The Yoga of Intersectionality with Gurumukh Mark Harris
African Roots of Kundalini & Social Justice
African-American Kundalini Yogis consider access to yoga to be a civil rights issue.
Intersectionality is where multiple external systems of discrimination and internalized oppression intersect, interact and force multiply.What we call social justice and civil rights struggle, has a millennia long history and praxis, rooted in cultures of tradition. If we explore the civil rights/social justice movement through our understanding of yoga; the inner warrior for social change emerges.
Self-care is a key element in liberation of self and others.
If asana means “comfortable seat”, and many asana’s are uncomfortable in the beginning, but get comfortable with practice, so grows your skill in engaging systems of oppression.
As a yoga professional, can you access the muscles for embodied resistance? It is a Siddhi or spiritual power to see privilege, to see oppression and then to take action to bring real change. Deepen into your ability to see & untangle the knots of systemic racism, class oppression and move yoga into accessibility for all.
On the mat, we’ll use yoga and meditation to build resilience. Off the mat, we’ll discuss ways to culturally recover, transform and evolve beyond layers of implicit and explicit biases.
This course is one possibility to join the movement for social change and greater accessibility of yoga for all. Learn to evolve your platform to inform sensitivity across all intersections and to move this world into truth & justice for all.
What does this Course Include:
- 12 Pre-recorded Video Segments on The Yoga of Intersectionality,
- Take your time to watch the material at your own pace if you cannot make the live class
- Q & A discussion with community and other course participants
- Specific techniques / meditations
- Unique Material originally developed at Summer Solstice, for our worldwide yoga community
- Q & A discussion with community and other course participants
- Specific techniques / meditations
General concepts this course will cover:
- The Yoga of Intersectionality: Part I African Roots of Kundalini Yoga, Social Justice & The Civil Rights Struggle
- Kemetia Yoga; Ancient Egyptian System of Yoga
- Black Psychology, Black Feminism, Black Liberation Theology & Yoga as Civil Rights Praxis
- Liberation & the Practice OF Freedom; Exploring the Release from Prison
- Intersectionality & CRASH: Classism/Militarism, Race/Religion, Age/Ability/Addiction, Sexism, Heterosexism
- Start with the Strength: Hidden Dimensions Revealed, Malcolm X & more
- Yoga Of Intersectionality: Part II featuring Guru Ram Das Chant with African 6/8 Rhythm, African Roots of Kundalini Yoga, Social Justice & The Civil Rights Struggle
- In the Face of Discrimination:Validate your sources of power, indigenous wisdom traditions
- 12 Kinds of Marriage; It takes a village & it takes new concepts of marriage. African concepts of non traditional family structures.
- Sex is a Recovery Issue; Sex Positive concepts for Yogis, releasing the heteronormative, sex negative culture.
- On the Mat, prepares you for off the mat: Take the Siddhi of seeing liberation into this world. Build your residence, flexibility, calmness & gravitas.
- The Practice Never Ends: Wrapping UP; Where do we go from here? In Community, we rebirth together.
Why Should I take this Course?
All Yoga teachers & trainers, leaders navigating the Aquarian Age need this class to grasp the complex intersections of class, race, ability and how to be sensitive with knowledge and depth.
And are you tired of yoga being only accessible to specific economic sectors or specific populations? Are you fatigued with yoga being about “self care” and want to see it actually reach hard to reach populations? This class is for you.
Scholarship Initiative
Please contact [email protected] for scholarship questions.
Generations of racism and educational systems born from discriminatory policies make it clear that accessibility is an issue for BIPOC and LGBTQIA Kundalini Yoga family members as well as our global community. If you identify as these, or live in a second or third world country, please contact us about scholarship availability for this course. To be considered for financial aid, applicants will need to show one or more of the following need based forms of documentation:
1) Proof of residency in a 2nd or 3rd world country or if US Citizen
2) Recent year tax return or Medicaid Card/ Food Stamp Vouchers
Testimonials
“This was a very informative course. It provided insight into the history of diversity and inclusion in 3HO as well as its present status in the organization, identified one of the key leaders in the field, and suggests that the organization is serious—or at least that there are some individuals in the organization who are serious—about promoting greater diversity and inclusion. This—diversity and inclusion—is necessary because the isms that afflict individuals in societies are as diverse as the individuals traumatized by structures, systems, beliefs, and practices that nurture racism, sexism, classism, ableism, homophobia, xenophobia and ageism. Kundalini Yoga becomes a means by which victims can develop the resilience needed to heal from trauma and withstand efforts to arrest their inherent goodness, genius, and potential. Kundalini Yoga offers technologies that can help us to affirm our own greatness rather than have it continually marginalized by individuals who have become afraid and insecure because of our inherent power and beauty. Activism born from the direct experience of trauma is fortified by the cultivation of a resilient mind and works to dismantle oppressive structures without causing more trauma in part by emphasizing the unity, inclusion, oneness of all humankind regardless of diversity and uniqueness. Gurumukh Mark Harris has heartfully provided valuable insight into the reason I need to be doing this and has made the way forward richer. I am grateful to him for bringing together so many perspectives and aspects of himself to provide these valuable insights.” Cortez Rainey
Gurumukh Mark Harris first trained as a Kundalini Yoga teacher in the 70’s, and has been applying yogic philosophy, African-American Psychology, and other principles to his music performance, and addiction therapy practice, for nearly 40 years.
In his musical, written, and activist work, he likes to reclaim a bit more of the original spirit of these technologies in their places of origin, where they could be accessed by poor and oppressed people in order to gain empowerment and enlightenment.
He has over 40 years of experience in Cross-Cultural Addictions and Mental Health Counseling, Ethnic Studies Education, and training in evidence based, and culturally defined therapies. He specializes in “hard to reach”, and marginalized populations. Many times these populations have devised innovative and exportable solutions, that are exportable to other more mainstreamed populations.
Learn more at gurumukhmarkharris.com
E-mail: [email protected]