Black Lives Matter - Black Baptiste Yoga Teachers

6:07 PM 7 Comments A+ a-



Like a great many other people right now, I've been reading Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad. One takeaway from her book is for me to do more to uplift, center, pay and elevate Black leaders and teachers.

As I am a Baptiste yogi, it seemed an obvious task for me to put together the most comprehensive list possible of every Black Baptiste Yoga Teacher I could find online. This list is not complete (obviously), but I will continue to update it as I get more information.

Finding the North America based Black yogis was challenging and I know there are a lot more than those I found online. Do you know someone who isn't represented here? Tell me!

Baptiste Yoga has a huge presence (practiced in over 22 countries) in Africa via the Africa Yoga Project. I reached out to Danielle Cosgrove and she put me in touch with Catherine Njeri (Director of Teachers for the Africa Yoga Project). Catherine kindly provided me with the list of names of the AYP Academy and Alumni teachers. I did some googling and Facebook searching to find an online presence for as many AYP teachers as I could, and Catherine helped me with some errors I'd made in identifying people (thanks!!).

The list of teachers is in THIS google spreadsheet. I've put links to studios, instagram accounts or Facebook profiles so that you can get out there and uplift, center, pay and elevate Black Baptiste yoga teachers.

If you know of someone that is not in this list, please let me know so that I can add them!

I am pleased to have Catherine Njeri's help to put 218 faces to the list of 238 names! More names and faces will being added as I get them. 🖤#blacklivesmatter #whybaptisteyoga #baptisteyoga

Ericka Jones is a Baptiste Yoga Leader, works in diversity & inclusion and has created the Minnesota Yoga Coalition (MNYC) I recommend getting on the email list so that you can keep up on the advancements Ericka and her team are making.

The MN Yoga Coalition (MNYC) is a diverse community of yoga studio owners, teachers, students and supporters working together to create and sustain a more inclusive, equitable and diverse model for yoga spaces in our home communities.
This practice is a philosophy of being. It is a practice to promote physical and psychological well-being. It is devised as a means to end all suffering; however, it has become segregated, privileged and has marginalized people in many communities. 
Our vision is a yoga community that is accessible for people of all colors, ages, identities, abilities, and socioeconomic statuses from all walks of life in order to cultivate Sattva and spiritual healing. 
Flickr Photo Album:

Black Baptiste Yoga Teachers

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August 3, 2020 at 12:50 PM delete

I am a Black Baptiste Yoga teacher and Studio owner in Chicago, Eb & flow Yoga Studio. I don't see my name, my business partner's name or most of the Black Baptiste Yoga teachers I know or trained with excepts the Africa Yoga Project People and one or two others. What happened to the rest of the teachers? In Fact my partner is even listed on Baron's website and Her name is missing. Why is your list overwhelmed with Africa Yoga Project teachers? They are not African Americans and do not experience the American "Black Lives Matters" experience in U.S. yoga studios. I am confused as to why the American Black trained and certified Baptiste yoga teachers are mostly ignored in your list.

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August 3, 2020 at 1:36 PM delete

Add Peggy H. Moore and Eboni C. Howard, owners of Eb & flow Yoga Studio in Chicago and Miriam Frost, Stella Power Yoga in Atlanta.

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Jennifer
AUTHOR
August 10, 2020 at 5:31 PM delete

Hi Peggy! I'm putting this list together as I get more information day by day. If someone you know is not on there, that's only because I was unaware of them. I did some googling to get started on the list but contributions like your comments are encouraged and *needed*. Please understand I felt that if I did not include the Africa Yoga Project teachers, it would be a glaring omission. I understand that the AYP teachers do not experience the American "Black Lives Matters" experience in U.S. yoga studios. I will gladly add any and all teacher/studio information that I get when I come across it. I hope you understand that this list is not all inclusive, or sponsored by anyone. I have no way of searching the Baptiste yoga website for demographic information so I have to rely on teachers I know or people like you letting me know of more teachers that I do not know.

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Anonymous
AUTHOR
October 3, 2021 at 7:53 AM delete

Might be worth a read: https://nowhitesaviors.medium.com/did-she-bring-yoga-to-africa-or-did-she-just-bring-chaos-to-kenya-8241cd742905

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Jennifer
AUTHOR
May 16, 2022 at 9:28 AM delete

I would as you to read Paige's response to their accusations. All of the NWS allegations have been thoroughly investigated by AYP and disproven. https://paigeelenson.medium.com/setting-intentions-and-challenging-lies-my-response-to-no-white-saviors-b4f9816f4145

and AYPs investigation response:
https://www.instagram.com/p/COaqrRDhlEK/
full investigation results:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15L7b-Qjzy1J8zBKh3tv1nhiDUEUUIkZN/view?

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Unknown
AUTHOR
August 29, 2022 at 5:09 PM delete

I hope you're not going to limit your research about allegations against AYP to only AYP responses. their whole tactic was simply to deny. they didn't apologize, they didn't engage, they denied and blocked people.

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Jennifer
AUTHOR
January 30, 2023 at 11:58 AM delete

The allegations against AYP were investigated and found to be untrue. If you have proof otherwise, I encourage you to come forward with it.

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