga, especially at the weightlifting gyms where I taught, and
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): I also taught at
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): a
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): church lunchroom that I taught a class all in Spanish for several weeks and months.
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): and it was, you know, community members that wanted to practice Yoga and my primary work for the past 1213 years is in public health and so much public health information is so whitewashed and so
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): focused on kind of mainstream white American views of what is healthy? What's a healthy way to eat? What's a healthy way to exercise? What's a healthy way to
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): heal and so I
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): for many years felt like.
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): Although Yoga is not my culture.
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): there's no other system that incorporates so much healing and health benefits. And I was
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): it. It just brought so much benefit to my life, and all of my students, and I later moved to Los Angeles, where I taught at a student rec center for college students, on campus at the university where I did my graduate studies, and again.
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): really diverse population of students and and bringing yoga to people who maybe wouldn't go to a yoga studio for a class.
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): Then when I moved to Denver, Colorado, I, where I find
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): many of the Yoga communities to be very white. I haven't been teaching, so I haven't been teaching since 2017,
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): and I've really been asking myself, should I be earning income as a Non Dacey person teaching Yoga, and I have also been studying
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): with my Yoga teacher here, who actually trained at the Yoga Temple in Chicago. She is a white woman. She's also an amazing Yoga teacher who brings such depth
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): and healing to her teaching, and I continue to practice with her. But I haven't felt comfortable to teach, and I would really like to. It was really
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): rewarding, and I felt really good about
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): teaching. But yes, this question, like, should I be allowed to teach, should I be allowed to earn income from teaching? And I thought, Well.
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): maybe when I'm teaching in Spanish, that's something that not all teachers can offer. So maybe that's a unique way. I can offer Yoga teaching.
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): So this is a very long-winded way to say, I've been facing these questions as well, and would welcome, you know, any feedback and advice from guidance from the group. Thanks for letting me share.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Thank you so much for sharing. Yeah, I think this is obviously very resonant
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): question.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and I'm gonna I'll pause before I share my thoughts. And I wanna reframe. And you kind of did that, Adriana as well, and reframe the question, but for someone who just came in, and no worries
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): about like coming in leaving whatever you need to the question is like, How do I teach Yoga? And
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): without having
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): an extensive amount of training, or with having a 200 h, but wanting to understand how to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): honor the roots of Yoga. And then also like, is it okay to receive payment for work because it is work. So that was the question as someone in a place of privilege, and they don't name their racial identity. But they're not South Asian, I think, is clear, and maybe a a white person, or someone with white privilege so white passing privilege.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So, Dana, I'll come to you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Oh, hold on! Do I need to ask you to unmute.
dana (she/her): Oh, awesome! Thank you. I was like I don't know what my powers are. Adriana, I loved it. You just
dana (she/her): what! How you articulated that and
dana (she/her): There is something that I've heard about like
dana (she/her): from another source, about lineage of embodiment.
dana (she/her): And when you were saying there isn't like a lot of
dana (she/her): what I was hearing was like. There's not a lot of traditions that really look at.
dana (she/her): Look at things in the lens of Yoga, and I know from us somebody with 100% European DNA
dana (she/her): like there's I inherited 0 embodied traditions.
dana (she/her): So the idea of being embodied.
dana (she/her): there's not. There's not other than sports.
dana (she/her): There aren't really embody practices that I inherited from my blood lineage or cultural lineage.
dana (she/her): And so I really gravitated towards Yoga and high school
dana (she/her): and dance, and anything like dances also is in the body practice. But there's not a lot of integration. So
dana (she/her): all of a say, I feel like the question
dana (she/her): that I've been thinking of with Ahimsa has to do with like, what does care look like what is having conversations
dana (she/her): at all within white supremacist capitalist patriarchy. What does practice yoga practice look like when
dana (she/her): we're in a culture that doesn't
dana (she/her): disembodies as a strategy for power and preserving power for some people and
dana (she/her): II don't know. II guess I have. This isn't. I don't know what I'm saying exactly other than there's this overarching question of like, what does care look like
dana (she/her): when when we exist in a culture that does not actually have? There's words of care.
dana (she/her): There's words of a value associated with care. But there's ultimately up.
dana (she/her): I think, a lack of care. And so how to disrupt that with Yoga is something that I think of as like a way that I could.
dana (she/her): having the 200 h Yoga teacher training that I earned in July, I ended, being like, I'm not sure what to do with this. Now, I don't know how to what to do with this in a way that's not harmful. So I'm really seeing this as a portal
dana (she/her): towards how I can answer some of those questions and disrupt white whiteness
dana (she/her): through Yoga and and have practices that really
dana (she/her): that
dana (she/her): that really look at. Why, why, yeah, that's that's what I have to say. With that I'll conclude that round link. Thank you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Thank you so much.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So much insight, right like.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so going to Bria's original question, I just want to say
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): for and for everyone who's spoken as well. I can offer guidance. We each can offer each other our experiences, and I think we all have done that very skillfully with speaking from our own experience.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And ultimately
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you get it's so critical and actually, yoga, for you to decide for yourself and for you to understand for yourself. No one can give you or should give you. I don't think that authority, this particular school of Yoga that I come from, which is an invite of a Dante lineage.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): is asking us to find the Guru within, and not to just do something or believe something, because the teacher said so right? And so I'm
ask lots of provocative questions, and I push us.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): But I'm always intending for you not to say, okay. Susanna Barkaki said so, because, oh, I thought about that. And then I checked it out with my own experience, and then I got to explore some more practice. And now this is what I think right. So I will give you also my own thoughts on an answer to that question.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): but ultimately only you can decide right? The best way to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to move forward. And. Dan, I really appreciate, too, the bringing in of like these bigger structural elements of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): white supremacy and patriarchy, and all of the things that based on our various social locations. It changes how we interact. I just had an experience where
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): there's a South Asian man who's a darkest skin South Asian man, who I didn't know, but had been excluded from participation and representation like even his image not used in a Yoga context. The place is not, you know. Could it could be anywhere right? Could be any of the you know, big yoga like org.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and this big yoga org with keeps coming to me to oh, can you do this? Oh, can you? And it's like right, of course, a lighter skinned.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you know, mixed woman, very sweet sounding, even though I can be fiery.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And I had no idea that he had been being erased. And so now I get to go back and have a conversation with them about hey, this is not with this, you know, like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): we're we're always exploring our relationality in the choices that we're making. Right? So
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so the heart of it is. there's no one who
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): can teach Yoga exactly the way you can, Ria. This is for you and for anyone else having this this question.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): there's no one who will be able to translate it through your exact experience, your your life experiences who is also uniquely positioned to teach to those other college students.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): You know you're sitting in the shoes in the life that you're sitting in, and you're closer to them than if myself or someone else came in.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): there's a real gift there.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Now. I know also that you talked about like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): feeling like it'll be a lifetime.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And I think that's important to like, acknowledge the need for continued learning.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): but to also not let that be an excuse
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to to not share. If if you're feeling like call, and and I will say, as an early teacher, both of Yoga and I also taught high school, English and history.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I was terrified for the first few years of both.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and so it was. What, but I knew it was right. I knew, even if I was inexperienced, and I was gonna make mistakes, that I was still gonna be able to help the students, that I was teaching more than I was gonna be harming them right like that, and that I would do my best. And I would really make that that explicit, too, of like, we're in this together. What's supportive to you? Right? So
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): continue learning.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Maybe. Find, if you can, you know here, or if anyone's willing to be like a mentor or friend or Yoga Buddy, or if you have other folks in your community who can be a buddy with you, or who you did your training. With that you can talk things through with to move through, because for me that was the most helpful was having had a couple of peers that I could go to, and even sometimes Co. Teach Yoga Asana classes, or, you know, an academics like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): brainstorm really helped to have Sangha.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And and then I want to talk about the
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and which I'll come to you in just a second. But I wanna talk about the getting paid part, which is it's so complex, right? It's it's it is really complicated, especially when we look at the way that.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): like big Yoga again, is mostly run by white organizations, white mail. And doesn't. The profits don't flow back to the folks that Yoga comes from.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I do think these are structural systemic things, and we can, as individuals.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): still participate and make a difference
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): by not by saying, Oh, don't pay me, you know, unless for some reason there's a specific context, where it would make sense to do that, but actually by receiving payment and then doing, say, like 10% of what you receive, sending that to Yoga organizations in India, or right like finding a way to to I. It's a reparations practice like, build that in to if you're gonna be receiving money, sending it out to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): places that could use support. There's a couple of reasons why that's important. And II think one is there's a lot of folks of color and and other folks who are marginalized in different ways, who really depend on the income they make from Yoga. And so, if there's people of privilege saying, Oh, no, don't pay me.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): But then it causes a problem, because the folks who really need that money don't get paid, and and our profession gets undervalued, which is happen, and and part of what I'm hoping to do is shift, that where all of us get paid really well, cause it is a very specialized skill. And it. There's a lot of layers to being a a yoga teacher.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So definitely, I think. Accept the money, and then I'll share some examples in a moment about ways to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to share it out. And then coming to Rachel.
rachel@yogasong.net: Hi, III really am so excited about this conversation. It's very provocative. And I have spent time working in a university as an adjunct and see the mental health needs of the students
rachel@yogasong.net: in university settings. There's so much pressure on young people and having a daughter in graduate school.
rachel@yogasong.net: and I think for someone to show up and want to teach Yoga beyond fitness, but teach, like from the philosophy and nervous system regulation that can be just a game changer for somebody that's
rachel@yogasong.net: in
rachel@yogasong.net: university that might not otherwise take that time for themselves, and it sounds like breeze, the name that they are in a student center. So not a fitness center. So it might be a way to.
rachel@yogasong.net: you know. Talk about nervous system, regulation and mental health, which is really a big issue right now. And so there's so much to say about this, and but I wanted to make 2 other points. When Dana said about being somebody of European ancestry and not having embody practices, I felt so much sadness show up for me for all of us that are in that space.
rachel@yogasong.net: and I wanna unpack a little bit that that we do have embodied practices in our ancestry. Part of white supremacy in the patriarchy has been erasing some of those practices, and so II encourage any of us. I know Celtic, Irish, and Scottish, and
rachel@yogasong.net: have found a lot of access to practices that were almost culturally erased.
rachel@yogasong.net: and practice with a community in Ireland where people. Actually, there are people from all over the world that come to study some of the Celtic wheel. It's not just Irish people, it's open to anybody. So I think, for for all of us, no matter where our ancestry is, we have
rachel@yogasong.net: we have that in our lineage. We just might have to search for it, and I know for myself a lot of what I've discovered about the Celtic wheel has so much in common with air, Beta, and living in rhythm of the seasons and all of that. So it's it's there's intersections culturally, where we can find those.
rachel@yogasong.net: those access to wisdom.
rachel@yogasong.net: And then the last thing I wanted to say is, is somebody who's worked in community-based settings
rachel@yogasong.net: and wanting to in my community work to help
rachel@yogasong.net: folks have access to the Yoga. I think that that that's another option for thinking about.
rachel@yogasong.net: you know, working in in a setting where you might not have, like I teach at a cancer center. I've worked for 10 years with a domestic violence and and Rape Crisis Center. So I think there's lots of ways that we can bring the wisdom of the practice to people that might not have access and and be humble in our own journey as lifelong students and our own ancestry and our own connection to the practice. So
rachel@yogasong.net: thank you for listening to me. Ramble.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Thank you, Rachel. Yes, and for really bringing in the importance of you know, I like to often say, the the opposite or the alternative to cultural appropriation is creativity.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And you really highlighted that it's and sometimes it's like the creativity of reconnecting and rediscovering what our our own histories and roots and practices are.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Because, yeah, some of the earliest appropriations would have been like the Roman Empire with different pagan or Earth based practices. And really, when you go back far enough.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): we're we're all
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): people of the earth, right and land and water and air and space, and and even if you don't go back right now, we are that, too.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so we each
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): have that inheritance both of depth and wisdom, and you know, profound being this, and also most of us have some inheritance of loss, as my colleague, Sonali Fisk likes to say, as well, you know, and so it's both grieving that and mourning that, and being honest about it, and then reconnecting and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and not stopping, you know, with feeling like like, we have no culture, no, no background. Or you know those types of things. And so. okay, I wanna give a few really concrete things cause for me. Sometimes the concrete is very helpful, and then open it back up to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to reflection. So I dropped a link in the chat and let me pull up first, I wanna share my screen.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): press. That's it to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Okay.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so this is part of a presentation. I give a lot. I just wanna name that. Some of you may have seen this before. But that's okay. So it's good to remember. So a couple of things we can do as yoga teachers to move towards like honoring the roots of yoga oops Nope, not trying to go back
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so utilizing.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you know, when you talk about preserving a culture utilizing the language and the practices that that the
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that the
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): like Yoga where Yoga came from right? So maybe in
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the college center you can use Sanskrit. Maybe you can't. But maybe you can bring in concepts of self care or truth like, you know, without saying Satya, or I think it's you don't have to actually use it. You could if it's relevant, but also bringing in the depth the deeper parts of the practice which I know you're all here for that, you know, and practicing that.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And then
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): including indigenous perspectives, right values and cultural respect. So you could bring in quotes from books that you're reading, or you know, teachers that you've had, you could bring in Indian teachers, or use a book from from an Indian author about Yoga and bring that in. So that way, you're kind of bringing in bringing that in with you, and you have that support. The yoga suit, for example, right?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then practicing. And again, you have to kind of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): adapt this to wherever you are right. I know many of you are in clinical settings or classroom settings, or, you know, therapeutic settings or things like that. And so maybe it's not necessarily like we're gonna sit and do formal meditation. But it's walking meditation or eating meditation or ways of bringing in things from the 8 limb path.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Mindfulness, focus. Maybe it's not mantra in Sanskrit or mudra. But it's like, Hey, here's a phrase or an affirmation that I've been using. That's been really, really helping me before I take a test, or whatever it is right. So you, including those extended practices.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): then.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): this is specifically for teaching Asana. I like to teach with silence. Just cause. That's how most of my teachers have always taught, but before and after you'll notice most days, not today, but I'll queue up some music, and it's often by in India, and they see, or South Asian musician. Or you know, someone who like where there's I'm bringing in kind of art, music, culture, right? Some different cultural elements before after the class.
And then, if you use music bringing that into the class.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then also and let me just say so. This is ndar
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): masood Ali Khan. Gosh! I'm forgetting her name right now, but she has this wonderful have to look it up. She's this wonderful series of like books and tools for kids and connecting to Indian culture, did this interview a while ago. So I can't remember. She's very wonderful. And then atari shunya
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): technometa, who's also in. I know. I don't think they're in Colorado anymore. And into Aurora, right? So center, there's just so many wonderful teachers. Just right here. We've got so many wonderful South Asian teachers. So even if you can't bring them to your class right or your or your
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): like cultural center. You can bring in books or words, or quotes, or say, Oh, if you want to learn more, check them out.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Then this is a longer conversation, but basically not appropriating right? So not like just bringing. Oh, let me tell you this story of Hanuman and Lakshmi, just in in a way that's
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): go a gloss. But really goes if you're gonna bring in those cultural elements going deeper, not kind of watered down or kind of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): superficial Hinduism, basically because Yoga is, is fully inclusive. And then you're doing this, Priya and all of us in our conversation is continuing to ask these like deep.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): challenging questions of ourselves and each other. Right? How can we make Yoga more accessible?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And for whom is it accessible today? And how might that be? A legacy of past injustices that we have the opportunity to address through our teaching practice in our lives. For example, maybe it becomes like a Yoga co-OP, right? Or you bring in like, you know, if they're students who come and they're really regular, and some of them also have trained in Yoga, or they can, you know, maybe they become like they teach the drop in or
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): There's a way to to do it where we can also empower folks and kind of share the power of being the teacher.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): We already talked a little bit about this, sharing all 8 limbs
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then appreciation, appropriation talked about, and then reparations right. So reparations in Yoga just wanna also underscore should happen alongside of in conversation with other movements like land back or reparations for slavery.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Some concrete things
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): is, spend your money on those who this practice came. It's really hard for folks out there, many of us, maybe, for us to so if you don't have money, that's okay. You can just share people's work right? Like, that is a really tangible way of supporting folks.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): learning and practicing the full expense of what Yoga can be talked about. A lot of this but donating money to organizations doing humanitarian work in India, or to organizations dedicated to the preservation of the wisdom, mindfulness, meditation, and Yoga traditions anywhere in the world, right it could be in India or anywhere in the world.
and to Rachel's point
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): connecting to your own creativity and lineages. We can connect to our own cultures, first go deep and introspect into all our own traditions as well.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then acknowledging the lineage right? I think
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that is the main thing I wanted to share. And then here I shared. It's a longer list. There's also reparations org organizations. But basically.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): if you go down and the contact for those folks who are there is on here. But
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): just make sure I'm still sharing right? Yeah. So resources to learn from
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): as part of any training program, any any money that comes to me as a Yoga teacher. I donate a portion of the money that comes in to organizations working for black liberation, indigenous
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): liberation and land back, and then also South Asian, either in South Asian org, in the Us. Usually, or in India. And so I listed some in India as well as in the Us.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Just so folks have a place to start, and sometimes it can be as simple as you know. Hey? Any money that's coming from this particular stop sharing now sharing a lot. But this Yoga workshop I'm leading right. I'm gonna take 10 or you can decide to present 20,
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you know, 5%, whatever you can do and then share it to and pick an organization. And what's really cool is, you can also have the conversation with your students and say, Hey, this is something I'm thinking about. Would anyone also like to donate right to this Yoga school in India, or you know and it so it doesn't have to be this thing that we feel like. But we're like, yes, this is really cool. Yes, I'm getting paid. And I'm doing some really empowering things
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and also raising awareness for these organizations. So I'm going to stop talking. Oh, most number 7
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): have to look. But let me pause. Any thoughts
on this.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yes.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yes, Mae.
Wade benally: Hi, yeah, this is like such a important conversation for me, because I'm an indigenous person. I'm gonna coming from the
Wade benally: also on my dad's side. My dad's to look on us when he's like white American and it's something I've
Wade benally: been thinking a lot about in approaching my community. Because I'm
Wade benally: as a yoga teacher. Thinking about. You know, I'm working in a community that
Wade benally: has like active traditional practices, that where people like have to be initiated to go through like certain, to talk about certain things, to like
Wade benally: be practitioners of certain things. And like, how do I approach my community with a knowledge system that comes from indigenous people, you know, from the other side of the world. But knowing that this knowledge system is, has been so helpful to me personally, but also like
Wade benally: the reason, like I wanted to become a Yoga teacher, was to help my community heal from all of like the colonial traumas, too, and and the ways that I see like breathwork, and
Wade benally: all of that
Wade benally: movement be so empowering. And that. So it's been kind of something I've been like thinking through is like, where what is the line between? You know, teaching a practice from elsewhere, revitalizing and remembering our own cultural practices, and like what is like appropriate
Wade benally: in like, kind of that boundary. So I don't know if that that's like, yeah, there's like, that's what's coming up for me as as you talk about these things.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yeah, I really appreciate you sharing. And
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): okay, so I'm gonna speak directly to you. And and I want to make this really clear, too, like sometimes
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): with folks of color, there's a way that we can just be like, oh, you're like family, right? Like, even though we're different. And we come from different backgrounds. There's like this kinship. And that's beautiful. And there are some real differences, different lived experiences, different historical experiences.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so it almost is like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): my sense would be being really mindful of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): honoring and naming where the practices are coming from that you're sharing so you can blend them right. But really speaking and I know I'm sure this is already something you you likely do. But speaking with the elders and the traditional practices that come from the Den Nation, and then
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): saying, and this is something that comes from Yoga. But also
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): there's a. There is a way that a lot of these practices do blend right like so many cultures and so naming, not in a way to make people feel disconnected. But
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I'll maybe saying it. Something like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that I learned in from a yoga context.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): but you may have your own way of connecting with this right? So it's always a bit of an invitation
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): for a connection rather than because there's a way that that can feel disconnecting. But I think if the intention is there to like. provide honor and respect, and then also just like, be very, very clear, and offering that respect.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I don't know. How does that sound
Wade benally: that I think that helps make sense cause? I think one thing I've been kind of thinking through, cause I really want to work with, like Elderly's to in my community, and I don't want them to like be fearful
Wade benally: of engaging with another kind of cultural practice, you know, because of our own traditions and our own belief systems that they might be like, what are you doing? You're coming in like bringing in, like somebody else's prayers, you know, and and those kinds of things, and kind of be distrustful of it. So I think the thing about like inviting people to consider.
Wade benally: you know the interconnections, but also acknowledging like, yes, this is a tradition that comes from
Wade benally: somewhere else. That has been like helpful for many people. because that that helps me. Yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yeah. And then, reflecting
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): it, it almost might be like group to group or person to person, you know, like, is it checking in like this is a practice that's been helpful for me. Does it support your well being? Is it something that you want to incorporate in your medicine, you know, like, so that way
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): people feel like they have a choice, and that you're not just bringing it. I've I've felt really good when people share in that way.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yeah, thank you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Wow. We are at time. And that this question, Bria, I hope it. It's supportive to you. I know, like I said. It's of course, ultimately up to you, and you come to your own sovereignty, your own answers. I'm really excited for you to teach. If you decide that you're going to. And I got get the sense from everyone here. There's a lot of care and support and encouragement. And so if you're watching this.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and we wanna come to the next time we're gathering and maybe make some connections. And I think I think folks would be very happy to do that.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and for anyone else, right for all of us here. If there's been any places where you're doubting yourself or where you're feeling like, can I. Is this right? Like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): remembering back, circling back to our theme of Ahimsa and Spadaya. that self
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): autonomy coming back to yourself, coming back to your truth, coming back to your intentions and and really trusting that.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So we'll close
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): with that, and we'll just do a quick chance. Maybe
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): II don't wanna say quick cause. I really want to anchor us into connecting to the sacred fire the water, and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): just your heart.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): We'll tent all one time.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): deep breath in full breath out.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): oh.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): thank you so much for your presence. Thank you so much for your practice.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): There's anything you want to drop in the chat that you're taking away, or if you wanna unmute and say goodbye, and we can do that now. And Happy New Year everyone. I'm excited for a year of practicing with you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yay, Rachel Yccax
rachel@yogasong.net: bye, bye, thank you. Bye, everyone.
Adriana Botic (she/her/ella): Alright. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Carly Joelle: I thank you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I am.