Mindfield333
Superstar
Yes. That shyt is pretty big... but a real type big lol. That’s probably the first thing I saw then my boy was like “I think that’s the art chick” then I had to go talk to her
The Official Charlotte, NC Discussion Thread
- Thread starter Towlie
- Start date
Bryan Danielson
Jmare007 x Bryan Danielson x JLova = King Ghidorah
This homecoming was something else!
REdefinition
Superstar
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/charlottefive/article236655138.html
These black-owned Charlotte yoga studios take the practice to the next level
By Emiene Wright
October 25, 2019 04:52 PM, Updated October 25, 2019 05:29 PM
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Kiesha Battles, founder of I Am Yoga and director at Charlotte Family Yoga Center in Concord, has a diverse following.
From Bikram to beer yoga, and Ashtanga to yoga with baby goats, the options are broad for students ready to move beyond the basic Westernized poses, breath and meditation promoted in American yoga classes. The field is wide, but some would rather go deep. Many intermediate or advanced yoga students are choosing certification-level studies instead — and not necessarily to become instructors. Some feel guided to teach. Others hope to deepen their own understanding.
Two Charlotte studios, both owned by black women, are offering courses to facilitate those kinds of learning in radically different spaces from mainstream yoga studios. Eternity Philops’ Soul Liberation Yoga, on the east side, is black-centered and queer-affirming. I Am Yoga, founded by Kiesha Battles, has a primarily African-American following that is broadly diverse in age, income level and physical condition on the west side. These black-owned yoga spaces are a vital resource for a number of reasons.
“Mainstream yoga spaces can be so whitewashed, no pun intended, that black students often experience microaggressions there,” Philops said. “Yoga is supposed to be healing. At a black-owned studio, there’s less of a chance of that. It’s also easier to learn from a teacher who looks like you and understands your body and your struggles.”
Yoga spaces are often a microcosm of the society in which they exist, reflecting the same commonly held assumptions and prejudices. The majority of yoga instructors are white women who often are uninformed about race relations, and standard yoga teacher training does not cover ways to avoid re-traumatizing students coping with systemic oppression.
Yoga: More than a fad
This is why Battles’ teacher trainings focus on personal transformation first. Battles built her reputation on making yoga accessible to all bodies at all levels. The founder of I Am Yoga and yoga director at Charlotte Family Yoga Center in Concord has been instructing for 20 years and has sought half a dozen specializations to serve the 400 students she sees weekly.
“It’s important to everyone to understand the healing aspects of yoga versus just doing an activity because it’s a fad,” Battles said. “I’m a knowledge crafter, I want to understand everything about yoga so I can point people in the right direction.”
.jpeg)
Keisha Battles built her reputation on making yoga accessible to all bodies at almost every level of capability. Courtesy of Keisha Battles
Battles is trained in traditional Hatha yoga, yoga for children, prenatal yoga, yoga for larger bodies, for practitioners battling eating disorders, and yoga for people living with mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolarism. She has hosted classes in various studio spaces in Charlotte since 2011, and in 2016 expanded to certifying yoga instructors.
Candace Jennings was her first yoga teacher trainee. Jennings had undergone several surgeries for herniations on her spinal cord when she began taking classes under Battles at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church.
“I felt safe and supported and encouraged,” Jennings said. In Battles’ classes, “we encouraged each other and shared laughter. It’s a fun place, real heartfelt place, where you’re learning together, breathing together and cheering each other on.”
So she asked Battles to train her to be an instructor. Battles also partnered with the Stratford-Richardson branch of the YMCA to train yoga instructors on Charlotte’s West side. She graduated the first YMCA group in 2018, and the second cohort in June 2019.
“Teacher training programs are not just for people who want to be yoga teachers,” Jennings emphasized. “We all share yoga differently; some just want to take their studies deeper to understand their own practice.”
Hatha, which focuses on breath and movement, is Battles’ certifying form of yoga, but she exposes teachers in training to five other paths for a holistic view of yoga systems: mantra yoga that uses repetition of a phrase or affirmation, jnana yoga which is based in study, and raja, karma and kriya yoga. Students study the poses (asanas), breathing, meditation — plus community service, ethics, philosophy and spiritual development.
“It’s become a melting pot experience,” Battles said. “I want to point everyone to the yoga that best serves their needs and lifestyles.”
‘Poses are the pinky toe on the body of yoga’
Philops, another of Battles’ instructor trainees, has been leading Soul Liberation Yoga since 2017. This year, she expanded her practice beyond classes and weekend workshops to include yoga student certification. Unlike Battles’ program, Philops is specifically aiming at people who aren’t looking to teach but to learn.
“The purpose is to help people gain a deeper understanding of yoga beyond the asanas,” Philops said. “Most yoga systems don’t even include movements and poses, but it’s what the West has grabbed ahold of to tell people, ‘This is yoga.’ Poses are the pinky toe on the body of yoga.”
Because black students often face microaggressions in mainstream yoga spaces, “It’s easier to learn from a teacher who looks like you and understands your body and your struggles,” Eternity Philops said. Courtesy of Eternity Philops
Philops’ curriculum focuses on what she calls the head of the body: self awareness, self realization and, depending on the student’s beliefs, connection to a higher spirituality. She also teaches the philosophies, history and ethics of yoga. And because the classes are aimed at enrichment rather than for those who want to teach, they are substantially less expensive than the former, which can run into the thousands of dollars.
“This is sharing knowledge in order to build more informed students,” Philops said. “You shouldn’t have to get teacher certified just to access these higher levels of information.”
She is also in the midst of compiling The Black Yoga Magic Directory, an international database of black yoga teachers and classes slated to go live in January. Free to subscribers, it will include a newsletter, features and videos.
Battles can be reached at www.keishabattles.com. Information on Philops’ classes is accessible at MySoulLiberation.com.
These black-owned Charlotte yoga studios take the practice to the next level
By Emiene Wright
October 25, 2019 04:52 PM, Updated October 25, 2019 05:29 PM
Kiesha Battles, founder of I Am Yoga and director at Charlotte Family Yoga Center in Concord, has a diverse following.
From Bikram to beer yoga, and Ashtanga to yoga with baby goats, the options are broad for students ready to move beyond the basic Westernized poses, breath and meditation promoted in American yoga classes. The field is wide, but some would rather go deep. Many intermediate or advanced yoga students are choosing certification-level studies instead — and not necessarily to become instructors. Some feel guided to teach. Others hope to deepen their own understanding.
Two Charlotte studios, both owned by black women, are offering courses to facilitate those kinds of learning in radically different spaces from mainstream yoga studios. Eternity Philops’ Soul Liberation Yoga, on the east side, is black-centered and queer-affirming. I Am Yoga, founded by Kiesha Battles, has a primarily African-American following that is broadly diverse in age, income level and physical condition on the west side. These black-owned yoga spaces are a vital resource for a number of reasons.
“Mainstream yoga spaces can be so whitewashed, no pun intended, that black students often experience microaggressions there,” Philops said. “Yoga is supposed to be healing. At a black-owned studio, there’s less of a chance of that. It’s also easier to learn from a teacher who looks like you and understands your body and your struggles.”
Yoga spaces are often a microcosm of the society in which they exist, reflecting the same commonly held assumptions and prejudices. The majority of yoga instructors are white women who often are uninformed about race relations, and standard yoga teacher training does not cover ways to avoid re-traumatizing students coping with systemic oppression.
Yoga: More than a fad
This is why Battles’ teacher trainings focus on personal transformation first. Battles built her reputation on making yoga accessible to all bodies at all levels. The founder of I Am Yoga and yoga director at Charlotte Family Yoga Center in Concord has been instructing for 20 years and has sought half a dozen specializations to serve the 400 students she sees weekly.
“It’s important to everyone to understand the healing aspects of yoga versus just doing an activity because it’s a fad,” Battles said. “I’m a knowledge crafter, I want to understand everything about yoga so I can point people in the right direction.”
Keisha Battles built her reputation on making yoga accessible to all bodies at almost every level of capability. Courtesy of Keisha Battles
Battles is trained in traditional Hatha yoga, yoga for children, prenatal yoga, yoga for larger bodies, for practitioners battling eating disorders, and yoga for people living with mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolarism. She has hosted classes in various studio spaces in Charlotte since 2011, and in 2016 expanded to certifying yoga instructors.
Candace Jennings was her first yoga teacher trainee. Jennings had undergone several surgeries for herniations on her spinal cord when she began taking classes under Battles at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church.
“I felt safe and supported and encouraged,” Jennings said. In Battles’ classes, “we encouraged each other and shared laughter. It’s a fun place, real heartfelt place, where you’re learning together, breathing together and cheering each other on.”
So she asked Battles to train her to be an instructor. Battles also partnered with the Stratford-Richardson branch of the YMCA to train yoga instructors on Charlotte’s West side. She graduated the first YMCA group in 2018, and the second cohort in June 2019.
“Teacher training programs are not just for people who want to be yoga teachers,” Jennings emphasized. “We all share yoga differently; some just want to take their studies deeper to understand their own practice.”
Hatha, which focuses on breath and movement, is Battles’ certifying form of yoga, but she exposes teachers in training to five other paths for a holistic view of yoga systems: mantra yoga that uses repetition of a phrase or affirmation, jnana yoga which is based in study, and raja, karma and kriya yoga. Students study the poses (asanas), breathing, meditation — plus community service, ethics, philosophy and spiritual development.
“It’s become a melting pot experience,” Battles said. “I want to point everyone to the yoga that best serves their needs and lifestyles.”
‘Poses are the pinky toe on the body of yoga’
Philops, another of Battles’ instructor trainees, has been leading Soul Liberation Yoga since 2017. This year, she expanded her practice beyond classes and weekend workshops to include yoga student certification. Unlike Battles’ program, Philops is specifically aiming at people who aren’t looking to teach but to learn.
“The purpose is to help people gain a deeper understanding of yoga beyond the asanas,” Philops said. “Most yoga systems don’t even include movements and poses, but it’s what the West has grabbed ahold of to tell people, ‘This is yoga.’ Poses are the pinky toe on the body of yoga.”
Because black students often face microaggressions in mainstream yoga spaces, “It’s easier to learn from a teacher who looks like you and understands your body and your struggles,” Eternity Philops said. Courtesy of Eternity Philops
Philops’ curriculum focuses on what she calls the head of the body: self awareness, self realization and, depending on the student’s beliefs, connection to a higher spirituality. She also teaches the philosophies, history and ethics of yoga. And because the classes are aimed at enrichment rather than for those who want to teach, they are substantially less expensive than the former, which can run into the thousands of dollars.
“This is sharing knowledge in order to build more informed students,” Philops said. “You shouldn’t have to get teacher certified just to access these higher levels of information.”
She is also in the midst of compiling The Black Yoga Magic Directory, an international database of black yoga teachers and classes slated to go live in January. Free to subscribers, it will include a newsletter, features and videos.
Battles can be reached at www.keishabattles.com. Information on Philops’ classes is accessible at MySoulLiberation.com.
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/charlottefive/c5-people/article236119038.html
How Charlotte’s new yoga-centric community space is offering healing from race-based trauma
By Melissa Oyler
October 22, 2018 01:01 AM, Updated October 13, 2019 02:16 PM
Photo by Alex Cason Bottom row, from left: Christy Lee, Tiya Maynard, Kelley Carboni-Woods. Top row, from left: Tanqueray Edwards, Jasmine Hines. Not pictured: Setarra DeVeaux Robinson
What happens when a group of six black women who are leaders in the community get together over a vegan dinner once a month?
Besides conversation and laughter, they get the opportunity to experience a safe space that provides healing energy, friendship and the magic of community. And now, they are ready to share that with others.
After more than a year of such gatherings and meticulous planning, these women recently launched a nonprofit called Sanctuary In The City.
Photo by Alex Cason<br /> Kelley Carboni-Woods, Christy Lee and Tiya Maynard Rod Zimmerman
Sanctuary intends to create a place for people of color to celebrate wellness and experience healing with pop-up experiences, to start. Among its offerings will be yoga, health and wellness workshops, education classes focused on financial and housing planning and classes intended to better inform voters.
Ultimately, Sanctuary in the City is intended to begin the healing process of trauma experienced by racial minorities. It will be available to all women and men of color and will include child-care options.
Studies have shown restorative yoga can be instrumental in healing race-based traumatic stress, but part of that healing means providing a space that is not triggering to those who have experienced it.
“This will be a true community space,” said Sanctuary group member Jasmine Hines. “We are centering our issues to those that are important to people of color.”
“People are saying ‘I want to be a part of this. Even if I only have $10,’” said member Christy Lee.
Photo by Alex Cason<br /> Rod Zimmerman
On a recent Friday, dining on black bean tacos and seasoned vegetables at Kelley Carboni-Woods’ home were Hines, Lee, Tiya Caniel and Tanqueray Edwards — group member Setarra DeVeaux Robinson was unable to attend that session. After eating, the women circled around the table to set their intentions for the evening just as a teacher might in a yoga class.
The conversation then turned to location possibilities for their first pop-up event and a permanent space. As they pored over notes and videos of available real estate, a big part of the conversation touched on the importance of good energy and how it can facilitate healing.
Accessibility is also important, Lee explained. To fulfill the group’s mission, it’s necessary for people to be able to arrive via public transportation and have plenty of places to park.
Photo by Alex Cason<br /> Jasmine Hines
How yoga heals
The practice of yoga drives this group. Five of its six members teach yoga in Charlotte and surrounding areas.
Their research about healing using yoga from race-based trauma centers largely on studies by researcher, educator and author Joy Degruy and psychologist and yoga therapist Gail Parker. “My concern is that if we are unaware that race-based stress exists, then yoga classes may run the risk of re-traumatizing people of color and keep them from deriving the maximum benefits of the practice,” Parker told Wanderlust writer Helen Avery for an article about yoga and healing.
“It’s not an overnight concept,” Lee said. “What we are doing is creating a space so people can come. This is what we believe will help. We are being very conscious that this will not be a triggering space.”
Part of keeping this space safe means keeping it specifically for minorities. This may be difficult for white people to understand, who may have spent their lives believing that they should feel included in everything, said Carboni-Woods. “We need to run that white noise,” she said, referencing a desire to engage an advocate group by the same name.
White Noise Collective states on their web site that they are working toward a world free of white supremacy, in part by encouraging those who have experienced privilege to be committed to social justice movements. The group hosts workshops for those who have been racially oppressed or who have experienced white privilege on topics including: racial justice, leadership (when to step up vs. when to step back), care and respect for self and others. Carboni-Woods said they also volunteer to show up to events hosted by minorities in order to help out where needed and also to do things like man the door — to explain to other white people why their attendance may not be welcome, as it may be triggering to some.
“What’s happening there is private and sacred,” she said. “That’s part of what black and brown people are recovering from — there has not been a time that white people didn’t have access to all the things that we had.”
“The reality is, we don’t have to explain ourselves,” Lee said. “We put in our mission that we are here to help people of color.”
Photo by Alex Cason<br />Tanqueray Edwards
The group’s first pop-up event, tentatively scheduled for November, will include a restorative yoga session specifically for people of color. It will include self-care and breath work. “We’ll make it extra juicy with bolsters and sandbags and eye pillows,” Carboni-Woods said.
And in the meantime, they’ll continue to meet over dinner, more frequently as their permanent space becomes closer and closer to reality.
“I woke up this morning thinking about how this could change somebody’s life,” Edwards said. “This is what’s on my heart. To be doing it with this group, I’m grateful for this.”
Check out the website and subscribe to Sanctuary’s newsletter for event updates.
How Charlotte’s new yoga-centric community space is offering healing from race-based trauma
By Melissa Oyler
October 22, 2018 01:01 AM, Updated October 13, 2019 02:16 PM
Photo by Alex Cason Bottom row, from left: Christy Lee, Tiya Maynard, Kelley Carboni-Woods. Top row, from left: Tanqueray Edwards, Jasmine Hines. Not pictured: Setarra DeVeaux Robinson
What happens when a group of six black women who are leaders in the community get together over a vegan dinner once a month?
Besides conversation and laughter, they get the opportunity to experience a safe space that provides healing energy, friendship and the magic of community. And now, they are ready to share that with others.
After more than a year of such gatherings and meticulous planning, these women recently launched a nonprofit called Sanctuary In The City.
Photo by Alex Cason<br /> Kelley Carboni-Woods, Christy Lee and Tiya Maynard Rod Zimmerman
Sanctuary intends to create a place for people of color to celebrate wellness and experience healing with pop-up experiences, to start. Among its offerings will be yoga, health and wellness workshops, education classes focused on financial and housing planning and classes intended to better inform voters.
Ultimately, Sanctuary in the City is intended to begin the healing process of trauma experienced by racial minorities. It will be available to all women and men of color and will include child-care options.
Studies have shown restorative yoga can be instrumental in healing race-based traumatic stress, but part of that healing means providing a space that is not triggering to those who have experienced it.
“This will be a true community space,” said Sanctuary group member Jasmine Hines. “We are centering our issues to those that are important to people of color.”
“People are saying ‘I want to be a part of this. Even if I only have $10,’” said member Christy Lee.
Photo by Alex Cason<br /> Rod Zimmerman
On a recent Friday, dining on black bean tacos and seasoned vegetables at Kelley Carboni-Woods’ home were Hines, Lee, Tiya Caniel and Tanqueray Edwards — group member Setarra DeVeaux Robinson was unable to attend that session. After eating, the women circled around the table to set their intentions for the evening just as a teacher might in a yoga class.
The conversation then turned to location possibilities for their first pop-up event and a permanent space. As they pored over notes and videos of available real estate, a big part of the conversation touched on the importance of good energy and how it can facilitate healing.
Accessibility is also important, Lee explained. To fulfill the group’s mission, it’s necessary for people to be able to arrive via public transportation and have plenty of places to park.
Photo by Alex Cason<br /> Jasmine Hines
How yoga heals
The practice of yoga drives this group. Five of its six members teach yoga in Charlotte and surrounding areas.
Their research about healing using yoga from race-based trauma centers largely on studies by researcher, educator and author Joy Degruy and psychologist and yoga therapist Gail Parker. “My concern is that if we are unaware that race-based stress exists, then yoga classes may run the risk of re-traumatizing people of color and keep them from deriving the maximum benefits of the practice,” Parker told Wanderlust writer Helen Avery for an article about yoga and healing.
“It’s not an overnight concept,” Lee said. “What we are doing is creating a space so people can come. This is what we believe will help. We are being very conscious that this will not be a triggering space.”
Part of keeping this space safe means keeping it specifically for minorities. This may be difficult for white people to understand, who may have spent their lives believing that they should feel included in everything, said Carboni-Woods. “We need to run that white noise,” she said, referencing a desire to engage an advocate group by the same name.
White Noise Collective states on their web site that they are working toward a world free of white supremacy, in part by encouraging those who have experienced privilege to be committed to social justice movements. The group hosts workshops for those who have been racially oppressed or who have experienced white privilege on topics including: racial justice, leadership (when to step up vs. when to step back), care and respect for self and others. Carboni-Woods said they also volunteer to show up to events hosted by minorities in order to help out where needed and also to do things like man the door — to explain to other white people why their attendance may not be welcome, as it may be triggering to some.
“What’s happening there is private and sacred,” she said. “That’s part of what black and brown people are recovering from — there has not been a time that white people didn’t have access to all the things that we had.”
“The reality is, we don’t have to explain ourselves,” Lee said. “We put in our mission that we are here to help people of color.”
Photo by Alex Cason<br />Tanqueray Edwards
The group’s first pop-up event, tentatively scheduled for November, will include a restorative yoga session specifically for people of color. It will include self-care and breath work. “We’ll make it extra juicy with bolsters and sandbags and eye pillows,” Carboni-Woods said.
And in the meantime, they’ll continue to meet over dinner, more frequently as their permanent space becomes closer and closer to reality.
“I woke up this morning thinking about how this could change somebody’s life,” Edwards said. “This is what’s on my heart. To be doing it with this group, I’m grateful for this.”
Check out the website and subscribe to Sanctuary’s newsletter for event updates.
newworldafro
DeeperThanRapBiggerThanHH
So now that the blue line extends north into UNC Charlotte.
Next up: 26 mile Silver Line light rail from Belmont to Airport to Dowtown to Matthews by 2030
If you got $8 billion available.
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article236528188.html
Next up: 26 mile Silver Line light rail from Belmont to Airport to Dowtown to Matthews by 2030
If you got $8 billion available.
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article236528188.html
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So now that the blue line extends north into UNC Charlotte.
Next up: 26 mile Silver Line light rail from Gastonia to Airport to Dowtown to Matthews
If you got 8 billion available.
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article236528188.html
Good luck with that.
AVXL
Laughing at you n*ggaz like “ha ha ha”
My alma mater
I miss the 336
Pullin hoes at the 4 Seasons Mall
Gettin money off E Market
An Atlanta nikka used to stay off MLK
The Cookout off Battleground next to campus
Shoutout to my Aggies, A&T is lit asf @Real @Old Scott Hall
newworldafro
DeeperThanRapBiggerThanHH
Airport to Dowtown is only 7 miles would probably be first phase and an easy sell.
Bryan Danielson
Jmare007 x Bryan Danielson x JLova = King Ghidorah
I miss the 336
Pullin hoes at the 4 Seasons Mall
Gettin money off E Market
An Atlanta nikka used to stay off MLK
The Cookout off Battleground next to campus
Shoutout to my Aggies, A&T is lit asf @Real @Old Scott Hall
Bruh???
I’m an AGGIE too
AVXL
Laughing at you n*ggaz like “ha ha ha”
Bruh???
I’m an AGGIE too
When you graduate?
Bryan Danielson
Jmare007 x Bryan Danielson x JLova = King Ghidorah
AVXL
Laughing at you n*ggaz like “ha ha ha”
Let me find out you down with #cookoutgang!
I missed you breh, I was in the Boro 03-08, but I was at Guilford College, not that bum ass GTCC
I used to tutor at Bluford Elem, right next to Dudley HS
GoAggieGo.
getting blitzed.
You was leaving right as I was starting. I was in the Boro from 07-13. One of them super seniors
I missed you breh, I was in the Boro 03-08, but I was at Guilford College, not that bum ass GTCC
I used to tutor at Bluford Elem, right next to Dudley HS
I heard GHOE was lit this year. My ole lady and I usually make it every year, but skipped it this year.
All them parties was looking live, and I missed being out on the yard. Last year, my boy and I was on that rum heavy and acting a fool on the yard. My girl ended up having to come get my ass from the campus that evening cause I was through. I’ll be back next year to do it again.