Some of you may know that I have been a yoga teacher for some 15 years, and towards the end of my time running a studio, I was a teacher training tutor and assessor…I still have contact with several of those teachers that qualified with me (and my co-tutor & best friend)…

From time to time, we share interesting articles, experiences with each other…just because they are qualified does not mean their learning, nor mine, is at an end…and so develops a mutually supportive friendship as peers…

I was approached this week by one of my former tutees on the subject of gender binary language in relation to certain yoga practices…

For those of you not familiar, Hatha breaks down to mean, among other things, left and right, female and male…and there are Nadis (nerve pathways/channels) taught in relation to energy flow and breath flow which are given those associations…

Traditionally, the left side is considered to represent dark, cooling, rest, the moon, and is deemed feminine in many texts… right is light, action, heat, the sun and referred to as masculine…

My lovely friend had talked about these associations in her teaching and was challenged on the use of gendered language…so…does it matter?

To the majority, perhaps not…but what about folk who are non-binary in their gender or trans, and struggle with dysphoria…? They may be present, but you may not know their circumstances…After all, I don’t HAVE to walk into a room and announce “Hello folks, I’m Lucy, I’m gay, cis and I go by she/her pronouns, and I prefer ‘queer femme’ to lesbian (#) as my identity…” (FYI, sometimes I do, because sometimes it matters)

If you would like to signal that you are welcoming to non-binary and trans folk, a simple option is to include pronouns in your bio, email signature, and to include them when you introduce yourself in a room of new people…

Next up…you can talk to and about people, person, human or humans, folk or folks…there is rarely any reason to say man/woman or male/female…you can talk about folks who have a womb, or folks who are pregnant…you can say parent or spouse or partner or sibling or family member…It may feel clunky when you start because you will be thinking about establishing gender neutrality in your language but it will soon become a natural habit…

When it comes to the associations of yoga with particular attributes, ask yourself whether you truly lose any meaning if you omit the gendered language…if you don’t, if you can still teach a practice with authenticity, then leave it out…It’s that simple…

Binary language of any nature can be unintentionally harmful, and we can carry the internal bias created by a cis-heteronormative* society that means it feels uncomfortable to change how we speak and write…After all, you’re not homophobic or transphobic, right?**

*Cis normative refers to the predominance of cis people and culture in society: that is to say people who are comfortable with and present as the sex/gender that was assigned to them at birth; Heteronormative refers to the same predominance of heterosexuallity, which is perceived as ‘normal’ and ‘acceptable’ whilst being LGBTQ+ is deemed ‘abnormal – abbhorent-abominable’

** You’re not phobic…I get it, but what bias do you hold? … do you adapt your language to be more inclusive? … do you actively support LGBTQ+ rights and understand why they hold protected characteristics under UK equality legistlation? … What are you doing to prevent the harm that proposed reform to current leglislation could do to Trans people, and especially Trans kids? … Do you call out homophobic and transphobic slurs, attitudes, jokes when they come from friends, family, social media that you follow?… Do you buy into the rainbows but ignore that your favourite shop or food outlet donates a paltry percentage to LGBTQ+ causes and ignores them the rest of the year? Are these questions sounding familiar yet? Get intersectional folks…your privilege is not just that you are white…it can also arise from your gender, your sexuality, your social class, your ability…See what I did there, that’s how intersectionalism works – you got to check ALL your privilege…I have plenty, but I don’t have male and I don’t have straight…

I cannot write anything LGBTQ+ centred without acknowledging that our rights and our improved circumstances are in the main thanks to a group of Black Trans womxn who instigated what became known as the Stonewall Riots in 1969 and which gave rise to so may LGBTQ+ movements and the Pride protests that we still see today…which leans me on to acknowledge further…

***Right now, BLM needs centre stage, and in the background, I am donating, promoting, protesting and doing what small part I can to be a positive contributor to dismantling white privilege…

Nonetheless, I am a white woman and I have no right to claim I can educate you on BLM – go google, follow and read and listen to Black activists – but PLEASE do not ask them all your questions…

You and I can have a conversation as white people about what we can do to change, to recognise the internal biases we carry – we know we are not bad people so let’s have those conversations and do something meaningful without adding to the emotional overload of Black people already at crisis point…

Yes, Black & White is reduced to a binary…we need to tackle the injustices and imbalance created by that reductionist binary and the systemic racism it underpins…

Want to make a start? You know by now if you have White Privilege…what else gives you privilege? Let the conversation begin…

(#) Final note…I promise…I do not like the word lesbian, I think I covered some reasons in an earlier blog post…But mostly, there are very loud, scarily coordinated trans-exclusionary lesbians claiming that trans people erode the lesbian identity…well, congratulations. I am loud, proud and visible…and yes, I am a lesbian…However, I have trans friends and I will stand with them always in the face of your bigotry…the only people making me uncomfortable to the point of refusing the label are those lesbians excluding our trans sisters from their queer spaces, from their feminism and fighting against trans rights and inclusion.