What kind of a yoga teacher am I if I talk to you about connecting with your core on your yoga mat while ignoring the suffering in our community? What kind of a human am I to speak of the virtues of solitary moments of connection on the mat without acknowledging the interconnectedness of all humans on our planet? 

As your teacher I try to pull together concepts, phrases and expressions to help you to come back to wholeness, to wisdom, to compassion. When I’m stuck for words, or still processing what it is I’m learning, I reach to my teachers, often quoting them directly. 

I’m still processing what it is I’m learning. Like a lot of other Irish people my immediate reaction to racism is, “I’m not racist”. 

We need to pause on that thought.

My flippant response is hurting people. My reluctance to look deeper is hurting people. My silence is hurting people. My ancestors are not just Irish, they are Dutch. I can only half-play the “us poor Irish” card. I hang my head in shame. 

My greatest teacher this week has been my much-loved student, teacher, friend, the wonderfully kind, brave, outspoken Shirani Bolle. 

“If you choose to ignore somebody’s hurt and tell them that they are wrong for being hurt then by doing so you are making yourself wrong too. If you honour that other persons feelings by listening and acknowledging the harm you have caused you are no longer wrong, but instead you are practicing. Practicing and learning and forever growing. 🖤Are you clinging more to the idea of being not racist than you are actually ready to be actively anti-racist?”

Sirani’s thoughts are echoed by another favourite teacher, Jon Kabat Zinn. 

“The great delusion of separateness that we indulge in, coupled with our deeply conditioned habits of mind, the scars we carry, and our general level of unawareness, can result in particularly toxic and dis-regulating consequences for both our body and our mind.” (Full Catastrophe Living, 2013)

And now we see those toxic, dis-regulating consequences on our planet, our fellow humans.

Please follow Shirani on Instagram, Womenswellnesslimerick, she will teach us and we can continue to learn. Please educate yourself on what is happening in Direct Provision in Ireland and use your voice to appeal for change. Look deep inside at your thoughts and words about the black members of our community, and other minorities who don’t have the privilege and the voice a lot of us have. 

Please speak to me, have I been racist? Have I hurt you with thoughtless, flippant words? I am ready to pause and listen; I am ready to learn and grow. 

This week on the mat we explore connections. This week, and every week, we expand that concept out. Out beyond where we have previously gone, to incorporate all of the unspoken words, the denial, the blind spots, the scars we carry, the scars we inflict. 

We need to pause and look at the black members of our community. What we have been doing is toxic and dis-regulating. We have been hurting people. It’s time to be actively anti-racist. 

With love, shame, compassion, and a desire to do better, I will close with the word

Namaste. 

When I am in that place in me where I am truly me, and you are in that place in you where you are truly you, there is one of us. 

Much love,

Sylvia.