Ahimsa Yasmene Mumby

Now, in this movement for Black lives to matter, while we are amplifying Black voices and intentionally honoring space for people who aren’t always heard yet have plenty of insight, wisdom, experience, and compassion to share, listen in as we explore the survival and evolution of a society that must honor the lives of Black people. A collective audiomemoir of the growing movement of yoga instructors and studio owners who transmute trauma into healing. Meet and hear the writer of this piece, Yasmene.

Ahimsa is a limited series audiomemoir on yoga, wellness, and Black Lives in 2020 written and narrated by Dr. Yasmene Mumby. Sound and music by Justin Mayfield. Dave Nelson, Andrew Horan, and Alice Thompson edited the script. “Hold On” performed by the Kuumba Singers at Harvard College with Bobby McFerrin. Funding for this artistry was made possible by Yoga Glo. Go to www.yasmenemumby.com for the latest updates and to support more of this work.

This is a moment to look inward, look at how you are practicing ahimsa in the midst of the anti-Black racism and harm you witness. How are you creating a sanctuary space of healing and peace, without the spiritual bypassing? Ahimsa, often translated as non-harm, does not mean nonaction. It does not mean check out and detach from the suffering you witness. "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." - Viktor E. Frankl This piece was crafted while feeling overtired watching the words and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrangled to suppress and silence the very people his words were meant to inspire to act. This piece was crafted for your yoga instructor, studio owner, and friend who's having trouble living their yoga. Hear yoga teachers Kelley Palmer, Stephanie Hicks, Marcus Stanback, Dan’yelle Williamson, Susanna Barkataki, and Anjali Sunita.

Ahimsa is a limited series audiomemoir on yoga, wellness, and Black Lives in 2020 written and narrated by Dr. Yasmene Mumby. Sound and music by Justin Mayfield. Dave Nelson, Andrew Horan, and Alice Thompson edited the script. “Hold On” performed by the Kuumba Singers at Harvard College with Bobby McFerrin. Funding for this artistry was made possible by YogaGlo. Go to www.yasmenemumby.com for the latest updates and to support more of this work.

So many of us are trying to prioritize our health and stay alive. We are living through the unknown, unfamiliar together. Please be compassionate with yourself and others journeying with you. The culture created in yoga spaces with Black people has to be affirming and accountable to caustic microaggressions. We should not have to bottle and absorb someone else’s carelessness for our lives and those lost while creating the space for restoration for everyone else. The burden is too heavy and not shared. Hear yoga teachers Ericka Jones, Lisa Sorenson, and Tish Torres alongside the voice of Dr. Rashawn Ray speaking at the Alliance for Health Policy’s Summit on Disruptors and Transformers

Ahimsa is a limited series audiomemoir on yoga, wellness, and Black Lives in 2020 written and narrated by Dr. Yasmene Mumby. Sound and music by Justin Mayfield. Dave Nelson, Andrew Horan, and Alice Thompson edited the script. “Hold On” performed by the Kuumba Singers at Harvard College with Bobby McFerrin. Funding for this artistry was made possible by YogaGlo. Go to www.yasmenemumby.com for the latest updates and to support more of this work.

Where is the justice for all in the land of the free? Why can federal forces marshall riot gear and violence on their own people faster than PPE and Covid tests for the people? We cannot ignore this country’s violent origins unleashed on the backs of Black people and those who stand with them in protest. Expressing our very real experiences is not low vibrational, judgmental, or negative. We are courageously sharing what clearly is, with no room to look away. See and stay with the truth. We practice yoga to be well — not to be retraumatized. Hear yoga teacher Andre Coles alongside the voice of Tamika Mallory.

Ahimsa is a limited series audiomemoir on yoga, wellness, and Black Lives in 2020 written and narrated by Dr. Yasmene Mumby. Sound and music by Justin Mayfield. Dave Nelson, Andrew Horan, and Alice Thompson edited the script. “Hold On” performed by the Kuumba Singers at Harvard College with Bobby McFerrin. Funding for this artistry was made possible by Yoga Glo. Go to www.yasmenemumby.com for the latest updates and to support more of this work.

For many us who are Black and embody suffering at the knee of state-sanctioned police brutality, under a president who refused to denounce white supremacists and instead told them to stand back, stand by -- we need additional restorative and healing yogic spaces for Black people, right now, until we don’t. We are in a window of time that, depending on the actions we take, can and will shift lifetimes for generations of people who come after us. It is essential that we balance action with reflection and rest. We need spaces to restore, recover, rest, and cry before we have to get up and face the rest of the world and its unrelenting need to fill our days with Zoom calls. Hear yoga teachers Erick DuPree, Universal Empress, and Jean-Jacques Gabriel.

Ahimsa is a limited series audiomemoir on yoga, wellness, and Black Lives in 2020 written and narrated by Dr. Yasmene Mumby. Sound and music by Justin Mayfield. Dave Nelson, Andrew Horan, and Alice Thompson edited the script. “Hold On” performed by the Kuumba Singers at Harvard College with Bobby McFerrin. Funding for this artistry was made possible by YogaGlo. Go to www.yasmenemumby.com for the latest updates and to support more of this work.