BY MAYA BREUER

A yoga curriculum based on contemplative practices, developed to help individuals, families, and communities survive the aftermath of violence

Today violence is epidemic, and it is considered a major public health issue. Within the United States the myriad types of violence include acts committed by police, gangs, and domestic partners, and local acts of terror. Although many have tried to introduce approaches to stop the violence, this macabre phenomenon still plagues us.

Violence impacts the body, mind, and spirit of the individual and the community. Its effects can cause severe trauma to those who have experienced it, witnessed it, or live in fear of it. Trauma from the aftermath of violence can lead to chronic ailments such as heart disease, stroke, and mental health issues such as depression, PTSD, stress, and anxiety, as well as other unknown physical and psychological problems. Many in the medical and scientific community view violence as a contagious disease. In 2013, the National Academy of Sciences published a 153-page report titled The Contagion of Violence, saying that “violence is like a contagious disease that spreads from person to person.”

In 2009, my friend and colleague Jana Long and I put our heads and hearts together and decided to create the Black Yoga Teachers Alliance (BYTA), a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. After the creation of BYTA and the horrendous murder and death of Travon Martin in 2012, we began discussing violence in our communities, violence in America. Over time our conversation brought us to considering how the newly formed BYTA community could use yoga to change the impact of violence on individuals and communities. We talked about how violence impacted all cultures and communities, but still the epidemic of violence continues to grow within black communities in the US. Our conversations always came back to the same questions: How do people and communities return to normalcy after violence? Could the individual and community thrive again? What was there to help?

What emerged was the realization that after the loss of a loved one, after a brutal domestic violence assault, after a rape or other violent act, there was nothing readily available for those impacted—no website offering such as “What to do while living in the aftermath of violence in your community.” There were no methodologies, no practices, no steps to take to rejuvenate, no community consciousness raising, no balm to soothe and keep one going—there was nothing being offered to those living on after the assault of violence, after the loss of a child, brother, or sister to gun violence, after the community mourning of a tragedy—nothing being taught to help one survive life in the aftermath of violence. There was nothing!

We grappled with this, and in an ah-ha moment realized that we were yogis and we knew practices and perspectives to renew one’s life and spirit.

All of these terse and poignant conversations led me to reflect on my own experiences with violence and the aftermath, which negatively impacted my life. My first experience was the untimely death of my younger sister, Sherry Lynn, many years ago. She was 20 years old and she took her own life in an extremely violent manner. After her death, my soul and spirit were shaken. Sure, I returned to my corporate job and took care of my three children, but I found it difficult to find peace or to have any joy within myself. In my family, silence was the rule. We did not speak or acknowledge our feelings, and we did not talk about what had happened. This silence was the route my family collectively took; it was as if my sister had just disappeared. I adopted this family norm and went on bruised and silent for years, struggling and seeking solace in things that were not good for my spirit.

A decade later, just as I was beginning to discover and practice yoga, my younger brother Peter was diagnosed with AIDS. I became his main support and caregiver. He died after a two-year battle and that loss was then heaped atop the violence and loss of my sister. I carried on in silence, as was our way—the norm.

I recall times when I could barely breathe, but after a few months of intense grief and despair I began to resume my life and seek relief, but the relief that I sought did not nourish me. I found myself moving through life in a haze, unable to go forward, unable to go back, and compromising any ability to heal and renew because of the unhealthy behaviors that I had chosen: alcohol abuse, bad food, and poor choices led to a sleeplessness that plagued me. I was stuck in the aftermath of violence living in pain, sorrow, and confusion.

The same year that my brother died, I was finally able to resume my yoga study and practice. A few years after his death, I traveled to India and there I dove headlong into the study of contemplative yoga practice and philosophy. It was this knowledge and awareness that finally supported me as I began to peel back the layers of pain and sorrow that had clouded my existence. Yoga became a boon to my health and well-being. Through the study and practice of hatha yoga, meditation, and the intense exploration of yoga philosophy, I began to regain my footing in life. I began to release the pain that had stifled my spirit.

As yogis living the yogic lifestyle, both Jana and I have been privy to the far-flung contemplative practices within cultural and traditional yoga. They are found in the Yoga Sutras, codified by Sage Patanjali, in the sacred readings and contemplations of the Upanishads, in Ashtanga yoga or the eight limbs of yoga, and in the practice of breathing and meditation. Yoga As A Peace Practice was born!

Yoga As A Peace Practice (YPP) is not a typical hatha yoga class where the emphasis is on movement and breathing. YPP provides a “contemplative self-help intervention to address the impact of trauma for individuals and communities where there is dysfunction, violence, or chaos.” This contemplative approach to yoga may illuminate new ideas and ways of being in our hearts and minds. It is not a panacea for all the troubles (or violence) in the world. Yet it is a powerful catalyst for people who desire to shift their thinking and path in life, to help people renew themselves and create new ways of being.

In May, we offered the first pilot of YPP at Impact Hub Oakland. This event was funded by the Urban Family Foundation, and we were pleased to have Master Yogi Mark Whitwell join us to offer his Heart of Yoga practice and satsang to participants. Our second YPP training was held in July at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. One of the most significant things learned from both events is that many who seek the training to offer to others are themselves victims of violence and loss.

At each of the YPP trainings we welcome everyone impacted by violence. There is no preference or concern about race, creed, color, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity. All are welcome. We offer the YPP curriculum to yoga teachers, community activists, and community leaders; mothers, fathers, and children who have lost family members and friends to gun violence; psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers; classroom teachers and educators; police, etc. This curriculum teaches one how to cope individually, and it has also been developed to be integrated into share circles, prayer circles, bible study groups, counseling sessions, community meetings, discussion groups, and most importantly, into yoga classes.

Our hope is to spread this initiative throughout the US, to cities where folk particularly need these teachings. At present those cities are Baltimore, Brooklyn, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, and Detroit—and there will be others. We invite you to join us to be part of the remedy by hosting YPP training in your community or by participating in one of the future trainings offered. All are welcome! Information about how to host a YPP training in your community is available at BlackYogaTeachersAlliance.org.

Celebrated as one of America’s distinguished black yogis by Black Enterprise magazine, Maya Breuer is a preeminent yoga instructor and practitioner, author, community activist, and consultant with a career spanning over three decades. She is president and cofounder of the Black Yoga Teachers Alliance and founder of the Santosha School of Yoga. MayaBreuer.com

BY MAYA BREUER

Cleora O’Connor’s life changed one evening when she and her husband received the call that no parent wants to get—something had happened to their child. While their son was riding in a borrowed car, someone pulled up alongside and began firing into the car where their son sat. His injuries were fatal. Devastated and broken, Cleora’s world stopped. Months passed, and she was hardly able to work or be a part of life. She had thought about trying yoga in the past, and after several months a few of her friends suggested she try a yoga class; the loss of her son had opened her to seek something to soothe her soul.

“The loss of a child is a tragedy that has become all too common an occurrence in the lives of black women throughout the United States. Yoga is a tool for our survival as well as individual and community empowerment,” says Cleora. She became a yoga teacher in 2002, and she uses her skill and perspective to help others cope with the aftermath of violence. She also serves as part of a community effort to abate domestic violence.

John Gillard had no idea he would become a yoga teacher. He joined the army at 20 and became a combat veteran in Afghanistan, where he quickly rose in the ranks. Though engaged in combat overseas, John said that he “experienced more violence at home.” John grew up in a community where violence was prevalent. He began exploring yoga while on active military duty. “As a man of color from an urban setting, the messages about violence were extremely ambiguous,” he said. “Yoga is a practice that clarifies this ambiguity; it centers me.” Today, John teaches veterans suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder, military sexual trauma, and substance abuse. John hopes in years to come to see the practice of yoga become more available in urban settings.

These are just two examples of the lives and service of black yoga teachers.

Jana Long and I met at the International Association of Black Yoga Teachers (IABYT) conference in Chicago. We both felt excited to be among other black yoga teachers from all over the world. This was the beginning of a friendship that would ultimately also become a working partnership. In 2005, we met again at the IABYT conference in Los Angeles. We realized that we shared many of the same activist ideals, love of yoga, and commitment to our communities. We volunteered to create the next year’s IABYT conference in New England, and we’ve been working together ever since.

The conference was held in Rhode Island at the Providence Zen Center in 2006. By 2009 the IABYT had folded, and we realized there was a definite need for another black yoga teachers organization, and the idea of the Black Yoga Teachers Alliance (BYTA) was born. It began as a Facebook group, initially to see how many black yoga teachers would be interested in a new organization. Slowly, it grew from fewer than 50 teachers to 1,500 group members. The mission of BYTA is to support the professional and educational development of black yoga teachers. Our goals also include becoming a community to support black yoga teachers on their path.

This year BYTA will launch its first national initiative, Yoga As A Peace Practice, an activist movement and a call to service for black yoga teachers to reach out within urban communities and neighborhoods and offer yoga classes and other wellness-based practices to help abate and manage the impact of violence in our communities. The initiative will motivate and support black yoga teachers to offer classes, meditation, and other integrative practices as tools to help individuals families and communities heal and renew body, mind, and spirit.

The initiative launched at the inaugural conference of the Black Yoga Teachers Alliance at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in August 2016. The theme, “Revival—Evolution of Spirit,” brought together black yoga teachers, practitioners, and others to look within, engage, connect, and envision a world where the sacred and the spirit can be our guide. Learn more about this initiative at BlackYogaTeachersAlliance.com.

Celebrated as one of America’s distinguished black yogis by Black Enterprise magazine, Maya Breuer is a yoga instructor, author, community activist, and consultant, with a career spanning over three decades. She is president and cofounder of BYTA and founder of the Santosha School of Yoga. MayaBreuer.com