002. Dismantling white supremacy & redistributing power in yoga spaces

In Episode 2, Amber Karnes interviews Kelley Palmer, writer, yoga teacher, wellness advocate, and community organizer. In this episode:

• Kelley introduces herself, talks about how she came to yoga, and explains why social justice has been part of her practice from the beginning


• How Kelley began teaching yoga and how that was informed by the way anti-blackness shows up in wellness


• How yoga spaces often mirror the harm that exists in society for folks with marginalized identities


• The responsibility of studio owners when it comes to social justice and dismantling white supremacy, fatphobia, ableism, homophobia, etc.


• How we miss the barriers that prevent marginalized folks feeling welcome in a space (especially when that yoga space feels like a “safe space” to some of us)


• How the conditioning of whiteness keeps us stuck from taking action toward justice


• Practical ways that folks can redistribute resources or power within our yoga spaces


• Taking the transactional nature out of our relationships


• Ways to notice (and dismantle) gatekeeping practices in your yoga spaces


• Shifting our mindset from a lens of individualism and fear to a focus on the collective and community care


• Kelley’s upcoming course: Race & Equity in Yoga: Disruption As a Practice will be a space for self-inquiry and unpacking our responsibilities toward race equity, yoga, social justice, and more

Today’s inquiry

Each week we’ll leave you with a powerful question. We encourage you to sit in inquiry with this question, write about it, discuss it with another community member on this path. Today, Kelley poses a 2-part question:

When you think about working toward equity, justice, and liberation, what are you willing to release? What are the obstacles you perceive to releasing those things?

Connect with kelley:

• kelley nicole palmer: Website | Instagram