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Yoga Revolution: Building a Practice of Courage and Compassion
2021 Shambhala Publications, Inc.
by Jivana Heyman
We each have a different role to play in creating an equitable and just world. The challenge is getting clear about our role, and standing shoulder to shoulder with others who are doing their own work. In this way, we are working separately, but together, toward liberation. This brings to mind the image of the rainbow, the symbol of the queer community, which I feel so blessed to be a part of. Our community is constantly teaching the world how to embrace differences, how to love, and how to be human on a spectrum of gender. My personal struggles as a cisgender queer white middle-aged Jewish man have been mild compared to what so many queer people endure for living their truth. Some are emotionally and physically tortured and even killed.
Gay sex was illegal in the United States when I came out of the closet in 1984 and, shockingly, it’s still illegal in many countries and punishable by death in eleven countries.[i] In the United States, there are major inequities within the queer community. In particular, trans women of color have an incredibly high murder rate that goes mostly unnoticed and unchecked by society.[ii] Trans women of color started the modern gay rights movement and are often on the cutting edge of social change, yet they don’t often benefit from these movements because of systemic racism and transphobia.[iii] The Stonewall riots, which were the spark that led to the modern gay rights movement, were led by Marsha P. Johnson and other trans women of color.[iv]
Stonewall is a good example of rioting, and protest in general, as a force for positive change. The queer community had been oppressed for so long and denied basic human rights. Stonewall was an opportunity to speak up against an oppressive system that kept us as not only second-class citizens, but complete outcasts. Similarly, I’ve seen some confusion within the yoga community about the ethics of protesting during the Black Lives Matter movement, and I think the issue is one of basic human rights. If the system that you’re living in doesn’t respect your basic human rights, then protesting that system is ethical. In other words, supporting oppressive systems is unethical, and it’s our job as yoga practitioners to speak up against suffering wherever we see it. That’s the heart of ahimsa, non-harm.
I bow to the queer leaders who are out there on the edge being themselves and challenging norms. I bow to our siblings lost to AIDS and celebrate the fact that as outsiders we can shine a bright beam of light on culture in a way that forces all of us to not look away. Although I feel protective of the queer community, I also know there is so much that we can teach the world. A queer sensibility is so often at the forefront of cultural transformation and renewal. The renewal I’m seeking is an embodied spirituality that catalyzes concrete change. I pray that this book helps lead to a small shift in our shared consciousness toward a place of acceptance, openness, and positive action.
I’m hoping to share the gift of the challenges I’ve faced. My experience as a queer person has made me stronger, and more capable of love and compassion—because I know what it’s like to not be loved and to not receive compassion. This is the hidden power of the oppressed: the ability to free ourselves and others. We’ve seen this time and time again through-out history: Black trans women leading the gay rights movement, Black people showing us what justice actually looks like through Black Lives Matter. According to Paulo Freire, in his groundbreaking work, Pedagogy of the Oppressed:
2021 Shambhala Publications, Inc.
by Jivana Heyman
We each have a different role to play in creating an equitable and just world. The challenge is getting clear about our role, and standing shoulder to shoulder with others who are doing their own work. In this way, we are working separately, but together, toward liberation. This brings to mind the image of the rainbow, the symbol of the queer community, which I feel so blessed to be a part of. Our community is constantly teaching the world how to embrace differences, how to love, and how to be human on a spectrum of gender. My personal struggles as a cisgender queer white middle-aged Jewish man have been mild compared to what so many queer people endure for living their truth. Some are emotionally and physically tortured and even killed.
Gay sex was illegal in the United States when I came out of the closet in 1984 and, shockingly, it’s still illegal in many countries and punishable by death in eleven countries.[i] In the United States, there are major inequities within the queer community. In particular, trans women of color have an incredibly high murder rate that goes mostly unnoticed and unchecked by society.[ii] Trans women of color started the modern gay rights movement and are often on the cutting edge of social change, yet they don’t often benefit from these movements because of systemic racism and transphobia.[iii] The Stonewall riots, which were the spark that led to the modern gay rights movement, were led by Marsha P. Johnson and other trans women of color.[iv]
Stonewall is a good example of rioting, and protest in general, as a force for positive change. The queer community had been oppressed for so long and denied basic human rights. Stonewall was an opportunity to speak up against an oppressive system that kept us as not only second-class citizens, but complete outcasts. Similarly, I’ve seen some confusion within the yoga community about the ethics of protesting during the Black Lives Matter movement, and I think the issue is one of basic human rights. If the system that you’re living in doesn’t respect your basic human rights, then protesting that system is ethical. In other words, supporting oppressive systems is unethical, and it’s our job as yoga practitioners to speak up against suffering wherever we see it. That’s the heart of ahimsa, non-harm.
I bow to the queer leaders who are out there on the edge being themselves and challenging norms. I bow to our siblings lost to AIDS and celebrate the fact that as outsiders we can shine a bright beam of light on culture in a way that forces all of us to not look away. Although I feel protective of the queer community, I also know there is so much that we can teach the world. A queer sensibility is so often at the forefront of cultural transformation and renewal. The renewal I’m seeking is an embodied spirituality that catalyzes concrete change. I pray that this book helps lead to a small shift in our shared consciousness toward a place of acceptance, openness, and positive action.
I’m hoping to share the gift of the challenges I’ve faced. My experience as a queer person has made me stronger, and more capable of love and compassion—because I know what it’s like to not be loved and to not receive compassion. This is the hidden power of the oppressed: the ability to free ourselves and others. We’ve seen this time and time again through-out history: Black trans women leading the gay rights movement, Black people showing us what justice actually looks like through Black Lives Matter. According to Paulo Freire, in his groundbreaking work, Pedagogy of the Oppressed:
This, then, is the great humanistic and historical task of the oppressed: to liberate themselves and their oppressors as well. The oppressors, who oppress, exploit, and rape by virtue of their power, cannot find in this power the strength to liberate either the oppressed or themselves. Only power that springs from the weakness of the oppressed will be sufficiently strong to free both.[v]
With this I mind, I hope to highlight the gifts of our shared suffering and consider how we can use that suffering to free ourselves and others. With this possibility in mind, I shine a light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, but this isn’t Mr. Iyengar’s light on the Sutras. This is a queer rainbow of sparkling light shining from the twenty-first century. What I see in the Sutras is a pathway for personal liberation that emphasizes a loving, engaged, and extremely discerning mind. This is different from the traditional story we hear in the Sutras that feels more like the sad tale of a lonely soul searching for its own absolution.
I also bow to the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita, the song of God, and listen to the story of Arjuna, a person torn apart by the challenges of life. The Gita shows us how to transform our contemplative practice into action through service—action born from love. Krishna teaches us how our practice makes the mind clear so that we know how to act for the highest good. This is what the Gita calls “skill in action,” the ultimate goal of yoga. This is also the title of the groundbreaking book by Michelle Cassandra Johnson,[vi] who approaches the idea of applying these ancient teachings to address the contemporary issue of racism and white supremacy. She explains:
I do not see my practice of yoga as separate from the work I do to create a just world. They are one and the same to me. The way I practice and what I choose to center as the practice of yoga is focused on how we create a just world. Yoga is about selfless service, devotion, and knowledge. These paths are important keys to us realizing a world in which we all can be free. My practice of meditation and movement as well as the study of the Bhagavad Gita provide emotional and spiritual sustenance to me. This nourishment from spiritual practice allows me to fully see with clarity the ways in which injustice persists on our planet. Being spiritually fed pushes me to strive to do everything I do in my practice off of my cushion or mat in service to the collective good and our liberation.
[i] Human Dignity Trust website, “Map of Countries That Criminalize LGBT People,” www.humandignitytrust.org/lgbt-the-law/map-of-criminalisation/).
[ii] Madeleine Carlisle, “Two Black Trans Women Were Killed in the U.S. in the Past Week as Trump Revokes Discrimination Protections for Trans People,” Time, June 13, 2020.
[iii] Isabella Grullon Paz and Maggie Astor, “Black Trans Women Seek More Space in the Movement They Helped Start,” New York Times, June 27, 2020.
[iv] David Oliver and Rasha Ali, “Why We Owe Pride to Black Transgender Women Who Threw Bricks at Cops,” USA Today, June 24, 2019.
[v] Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (London: Penguin Classics, 1993), 18.
[vi] Johnson, Michelle Cassandra, Skill in Action: Radicalizing Your Yoga Practice to Create a Just World (self-published 2017).
This post was edited by Patrice Priya Wagner, Managing Editor of Accessible Yoga blog and member of the Board of Directors.
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So compellingly said. I am sharing this post with my Scripture Study Group. Thank you Jivana.
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