Taking the first step

My yoga journey began at age 15. Hot yoga was at its peak and I was invited by a friend to try a class. I was immediately hooked.

I had a consistent hot yoga practice for years, enjoying the euphoria of discipline that the 26and2 sequence asked for. My practice was purely physical, but it changed when I began to burn out in toxic work environments. I was unhappy with my life and I used yoga to escape from my reality.

Encouraged by a yoga studio owner, I embarked upon my first yoga teacher training. It was the first step to liberation. To trust in myself and the universe. My vinyasa teacher showed me how asana is spiritual. Her powerful energy showed me a subtle layer of yoga that I hungered for. I found deep solace in the concepts of non-attachment, and yoga as the means to calm my mind in order to see my/our true nature: bliss.

After teaching my first class, I felt called to the spirit of service. I was inspired to share my energy to guide people on their own yogic paths.

Speaking up as an East Asian woman of the disaspora

Teaching is different to practicing. I quickly became aware of the systemic issues of modern yoga for people of colour who did not promote a sterile image of yoga as flexible acrobatics against minimalistic backgrounds. I sought a mentor that educated on decolonizing yoga and wellness that offered me the gift of being able to think for myself. I now had the language and the critical thinking skills to focus on what I could do to uplift folks who were me or like me.

From 2020 to 2023, I was an active co-creator of the Womxn of Color Summit involved in program development, social media and newsletter content, facilitator and community outreach, and facilitation for Black, Indigenous women, and non-binary folks of colour. We served the BI&WoC gaze in our multiplicities and complexities through annual online summits, podcasts, group programs, retreats, and educational content. I built my own table and I took yoga off the mat through this project.

So much of yoga is unlearning. Unlearning for me was the model minority myth. Shame. Guilt. Insecurities.

Yoga for community well-being

Instead, the practice asks us to be brave to see ourselves as we are.

The good and the bad.

To give ourselves the permission to be soft with ourselves.

To remember we are already whole.

We are spirit and we have our healed ancestors and the benevolence of the universe to call on.

Grass is green where you water it, and I am focused on watering my backyard. I am connected to communities in the Lower Mainland and the online hemispheres of our world.

I am grateful every day to share who I am to support community well-being through the wisdom tradition of yoga.