July is Minority Mental Health Month and we are modeling a self-care practice to ensure we start our days with clear intentions and a moment of movement.
To honor our health and wellness, our team decided to extend our internal team's yoga sessions to our entire network in the spirit of ubuntu (I am because we are. We are, therefore I am.) for the month of July.
Yoga sessions are open to all of our members and supporters. Kindly rise and join us for 40 minutes of Kemetic Yoga (virtually) on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
from 6:00am - 6:40am ET/10:00am - 10:40 am GMT throughout July.
Our health is our wealth!
Interested? Register here!
We are presently shifting into week 3 of our Kemetic Yoga (Smai Tawi) rising practice!
Photo Credit: Nubian Unity Foundation
You do not need previous yoga experience to join us each day.
We start all of our sessions promptly with a passage from Nyansasem, A Calendar of Daily Revolutionary Thoughts. Support the author Baba M. K. B. Baruti and invest in your own personal copy to continue this centering practice every day with family/friends. From here we shift into seated breath work to clear and center our minds.
Many of us do not breathe properly and it is crucial to enhance the flow of energy. Kemetic breath work goes beyond the physical postures. Smai Tawi/Kemetic Yoga often has a much greater emphasis on breath work and meditation. The Kemetic breath involves inhaling energy up the spine to the third eye center, holding the breath for a few seconds, exhaling the energy down the body to the tips of the toes, and then holding again for a few seconds. This synchronized breathing practice balances the mind and deepens the energetic experience in Kemetic yoga.
We are utilizing the the Note To Self yoga series done by the artist Jah9. The Note to Self (NTS) Challenge is a comprehensive self-development program that she created to guide individuals through a transformative journey of self-discovery, self-love, and self-governance. The program includes a series of reflective exercises, health and wellness tools, guided meditations, yoga sequences, and personalized insights designed to foster holistic well-being. And as we honor her creative process, time, and energy, our network is using it to move us forward on a journey of mindfulness.
Black Sustainability Family's Practice:
Week 1 - FOCUS: Centering ourselves and breathing, easing into this work.
Kemetic Breathwork. Sesh pose. Pyramid pose.
Breath work + Sesh Pose
One of the foundational postures in Kemetic yoga is the Sesh pose which has several benefits to the body including:
assisting with grounding the energy,
opening the body, hips, lower back, toes, and
the bottom of the feet (activating reflexology of the feet)
Background: The origin of the word "sesh" comes from the scribes of ancient Kemet/KMT, present day Egypt. The scribes wrote the MEDU NETER (hieroglyphics) and interpreted the hieroglyphs within their society. The scribes of ancient Kemet would sit in this pose for hours in order to optimize their mental abilities and representing creation as they used the MEDU NETER to create a connection between divine words and the energy carried. By deepening our practice of the Sesh pose we are honoring the sacred poses of our ancestors and wise scribes.
Real Talk: Week 1 - Our toes were on fire!!! AND the power of persistence paid off because by Friday some of us could hold the pose effectively!!
Week 2 - FOCUS: Assurance and confidence in challenging situations.
Hip openers move ka (life force) through the pelvis, which holds negative emotions and stress, such as guilt, fear and sadness. Opening the hips creates space for the birth of new ideas, and opens us physically, spiritually, and creatively. The poses this week represent a feeling of safety and security that allows a positive sense of pride about who we really are. Proper movement and mastery of the pose may also help relieve lower back pain by stretching the muscles and tendons around the spine.
Our poses also consisted of Nefertem/Lotus pose and Pigeon Pose/forgot the Kemetic term, an asymmetrical backbend and a half split, with the back leg bent, and with both your hands reaching over and back to grasp hold of your foot.
We also did Tekken pose, Pose of Ausar, pose of Min and the pose of Selket this week.
Real Talk: Week 2 - For most of us this was a bit too advanced, and yet we all persisted and held the pose we felt most comfortable. We will keep pushing forward!! Join us for a challenge!
Week 3: Standing Poses - This week has truly engaged our core with Warrior poses (1 and 2) and Mountain pose.
Warrior Pose 1 and 2 benefits:
Arms and Shoulders
Lower Back
Middle Back
Gluteus
Hamstrings
Chest
Hips
Hips-External
Knees
Psoas
Quadriceps
As we shift into the final Week 4, we invite others to start their day with collective movement. This sequence of poses has created a sense of power and strength each day as true warriors.
Join us for the final Week of Yoga for Black sustainability!
Week 4: Day 1 was rescheduled to Tuesday July 28 at 6:00am ET...apologies family!
Week 4: Twists & forward folds are the focus - stretching out of our comfort zone (literally)!!! Learning how to trust our bodies to guide us past our perceived limits. We are limitless!!!
Resources:
Nyansasem Volume 1 - Revolutionary Daily Thoughts
Nyansasem Volume 2 - Nyansasem: A Calendar of Revolutionary Daily Thoughts, Volume 2
Egyptian Yoga by Muata Ashby
Egyptian Yoga: Posture of the God and Goddesses by Dr. Muata Ashby and Dr. Karen "Dja" Ashby
Initiation into Egyptian Yoga and Neterian Spirituality by Sebai Dr. Muata Ashby
Yirser Ra Hotep Founder & Master Yoga Instructor - is a master instructor of Yoga and the creator of the YogaSkills Method. He is the most senior instructor of Kemetic Yoga in the United States, with over 45 years of experience practicing and teaching. Yirser was involved with the original research and documentation of Kemetic Yoga (Ancient Egyptian or African Yoga), along with master instructor Dr. Asar Ha-pi in the 1970’s.
Meditation: https://thesevenworlds.wordpress.com/2013/09/23/metu-neter-maat-11-laws/