Radha Yoga in Los Angeles held a Black History Month Celebration to center down with self and honor the ancestors. Radha Yoga is a wellness center right in the community, offering affordable yoga classes to anyone interested in the art. I recently found out about them and I knew I just had to be a part of their latest event. It began with a wonderful session of Kemetic Yoga lead by certified yogi Lauren Ross of Village Visions. Before the session began, she asked who had ever done Kemetic yoga before. Out of the group, only two women had practiced this method and they both mentioned how very grounding it was. This rang true for me during and even after the session. Every moment is thoughtful, it centers on the breath, connecting you to your surroundings and inner self. 

Inside the Black History Month Celebration + Yoga

I especially appreciated how Lauren began the session saying Kemetic Yoga is a practice of restorative justice ― to bring back aspects of Black culture. It is a Black yogic practice from Egypt or rather ancient Kemet. How our instructor led the session was transformative in itself, linking all of our shared heritage to our body movements. The mantras and historical pieces she spoke about made the session all the more worthwhile. 

Kemetic yoga is a meditative, slow and passive practice, emphasizing the four point breathing method. Through geometric progression and intentional breath control, we move and circulate life force, strengthen the respiratory system, activate the circulatory, parasympathetic nervous system, thyroid and glandular system.

― Radha Yoga

The Kemetic Yoga Session

The session was 1 hour and 30 minutes long. Every movement was balanced throughout, moving from lighter to more slow and intense movements. Overall, nothing was too straining which I found myself loving as someone new to yoga. Throughout the session, I felt so connected to the practice. What draws me to yoga is connecting movements to breath for stress relief and peace of mind. As I did Kemetic Yoga for the first time, I felt so much connection to my breath and to my body. I felt the restorative nature of the practice as Lauren explained because we were making an effort to be present with ourselves through the slow purposeful poses as well as connecting the ancient sages who created the style and our own ancestors. Through our breathing, we made space to invoke our ancestors and thank them for guiding and protecting us. 

Wellness + Yogic Resources

Another facet to love was how much Afrocentricity naturally infused the yoga, the vegan Carribean food, and the wellness and healing workshop facilitated by Yoga Psychotherapist Kala Lacy of The Well. I’m grateful that I was able to participate in what felt like a genuine community circle created by all of us, young and older people who attended. There was an amazing sense of circulation throughout the whole event because not only was I and everyone else in the studio receiving a phenomenal yoga experience, we were all supporting Black businesses and each other. We also brought books to offer up and swap too!

After this celebration, Kemetic Yoga will definitely be a style I’ll infuse into my practice in the future. Additionally, Radha Yoga will be seeing more of my face. If you are curious about Kemetic Yoga because this blog post was only the tip of the iceberg, catch more insights on the practice at kemeticyoga.com. Be sure to also check out more community-driven events and workshops with Radha Yoga! If you are interested in taking a class they have a detailed schedule of weekly classes. 

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Follow Kala Lacy Founder of The Well: Website | Instagram | Facebook

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Best,

Kai