Evolution of Yoga Summit and Blueprint: Equity and Racism
While whiteness is positioned to have access to practices that are healing and liberating, we know many BIPOC are suffering with disproportionate rates of hypertension, heart disease, racial trauma, and the impacts of being made invisible by culture. When we leave race out of a conversation about yoga, we reinforce the idea that some are meant to suffer while others are meant to be healed and liberated.
Watch the panel discussion and download the blueprint.
Accessible Yoga Association
It’s 3:00 pm on a Wednesday afternoon and Elijah has students blowing into bubble solution in a lesson about elongated exhales, as part of his job interview and demo. Our students are loving it, Lionel even counts how many seconds Taraji is blowing out as others gaze in awe at how big the bubble is becoming.
The way education circles talk about schools (and by extension, communities) in the Bronx, it doesn’t exactly paint an Amy Sherald picture of kids completely captivated in a class on breathing techniques.
Read the full article on Accessible Yoga Association’s blog.
Boogie on the Boulevard
Special thank you to @colinlieu, @regularmilk and the two middle school students for sharing their perspectives on youth wellness and returning to school this fall.⠀
Check out more events at boogieblvd.com/events⠀
#thebronx #boogiedownbronx #southbronx #backtoschool #education #not62 #bxallday⠀
Watch the full videos with Chris Davis and two middle school students.
The Young Dreamers’ Book Club
Phoenix First Phoenix’s First: An Introduction to Mindful Breathing by Colin Lieu is an amazing read for both parents and kids. When Phoenix’s excitement about his recital transforms into nervousness, he is forced to make a decision: will he give into his nervousness or create a pathway beyond this internal barrier?
Read full article on Medium.
EdWeek
Schools have closed in 46 states and counting, with learning moving online. And, boy, am I grateful. During the public back-and-forth over the decision to close New York City schools this month, I was rooting for the United Federation of Teachers’ criticism of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s reluctance to close the schools. Little did I know in just a few days, a lack of surgical grade masks would lead first responders working in hospitals to turn to bandanas and sports goggles for protection. That, and more, put things in perspective. Here’s an account of my first week adjusting first to the expectation that I would have to put my health on the line to meet the shortcomings of other policies—daycare shortage, food access, housing affordability—and later to the subsequent decision to finally close schools:
Read the full article on EdWeek.
Blavity
Two blondes walk into a bar in Harlem. What do they order? For the cops to come
The policing of black and brown bodies, especially those not welcomed in colonized white spaces has reached fever pitch that even Disney's fictitious and mythical Ariel isn't safe (#alwaysmyariel)!
Read the full article on Blavity.
Blavity
The Simone Biles of gymnastics. The Jackie Chan of film. The Justice Sonia Sotomayor of the Supreme Court. Finding successful and celebrated examples of people of color in diverse careers is like trying to find a Democrat not running for President in 2020. When no one has come before you and there’s no one to look up to, we get mixed results. Eminem on one hand. Catch Me Outside girl on the other.
Read the full article on Blavity.
The Mindful __
Colin goes by the moniker ‘The Multitasking Yogi’ - a paradoxical term, yet one that does suit his approach to exploring a multitude of ways he can connect New York City’s under-served communities and children with self-regulation techniques and mindfulness. His stories are eye-opening and pertinent to every parent of children in today’s climate.
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Bring your yoga mat to “Positivi-TEA,” a free community yoga class hosted by New York mindfulness instructor Colin Lieu from noon to 1 p.m. Sunday at Factory Tea Bar in San Gabriel. San Gabriel native and body positive artist Brenda Chi will show her work and share how growing up in the San Gabriel Valley shaped her art as a feminist and body-positive person.
This event has been featured in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune and LA Weekly.
This is the Bronx
Dwarfed by the towering NYCHA buildings and drowned out by the cross-street traffic on 163rd street, a community of Bronx-born pre-kindergarteners inhale and exhale slowly for a count of three seconds. The banging of blocks and the drama of dress-up fade into the distance — even if just for a few minutes — as 4-year-olds lay in stillness. We use our super listening powers to hear sounds:from within the classroom, outside the classroom and within the building; outside the building; inside our bodies.
Read the full article.
The Young Dreamers’ Book Club
Phoenix First Phoenix's First: An Introduction to Mindful Breathing by Colin Lieu is an amazing read for both parents and kids. When Phoenix’s excitement about his recital transforms into nervousness, he is forced to make a decision: will he give into his nervousness or create a pathway beyond this internal barrier? Read the full review on Facebook and Instagram.
Blavity
Yoga has become the Roseanne of the wellness world. In theory, both were created for the everyday person but in a time when people are as woke as they are broke -- folks have been priced out and boxed into stereotypes when it comes to accessing yoga.
Read the full article on Blavity.
Huffington Post
“Black Panther” star Lupita Nyong’o recently told “Good Morning America” that we can better see ourselves when we can see ourselves in others. She said that she grew up only being able to see herself in white superheroes ― and it’s high time the reverse is happening.
Read the full article on Huffington Post. The article also appeared on NextShark and AsAmNews.
Kids Yoga Daily
Want to raise a mindful boy? Picture books can help!
Boys can master mindfulness, too, says Colin Lieu, author of, Phoenix's First: an introduction to mindful breathing.
This colorful, adorably illustrated read shares kid-friendly messages about how mindfulness can help us notice our energy and stress levels, and how to refocus our attention -- all through the tale of Phoenix, a young boy preparing for his piano recital.
Read the full article.
Edweek
We welcome guest blogger Colin Lieu who works in the youth yoga and mindfulness space in New York City as an instructor and consultant across seven public schools and programs.
For the first time in history, a black writer-director was been nominated for Oscar awards in the trifecta of best picture, best director and best screenplay; the bittersweet history making film Barry Jenkins' movie, MOONLIGHT. Attention educators: witness a young man of color's social emotional growth at a crisis. But we don't need to turn to Hollywood to get schooled on adolescent angst. This from my own classroom:
Read the full article.
AsAmNews
It’s okay to serve Black communities, but please know: no one expects you to be Black.
Last weekend I attended the 2017 Yoga Service Council Conference where well-meaning yogis gathered to share ideas, learnings and research on how yoga and mindfulness can help support underserved communities such as youth, veterans and others.
Unless you’re Betsy DeVos, it’s easy to see how intersectionality slapped us in the face faster than a police officer reaching for their gun when approaching a Black teen.
In a workshop called, “Best Practices for Cultural Competency: A View from a Historically Black College”, the question covered in so many layers of White guilt finally came out.
Read the full article.
Brooklyn Reporter Group
A bamboo pot plant. Plastic fruits in a bowl topped with a shiny red envelope. Paper cut-outs of firecrackers with a layer of dust building since February - thick like the skin of a leftover dumpling. Scattered golden characters and phrases plastered on walls now Jackson Pollocks to my eyes.
I had entered the Old Master Q equivalent of Universal Pre-K centers.
Read the full article.
Education DIVE
Dawn Brooks-Decosta is trying to raise $250,000 by the time school starts up again for the 2017-18 academic year. Brooks-Decosta is principal of the Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School (TMALS), a public school in Harlem, and she and her staff found out in the spring that they would not be receiving federal funding for their after-school program next year.
Read the full article.