UNITED STATES, August 28, 2023 (The Print, by Sudarshan Ramabadran): Today marks the 60th anniversary of the historic March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. His work on advocating for civil rights for Black Americans was also complemented by the actions of several others, perhaps the most well-known being Rosa Parks’ Montgomery bus boycott in 1955. Both King and Parks not only provided the vision and leadership to the racial equality movement in the US, but also gave it spiritual direction. Lesser known is the influence of yogic principles on the development of the spiritual journeys of these Black leaders. MLK was inspired by MK Gandhi’s principles of nonviolent social change and practiced karma yoga in spirit. On his visit to India in the 1950s, he said, “To other countries, I may go as a tourist, but to India, I come as a pilgrim”. Parks is remembered as an avid yogini who used yoga for self-care. Recently, a photo of the civil rights icon went viral where she is seen practicing Dhanurasana using a blanket below as a yoga mat.

Stephanie Evans, author and professor who was the first to get her hands on the photo in her research, has stated that meditation and yoga are helpful factors in race, gender, activism, and the sustainable struggle for human rights. The photos were on display at the library of the US Congress. In 1975, Ebony magazine, a key proponent of Black culture, published an article “Yoga: Something for Everyone,” in which African-American civil rights activist Angela Davis emphasized not just the physical but also mental benefits of yoga when she described her experience practicing Hatha yoga in jail. “I have never used yoga as an end in itself, but merely as a means of preparing myself for a more effective struggle”. Yoga has permeated the United States in myriad ways over the past few decades. It has grown beyond just a practice that heals the mind and body to transform into a tool for social change that brings communities together. In this context, it is important to particularly acknowledge how Yoga has contributed to the Black community in the US.

Much more at source.
https://theprint.in/opinion/yoga-isnt-a-white-activity-rosa-parks-angela-davis-practised-it-for-inner-peace/1734421/

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