By Megan Sayles
AFRO Staff Writer
msayles@afro.com
Maryland-based studio owners, Dana A. Smith and Kendra Blackett-Dibinga, are striving to make yoga more inclusive with their studios, creating spaces where people of all backgrounds can feel welcome and represented in a practice that has been historically dominated by White, affluent individuals.
Credit: Photo courtesy of Dana A. Smith
Smith runs Spiritual Essence Yoga and Wellness in Upper Marlboro, Md., while Blackett-Dibinga operates Bikram Yoga Works alongside her husband in Baltimore, Riverdale Park, Md. and Washington, D.C. Each of them had their own distinct introduction to yoga, but both remembered feeling underrepresented.
“When I went to teacher training, I was one of less than 10 Black people in the training of almost 500 people,” said Blackett-Dibinga. “To be honest, Bikram yoga never really targeted African Americans in general, and I believed it was something that our community needed.”
She and her husband, Omekongo Dibinga, opened Bikram Yoga Works in 2014 after Blackett-Dibinga discovered Bikram yoga’s benefits and introduced it to her family. The style is a form of hot yoga that combines various poses with breathing exercises. It’s designed to increase flexibility, build strength and promote detoxification through sweating.
At her studios, Blackett-Dibinga also offers Vinyasa yoga; Yin yoga; hot Pilates; weight and resistance training; and flexibility and mobility classes. She said contrary to the dominant culture Bikram yoga is really designed to support anyone who needs a sense of healing and community.
For her, yoga is a practice that transcends race, gender and other social divides. It’s also a form of self-care.
“Self-care is our birthright. It’s true that we have been excluded from marketing and dominant culture narratives about who does yoga and who does self-care,” said Blackett-Dibinga. “But, it’s actually something for us that is so important.”
Like Blackett-Dibinga, Smith noticed a scarcity of Black representation in yoga — both among participants and instructors. She was introduced to the practice during a trying period in her life.
After the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 — when she lost someone close to her— and while pregnant with her first child, she was struggling with elevated blood pressure and anxiety. A coworker suggested yoga as a way to manage stress. Though she resisted at first, she began by reading about it and practicing at home.
Credit: Photo courtesy of Kendra Blackett-Dibinga
Once she gave birth, she sought out classes.
“I started to travel out, looking for yoga classes, and I could only find them in D.C.,” said Smith. “I had to go to DuPont Circle or Adams Morgan, and in those environments, I was the only person of color in those classes.”
In 2003, she opened Spiritual Essence Yoga and Wellness to make classes more accessible and inclusive of her community. She’s also been training others to become yoga instructors since 2007.
Her studio uses an approach she developed called Jiivana L.I.F.E Yoga. “Jiivana,” is the Sanskrit word for, “life,” while the acronym is based on her philosophy to live inspired, fearless and empowered. Under that approach, she offers gentle flow yoga, active flow yoga, meditation and mindfulness yoga and other specialty classes.
Smith noted that oftentimes Black women, in particular, may feel as though they have to take care of everyone else in their lives before being able to nurture themselves. She emphasized that yoga, in practice, can help them prioritize their mental and physical health without feeling selfish.
“Yoga is for everyone. Everyone should feel accepted, and we shouldn’t have to go through any barriers,” said Smith. “We should be able to go into a safe space where there’s people who look like us, vibe like us and understand us.”
