During the ’80s and early ’90s, the inner city of southeast San Diego was a violent place to grow up. Families were hesitant about letting their children play outside, and afterschool youth programs were few in number. It was during this time that Tanisha Neely was introduced to yoga by a school gym teacher and began practicing in her free time inside of her family’s tiny apartment.
“I didn’t even have the luxury of a yoga mat until my early 20s, but I always found a way. I wasn’t fully aware at the time of how much the practice helped me cope with the chronic stress of living in poverty and violence in my home, school and community. I am now,” said Neely.
Yoga is a group of physical, mental and spiritual practices that originated in ancient India. Despite the fact that it may not burn as many calories as aerobics or weight lifting, it has many health benefits, including the reduction of sports-related injuries, an improvement in balance for seniors at risk for falls and help managing mood disorders like depression or aggression.
Today, Neely is an IU School of Medicine graduate with a passion for sharing yoga with the Black community in Indianapolis. When talking to friends and acquaintances about that passion, certain issues typically come up, including the idea of yoga being exclusively for middle-class white women.
“There is a lack of Black bodies of all shapes, sizes and genders being represented in mainstream yoga media and classrooms. As a Black woman with some meat on my bones, being the only one or two in the class has been the norm for me,” Neely said. “American culture has highly feminized yoga as a means of marketing to middle-class white women, when in fact, yoga can be quite powerful, dynamic and masculine. I’ve seen men who practice yoga with excellent physiques that would be hard to obtain working exclusively with weights.”
Neely is the founder of RESILIENT Yoga Community Programs, where she works in community settings with people whom she feels might not have an opportunity to experience the practice otherwise. As a yoga instructor, Neely has taught students as young as 3 and as old as 74. She wants RESILIENT Yoga to be a place where people of all body types feel welcome.
“Yoga can be practiced by people of all ages and abilities,” she said. “Yoga meets you where you are and works to create strength, balance, flexibility and endurance over time. Yoga teaches us that our bodies are all beautiful instruments and that we all embody the divine element. Acceptance and compassion for ourselves is essential. We must love our body before we can heal it.”
Neely says that because yoga is a holistic health practice, it sees no division between a healthy body, mind or spirit. In addition to the physical benefits, practicing yoga has personally helped Neely on an emotional and spiritual level.
“I experienced my first panic attack in 2010 on a return flight from England and was diagnosed with severe Generalized Anxiety Disorder in 2011. The experience was debilitating, and Western medicine did very little to help me recover or regain my balance and sense of well-being,” she said. “Returning to a regular yoga practice and expanding my understanding of pranayama (breath control) was essential to my recovery.
“While yoga has some roots in Hindu, it is not a religion. Yoga is a holistic health practice that acknowledges the spiritual element in all living beings. As a Christian, yoga is a practice that deeply supports my faith. Like prayer, yoga is not exclusive to any particular spiritual path; it is simply a tool that strengthens it.”
RESILIENT Yoga offers community classes at a variety of locations around Indianapolis. A complete schedule can be found by following RESILIENT Yoga on social media and following their events on Facebook at facebook.com/resilientyogaindy.
