Hi friends,
Thank you for joining me today for this meditation on whiteness and white privilege.
Thank you for showing up and joining me in doing this work to uncover and uproot white supremacy.
This is yoga for social justice.
Before we start,
I would like to introduce myself and where I come from.
My name is Kiara,
Pronouns she,
Her,
Hers,
And I currently live on land in Canada within Treaty 18,
Also known as the Lake Simcoe,
Nottawasauga Treaty.
I am a white woman and recognize that this has given me immense privilege.
This privilege also means that I and my fellow white people have a responsibility to unlearn,
Relearn,
And repair the harm that has been caused and continues to be caused by white supremacy and colonialism.
If you are a racialized person listening to this,
Please know that I am only speaking from my experience as a white person.
If I step out of my lane as a white ally or cause any harm to you,
Please let me know and I will do the work to correct it.
The purpose of our meditation today is to turn inwards,
To examine how whiteness shows up in our bodies,
In our minds,
And in our lives.
White supremacy thrives on a lack of awareness.
It requires white people to be unaware of their privilege,
To be unaware of the costs.
It requires us to not notice or think about our whiteness at all.
So today,
We shine a light on our whiteness so that it can no longer hide.
As we get started,
Find a comfortable seat.
This can be sitting in a chair,
On the floor,
Or even lying down as long as that doesn't make you too sleepy.
Close your eyes if that feels okay or gently rest your gaze on a single point in front of you.
Turn your attention to your breath,
Noticing your inhales and your exhales.
Watch your breath as it travels in through the nostrils,
Down the throat,
And into the lungs.
Notice any expansion or movement in the chest and abdomen.
Notice any pauses.
And then watch as the breath travels back up and out of the body.
Take the next minute or so to just watch the breath in the body settling in.
Now take your attention to the color of your skin.
How would you describe it?
When you think about the color of your skin,
What thoughts come to mind?
How do you think the world sees the color of your skin?
Just notice here,
Without any judgment,
The thoughts and the beliefs that come to mind.
This is what you have been taught to believe about your skin.
And how does society place or maybe not place value on the color of your skin?
If you're a white person,
You may not have given much thought to this before.
You may have been taught to not see color.
That is what the system of white supremacy needs you to believe,
That whiteness is the norm,
Not the default.
Think about how that belief has shown up in your own life.
How has whiteness been presented as the default?
You might think about the toys you had growing up,
Dolls in particular,
Or the flesh tone color crayon.
If you're white,
Did you ever really think about that?
About what that meant?
Or did you not notice?
Think about the layout of the grocery store.
Does it have an ethnic section?
And what does that make everything else?
Think about the products you buy for your hair and your skin,
The availability of finding products that work for you.
Have these ever crossed your mind?
Now take a moment to come back to your breath,
To ground yourself.
How does this feel in your body?
What thoughts or emotions does this bring up?
Now think about your social circles,
Your workplaces,
Medical centers,
Schools,
The community at large.
What does it look like?
How would you describe it?
How would you describe the people in it?
If they are mostly white spaces,
Ask yourself why that is.
And notice the thoughts that arise here.
Your first why was probably what white supremacy culture wants you to believe.
Keep asking yourself why and challenge your response until you get to a place beyond this,
Until you get to a place of truth.
Now think about how whiteness,
How white colonialism creates and upholds a system designed to do exactly this.
Why are there so many white spaces?
What does it accomplish?
Who does it benefit?
How does it protect its own system?
Sit on this.
Now come back to your breath.
What feelings does this bring up for you?
What thought patterns keep repeating themselves?
Do you feel any kind of denial,
Guilt,
Defensiveness?
Just allow those feelings to be without reacting to them or without feeling the need to justify them.
Now think about what impact this has.
What harm does this create?
Allow yourself to reflect on this,
To see the truth of this.
Without any judgement in this moment,
This is where we are and we can only start from where we are.
So,
How can we do better?
We start within ourselves,
Right here,
With a willingness to unearth and examine our beliefs,
Our thoughts,
And our actions.
We must know the truth.
We must see things as they really are,
If we have any hope of changing how it is.
To wrap up this meditation,
Ask yourself what you can do today,
This week,
This month,
To dismantle white supremacy.
What can you do in your own life,
Day after day,
To unearth whiteness?
You won't have all the answers here and I encourage you to continue the work of unlearning and relearning.
Seek out BIPOC voices on social media,
In books,
Movies,
And television,
In other meditations and yoga spaces.
Make it a conscious effort to create not white only spaces.
Come back to this meditation as you deepen your awareness and knowledge to reflect on how whiteness shows up in your life and how you can live differently.
Bring this work into the community,
Into your social circles,
And continue the conversation to uproot white supremacy from the inside.
Thank you for joining me today.
And again,
Thank yourself for showing up and being willing to face your whiteness and disrupt the status quo.
