A Yoga of Both Inner & Societal Transformation

Ricardo D. Stanton-Salazar, Ph.D., RYT-200

October 20, 2011

The Vedantic system of yoga has a rich tradition going back 5,000 years ago in India. From

its inception through yoga’s formalization by Patanjali 150 BCE, yogic philosophy is

grounded in the idea that our principal spiritual purpose and challenge is to “transform our

base human nature into the divine that is within us. In other words, the individual must reach

the deeper strata of his/her being, wherein lies his unity with all mankind. The Vedanta can

help us to contact and live that truth which unfolds our real nature — the divinity lying

hidden in man.”[1] For thousands of years, yoga offered a window into the nature of

suffering, healing, and transformation. However, the window it offered was one way, the

process of human transformation did not provide a social science into how human alienation

and suffering was rooted in how ‘the outer world’ was socially and politically organized.

The perspective offered here speaks directly to the system of racism, a system that not only

was an essential part of the historical beginnings of our nation, but also a system that

became planted in Indian soil about 1,500BCE—through the establishment of the Caste

system; because the blossoming of the yogic path during this time--and even through

Patanjali’ formidable scholarship--did not develop a social science of human suffering and

of liberation, the caste system sunk its roots deep into Indian society, persisting in Hindu

society throughout the twentieth century. Thus, the yogic system, through its critical stages

of development over hundreds and thousands of years, offered a wondrous process of

human transformation, but it was a process that never formally took a moral stand against

the Varna system nor the Jāti system in India—systems which rigidly stratified and

segregated people, and stigmatized many, based on birth and genealogy. Master yoga

teachers maintain their silence about the evolution of yoga and the caste system when

teaching yoga philosophy, spirituality, & history. No books on the shelf at any yoga studio

exposure students to this deplorable contradiction. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. sought the

wisdom of Mahatma Gandhi on the principal of Ahimsa (non-violence), but I don’t believe,

Dr. King was fully aware of the contradiction of seeking wisdom from a guru who himself

was quite conflicted about the Varna system in India—Dr. King, who at any moment was

ready to give his life to end racial segregation in the United States.

The hour has arrived, the silence must end. The wondrous spirituality and the connection

with God, inherent in yoga practice, must be pure. The process of personal spiritual

transformation through yoga and yogic mediation and prayer can not occur while our sister

or brother lies next to us suffering with pangs of hunger and with a blood wound waiting to

be cleansed, medicine applied, and wrapped with clean gauze. Swami Vivekananda opened

the door to a new and glorious yoga; how many yoga masters stepped through this door?

--Racism (including any 'caste system') dehumanizes both the oppressed and the oppressor, while keeping those on the sidelines from any authentic spiritual development.

We need a system of “yoga” that’s founded upon an intellectual base, a social

psychology, a spirituality, and political philosophy that speaks directly to the

needs of ‘people of color’ in the U.S. (and globally as well), that directly

addresses the historical and current forms of racial oppression and the effects

of that oppression on our psyches, on physical bodies (as disease), on our

children, and on our communities. Such a 'yogic system' must embrace all

people who suffer from a dominant form of social oppression (e.g., women),

and embrace all who those who profess their complete alliance with the

oppressed.

I speak of ‘system of yoga’ that integrates every form of empowerment, both

individual and collective, at every stage of the life cycle. The fruits of Eastern,

mystical and physical yoga are many, and we should harvest and nurture those

fruits that directly address our needs, but the “tree of yoga” is not petrified,

but 'living,' and at this point in history, this wondrous tree, with its roots in

ancient India, is already being cultivated here in this land, and new branches

are growing that re-train our eyes to see ‘human suffering’ as socially

organized, and that also permit us to see our healing, our empowerment, our

authentic spiritual development, and the transformation of our society as

within our power as a collectivity. [1] http://www.spiritualworld.org/perspectives/vedantic.htm http://adaniel.tripod.com/origin.htm

Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 2011 Mar 1. Association between perceived racism and physiological stress indices in Native Hawaiians. Kaholokula JK, Grandinetti A, Keller S, Nacapoy AH, Kingi TK, Mau MK. Abstract: The association between racism and the physical health of native U.S. populations has yet to be examined despite their high risk for stress-related disorders and a history of discrimination toward them. ….. Racism appears to be a chronic stressor that can "get under the skin" of Native Hawaiians by affecting their physical health and risk for stress-related diseases, possibly, through mechanisms of cortisol dysregulation. Frantz Fanon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNnHrdqHMMA Fanon (July 20, 1925 – December 6, 1961) was a French psychiatrist, philosopher, revolutionary and writer whose work is influential in the fields of post-colonial studies, critical theory and Marxism. Fanon is known as a radical existential humanist[1] thinker on the issue of decolonization and the psychopathology of colonization. Fanon supported the Algerian struggle for independence and became a member of the Algerian National Liberation Front. His life and works have incited and inspired anti-colonial liberation movements for more than four decades.

HEALING FROM RACISM THRU YOGA: (“Racism wounds both “non-whites”

& “whites,” both communities need healing & transformation to co-create a new

world”)

We are constructing a system of “yoga” that’s founded upon an intellectual base, a

social psychology, a spirituality, and political philosophy that speaks directly to the

needs of ‘people of color’ in the U.S. (and globally as well), that directly addresses

the historical and current forms of racial oppression and the effects of that

oppression on our psyches, on physical bodies (as disease), on our children, and on

our communities. Such a 'yogic system' must embrace all people who suffer from a

dominant form of social oppression (e.g., women), and embrace all who those who

profess their complete alliance with the oppressed.

I speak of ‘system of yoga’ that integrates every form of empowerment, both

individual and collective, at every stage of the life cycle. The fruits of Eastern,

mystical and physical yoga are many, and we should harvest and nurture those

fruits that directly address our needs, but the “tree of yoga” is not petrified, but

'living,' and at this point in history, this wondrous tree, with its roots in ancient

India, is already being cultivated here in this land, and new branches are growing

that re-train our eyes to see ‘human suffering’ as socially organized, and that also

permit us to see our healing, our empowerment, our authentic spiritual

development, and the transformation of our society as within our power as a

collectivity.

Swami Vivekananda (12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902) (Kolkata, West Bengal India): "Karma Yoga" "Service to humanity is the highest form of worship." "So Long as millions live in hunger and ignorance, I hold every man a traitor, who, having been educated at their expense, pays not the Least heed to them." "The goal of mankind is knowledge."

Yeshua, of Nazareth, Galilee (Northern Israel, Palestine), Rabbi, Master Teacher (the Christ) “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. …. 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ My Teachers “Megha” (Nancy) Buttenheim, (Kripalu); …Krishna Kaur (Kundalini, Kripalu & Los Angeles); …Maya Breuer (Kripalu); …Amy Weintraub (Austin, TX, Kripalu); Naader Shagagi (Yoga Kingdom Sanctuary, Pasadena); …Sabina Weber (Yoga House, Pasadena); …María Mazzi (Svaroopa Yoga, San Diego) Beautiful Young Black Man on Cover of Yoga Magazine (Great!!!!) ("Program catalog" for Popular Retreat Center (“Kriplau”); marketing gimmick? …or authentic commitment to attract & serve the special needs of Black people coming from Albany, New York, Boston, Springfield, & New Haven? ....I pray with all my heart that it is the latter; please Kripalu, calm my heart. ) http://issuu.com/kripalu/docs/cat84_loressingle?mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Flight%2Flayout.xml&showFlipBtn=true

Ricardo D. Stanton-Salazar, Ph.D., RYT-200 Photographer: Olivia Puentes-Reynolds