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  Posted By:
  snapdiva at 07/29/2008 5:15:18 PM
  Comment:
  Yoga and Tai Chi are great-- important to have that bodywork to relieve stress and center the mind. I participate in Martial Arts (Escrima and Kenpo Karate). Also have found many other African Americans who are practicing Buddhists (from many traditions). I have been chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo for over 20 years as a SGI-USA member.
  Find something that will float your boat... can make a world of difference if you have inner peace and happiness.
  I thin
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  Posted By:
  Ananda Leeke at 07/29/2008 11:18:07 AM
  Comment:
  Dear Amy,
  
  Thank you for including me and my debut novel, Love's Troubadours - Karma: Book One in your wonderful article about yoga. I discovered it this morning when I logged on to The Root. What a way to begin my Tuesday morning. I probably would have discovered it last week, but I was on an Internet fast so I could enjoy my vacation in Atlanta, book reading, and participation in Blogging While Brown conference.
  
  If your readers are in the DC/MD/VA area, I would like to invite them to participate in my FREE monthly kind and gentle yoga class held at Malcolm X-Meridian Hill Park. For more information, visit http://yoga.meetup.com/584.
  
  The next class will be held on Sunday, August 17 from 9 am to 9:30 am. The short morning yoga practice will be dedicated to honoring International Day of the World's Indigenous People, International Day for the Remembrance of the Atlantic Slave Trade and its Abolition, and all Americans impacted by Hurricane Katrina.
  
  The group will practice kind and gentle Hatha yoga in front of the waterfall located near the reflecting pool and park entrance facing 16th Street and Florida Avenue, NW. Each yoga class will last thirty minutes and include an opening meditation, warm-up, kind and gentle poses, and closing meditation. Yoga lovers should bring their own yoga mat and bath towel for seated positions. They should also dress comfortably in loose clothing and avoid drinking or eating two hours before the yoga class. THE GROUP WILL NOT MEET IF IT RAINS.
  
  Again, thank you for your support.
  
  Many blessings,
  
  Ananda
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  Posted By:
  bylinediva at 07/22/2008 9:24:28 AM
  Comment:
  "Some news publications, too, have recently outlined the growing popularity of yoga among some African Americans, although, I have not yet read a detailed, statistical analysis of why it is primarily educated, upper-middle class blacks who have come to recognize the potential long-term health benefits of yoga."
  
  Because yoga is expensive, for the most part, and as you indicated, there is a dearth of black teachers and there are few yoga studios in black neighborhoods (although my city has two in diverse/gentrifying neighborhoods.) But a $10-15 a class exercise is still out of reach for many. There are of course, gyms, Y's and churches that offer yoga classes as well as tapes, but as your article indicates, it may also be a lack of exposure to yoga's healing benefits.
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  Posted By:
  StairsAndFlowers at 07/21/2008 3:10:02 PM
  Comment:
  I'm in the same boat as the author; taking yoga once a week. And, like the author, I'd make more time for it if my schedule allowed. Even though it's only once a week I sure wouldn't go a week without it. It helped me with everything from chronic back pain to sleeping deeper and better to keeping me 'regular'. Not to mention increased stregth and flexibility. And that's just the physical benefits.
  
  If you stick with it (and believe me, it'll be tough at first) you'll begin to experience more peace of mind and less stress. The first session kicked my a$$ and by the sixth session I wondered how I ever made do without it.
  
  Try it..you'll like it!
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  Posted By:
  shawnarenee at 07/21/2008 1:23:49 PM
  Comment:
  I've been practicing yoga since elementary school, although back then I did not recognize it as yoga. 20+ years later I'm still practicing and in September will be training to become a certified yoga teacher. My goal is to create a program that addresses the mental, physical and emotional needs of African American women. Amy???s story is not unusual, until recently I could not find a studio with a sizable African American clientele, and a black yoga teacher? Forget about it! But thanks to the IABYT and the growing community of Black owned yoga studios, we???re beginning to see a movement toward incorporating into Black culture, a movement that strives to make yoga and other healing arts more accessible to people of color.
  A little self promotion if I may, a few month back I interviewed Ananda Leeke about her book and the importance of mental health awareness in the African American community. You can hear the interview on www.cocoamode.com
  
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  Posted By:
  dsquared at 07/21/2008 12:24:12 PM
  Comment:
  (continued)
  
  I was a little skeptical at first, wondering what exactly happens during this "exercise." (While browsing Tae-Bo and The Grind DVDs at Kmart, I had occasionally glimpsed the serene white faces of a few white men on packaged yoga DVDs. Yet, I never saw them or any men in the yoga classes at my gym.) It didn't appear to be much more than white women shooting imaginary arrows into the distance as far as I could see. ...And what would I feel as the fellas scoped me through the glass wall on their way to the locker room? (Some weird ass "guy" or "brother", at the time, among a pack of white women?) Even the women, who I had hoped would more welcoming, eyed me suspiciously, as if I was imposing on their turf. "Shouldn't you be out there panting and growling like those other 'dogs'?" their looks seemed to suggest.
  
  But I stuck with it, ignoring them all, being the independent, creative, wanna-be fearless type that I imagine myself to be. "Just imagine what Arthur Ashe had to go through starting out..." I'd say to psych myself out. (Eventually, I'd take my place front and center of the instructor to prove my diligence to learning to the instructor and the rest of the class.)
  
  Nowadays and more and more, I feel stronger all-around than I've ever been, mindful that the body cannot be divorced from the mind in terms of good health. So, for all you yoga (or pilates) skeptics out there (especially you Black folk), l encourage you to FREE your minds and head straight for that yoga class--today!
  
  P.S. Sure, the guys still stare every now and again, though for longer stretches of time, though more curiously than confusedly, as they see me "working it out" on the machines and with the free weights, as well. And the women have become more welcoming, even friendly. It's all quite amusing whenever I take the time to notice it.
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  Posted By:
  dsquared at 07/21/2008 12:23:41 PM
  Comment:
  Brava, Amy! What a refreshing, insightful and well written read--about an issue (mental-physical-spiritual care) that we, and especially black folk, need to pay considerable attention to. Taking care of the mind-body connection is crucial for those who have inherited (God bless us all) L-W-B, or living-while-black. (And don't get irritable or grimace your faces, white people. My comments aren't in any way meant to suggest that your lives aren't stressful or are problem-free. I know better.) In fact, our very black lives may depend on our ability to "center," "decompress" and renew our mind-bodies from the daily stresses of economic survival, a largely horribly diet, racial micro-aggressions and whatever else we inherit living in these United States--and elsewhere.
  
  As a well-educated 40-something African American man who takes very good care of himself physically and nutritionally (minimal salt, sugar, and meat; lots of fresh vegetables, fruits and grains), I've come to realize that I still needed more to live a healthier and happier existence. Though the body was performing and looking well, the mind was still, too often for me, tense or agitated. Then came pilates, followed by yoga.
  
  
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  Posted By:
  nola_diva at 07/21/2008 10:56:48 AM
  Comment:
  I say 'get in where you fit in'. If yoga works for you, beautiful! For me, and many of the men and women in my life-circle, prayer and meditation on 'the word' serves as our preferred method of self-centering. I've tried yoga in the past, and it was good for helping with my breathing, but I found my center more when I included prayer along with it. I didn't find the benefit of the poses or positions and preferred to sit and meditate on God's grace and my place in this world. But again, for those who find yoga beneficial, I say more power to you both literally and figuratively.