The Yoga Seed Collective in Sacramento, CA hosted their first conference, "Yoga RX" and warmly welcomed Rajarajeshwari to share a presentation on Social Justice and Yoga.
To learn more about the conference, visit http://www.theyogaseed.org/yogarx.
*This video is voice interpreted.
English transcription below
What I know for sure is that yoga is the mirror to the unfolding of our truths.
I’ve been personally practicing since the day I was born on earth. God entrusted me with the noble gift of American Sign Language to radiate positive, higher vibrations of awareness, love and light within humanity. Sign language is a multidimensional language that connects to human beyond national borders through spatial, tactile, visual and kinetic.
In the year 2000, I encountered several traumas and I decided to seek out various holistic approaches; I always evoked strong, positive responses in healing whenever I incorporated the five points of yoga; pranayama, relaxation, asanas, food/lifestyle, and meditation.
Without a Deaf teacher to guide me, I navigated the spiritual path, alone, through exploration, observation, reading, studying, and applying the yoga practice in my daily life.
Before I go any further, it’s important that I stress the label “Deaf” comes from hearing white males in the medical field. The term reflects the pathological perspective of deafness. The word comes with battered baggage dragging the heavy burden imposed by the historically wrong perception that deaf people are “deficient" and they need to be fixed. And still today, heart-breaking eugenics of drilling holes in the skulls of our precious Deaf babies are being enforced by instilling scare tactics in parents and feeding them notions of false promises to normalize and perfect their child. This is a distribution of ignorance, privilege and wealth that’s bound by ego, greed and fear. A violation of the first three Yamas of the Eight Limbs of Yoga: Ahmisa (non-harming), Satya (non-lying), and Asteya (non-stealing).
In 1993, a significant concept and word, “Deafhood” was born. The term was coined by one of our own, a Deaf person, Dr. Paddy Ladd from England who stated, “Deafhood is a process to decolonize our mind, body, and spirit from colonization.” For me, yoga offers resources to heal from colonization. Yoga means “union” of our mind, body and spirit. Deafhood and yoga, with integrity, shows the injustice the path to justice.
By 2008, I had the opportunity to learn and study Deafhood in the Deaf, collective community for two semesters. We analyzed, dialogued, identified, learned, processed and understood that the systems in our environment either oppressed or supported us as individuals, and as a cultural linguistics community. That ranges from activism, businesses, communication, education, medical, social economic, social justice, spirituality and more. To me, the word, Deafhood, means the consciousness of sharing a similar experience growing up as a Deaf person like childhood, sisterhood, motherhood, etc. We know what works and what does not work. It, also, is a journey that each Deaf person undertakes to discover their true identity and purposes here on the Earth as a Deaf person.
True success of both the Deafhood and yoga journey is when Deaf people feel “at home”. This process occurs on all levels; physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, cultural and linguistics.
With this healing, I was able to lead by example into the possibility of positive livelihood. Time was not to be wasted. The fire was ignited. I channelled the fuel into becoming a certified mediation/yoga teacher, dedicated to share the classical Hatha yoga from the Sivananda lineage to reduce the worldwide suffering of humanity.
When we apply, understand, and practice the five principles of yoga, we lead a full lifestyle through the lens of yoga that has us centered, and balanced as whole beings. We, as humanity, can then transcend the chains of society’s repressive conditioning, ideologies, and opinions. Yoga teaches us not to fight against ourselves, anyone or anything because once one has discovered one’s own true nature, there’s determination to live in accordance with it. Yoga challenges us to be courageous, and to take responsibility for who we are, and to live our truth with grace and wisdom.
Deafhood and Yoga liberates us to be.
NOW is the time for the social system to prescribe yoga!
In Hinduism and Buddhism, the word Yogini represents a female master practitioner. I am a blessed yogini and my name is Rajarajeshwari.
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