Clarifying our commitment to Anti-racism
More than ever, we are committed to creating safer spaces for folks who haven’t felt welcome in yoga or wellness spaces before, especially due to race.
Anti-racism is rooted in action. We are actively creating a space for folks who are open to exploring and practicing anti-racism. We are not expecting perfection, comfort, or ease from ourselves or others.
Looking back to 2020…
We started meeting to envision TendWell in the summer of 2020 in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement.
We saw yoga studios and wellness spaces struggling to respond to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many others. Some studios made anti-racist declarations with no real plan or intention of making the changes necessary to center underrepresented populations within the industry.
Others simply pretended that nothing was happening, sticking to “good vibes only.”
And for years, we'd witnessed the very obvious lack of diversity of students, teachers, and owners within these communities.
Since the summer of 2020, many of the bold statements about inclusion and diversity in wellness spaces are no longer front and center, and many wellness spaces that have survived have gone back to business as usual.
Clarifying our intent
At TendWell, we have spent a significant amount of time articulating and sharing our Values. The value that the community has had the most feedback about is our anti-racism value:
"We are anti-racist. We work to actively challenge White Supremacy."
Some have been curious about our wording choice. Some have been “alarmed by the contemporary anti-racism movement” and not aligned with our community.
This feedback prompted us…
To get even clearer on our intention (more on that below).
To put together a resource list of our inspiration.
To stand by our values and not invite folks who outright disagree with this value to be involved in our community.
Moving forward
More than ever, we are committed to creating safer spaces for folks who haven’t felt welcome in yoga or wellness spaces before, especially due to race.
Anti-racism is rooted in action. We are actively creating a space for folks who are open to exploring and practicing anti-racism. We are not expecting perfection, comfort, or ease from ourselves or others.
Frankly, by bringing our anti-racism value to the forefront, we suspect that we might get some unsubscribes and unfollows. We also expect some “hell yeah”s. And we hope for curiosity and conversation. We welcome your thoughtful, gracious feedback - anonymous or not.
We're also hosting our first monthly Community Class this Saturday, March 12 at 12:30pm PST on Zoom. Replay available if you sign up. These FREE / sliding scale community classes are a chance for us to gather online to explore TendWell's values and the experience of them in our own bodies.
In March, we welcome your curiosity, self-compassion, and grace as we explore our value: "We are anti-racist. We work to actively challenge White Supremacy."
