If there is one thing we have learned this year it’s that no matter how uncomfortable we are, it’s always better to try and engage in conversation whereby we can learn our neighbor’s perspective.

We should, whether it be our Trans or Trumpist family members, attempt to reach deeply into the wound that’s created a particular pattern and find compassion and understanding for hearts, that like our own, experience fear, grief, and pain.

To that end, we’ve asked the ebullient Shanna Small onto our program to answer some very personal questions regarding her perspective on multicultural ethnicity and implicit biases.

This sincere conversation will leave the listener in a precarious position of having to make different choices. And, these choices can impact one’s very sense of self and identity.

Who I am? Where do I fit in? Am I doing enough to subvert white supremacy? How do I take a stand for justice and equality? How do I present myself on social media? Do I eat ice cream or no? Vegan or vaccinated?

Shanna very graciously allowed us a moment to be curious and sincerely engaged in a conversation about MLK Jr. and performative activism, what sits at the heart of ahimsa and social justice; whiteness, ethnicity, gendered language; and her passion for making the practices and teachings of yoga accessible to anyone who wants to learn regardless of age, income, ability, ethnicity, or mobility.

If we look naive, we are. However, we’re deeply grateful to Shanna for her generous spirit and enthusiasm, and for gentle, patient instruction. Shanna has a powerful voice that speaks to our highest truth as human beings.

There was a time when the deeply racist phrase “white man’s burden” was acceptable. Not ever any more.

Today, you might say, the “Black Woman’s Burden” is this: Holding our civilization together.

Shanna Small is a writer and Yoga teacher who speaks to the intersectionality of yoga and social justice. She has practiced Ashtanga Yoga and studied the Yoga Sutras since 2001. She has studied in Ashtanga in Mysore with Sharath Jois and finds joy in making the Ashtanga practice accessible for all.

She is a founding member of Yoga For Recovery Foundation, a non-profit that helps those recovering from addiction, trauma, and systemic oppression.

The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case.

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