My Transformative Affinity Experience

As I’ve been creating Liberation 101, I’ve reflected on my past experiences as a part of the course creation process. Ironically (or not), the place I found my deepest and most expansive transformation as an ally was in a yoga teacher training - in a white anti-racist cohort of that YTT to be exact. A space where 15 white yoga teachers from around the world gathered weekly together to learn and go on an allyship journey tied to yoga.

In 2021 I decided, based on a friend’s share that she had enrolled, to enroll in Susanna Barkataki of Ignite Yoga’s 300 hour Yoga Teacher Training. It was clearly deep in the pandemic times, so the only way to safely take a 300 hour YTT was virtually. Also, Susanna was a teacher I was already in relationship with - this same friend started a book club late in 2020 about Susanna’s book, Embrace Yoga’s Roots (which I highly recommend for decolonizing your yoga practice)*. I had joined the book club, and found it really inspiring. 

So, saying yes to this YTT felt like such right timing.  (Prior to that I had been searching for very asana heavy, all white-led 300 hrs). After being reactivated into social justice causes heavily during the summer of 2020, this felt like an actionable step towards my own allyship and liberation. That teacher training, more specifically that white anti-racist cohort called “Bits of Fairy Dust” changed my life. I’m not exaggerating. 

Our cohort leader is a white trans man, a deeply committed yoga and Buddhist teacher and someone that gained our group’s respect quickly. Our cohort was 15 deep - all white, a variety of gender identities and sexual orientations, from the US, Canada, the UK, France, and Sweden/Germany, from varying socioeconomic backgrounds, etc. We were diverse in many ways and shared whiteness and a desire to be allies and anti-racists. The space was made from day 1 to be brave and trauma-informed, yet also not a space where white fragility could flourish. Our leader and fellow members would call us in when we were not showing up in the ways we agreed to. We were able to share our experience (positive and challenging), our thoughts on topics, and exchange ideas. It was a place to not always say the “right” thing, and to know you’d be held and held accountable. This was all in the context of yoga, of course, and also recognizing that yoga happens inside of societies and life. The books we read were not all directly or apparently tied to “yoga” as a topic, but were anti-racist and anti-colonial. We were constantly asking ourselves where ideas or patterns of thought, speech, behavior were coming from and why. My heart and mind were opened not only by the content I learned from Susanna and the other teachers and trainers, or the books and lectures, but from my cohort mates all living their lives around the globe. 

My inspiration for a white, anti-racist cohort draws on this experience I had in 2021. That experience also taught me that intimacy with people can come virtually - it is possible. If your hearts and minds are open, connection can be built - deeply and authentically. My allyship and liberation practices grew so much in that year and the years since because of that cohort.

My hope is that Liberation 101 can hold that magic for you. This first cohort (Spring 2025) will be less of a cohort model like Bits of Fiary Dust and more individual learning, knowing others are walking the same path at the same time. My hope is that the second cohort will have enough attendees (Fall 2025) that we can do a more traditional cohort model with sharing and connecting - via Zoom and/or a shared chat feature.

I’d be honored to go on this journey with you. Please reach out with any questions about this course. May 12 is Day 1 of Spring 2025 cohort.

Also, be on the lookout for a Yoga Module Add-On to Liberation 101 coming Summer 2025 for all the yoga practitioners and teachers looking to walk an allyship journey in their yoga practice. If you have any specific or burning questions/topics you want covered, too, message me.

*Note, Susanna just came out with a new book as of April 2025, which is on my list to read soon:).