“You know some people think Yoga is that ole Voodoo Stuff!” she said very aggressively as to express some negative perspectives her peers had of Yoga and Voodoo, and that somehow they must be related.
As I handed her one of my YenYangYoga flyers on what Kemetic Yoga is and the upcoming Four Week Challenge I would be teaching at Liberty Garden Park, I thought, “They’re misinformed. Voodoo meaning Vodun and Yoga, where would I start?”
I took a deep breath in and exhaled, letting her know that the flyer gave more details about yoga and I hoped to see her at the park for class. She had invited me to teach Yoga at her church.
As I walked off, I shook my head and contemplated if the detail about our Kemetic-Egyptian Ancestors would have her snatch back her invitation and if it would further encourage her current paradigm or bring some light of truth to her thinking.
I didn’t know. Most “church folk” around this part condemn anything that ain’t Jesus, even though Jesus himself didn’t condemn anyone. How hypocritical, I thought. Seemingly so, I have not heard from or seen that lady again.
As I laugh to myself as to shake off the distress I feel, it is very evident that much re-education is needed in our community.
We are too many times, too many generations educated by the television and other mainstream media about those subjects or topics not taught in schools. Not to say, that the information taught in our schools is completely true either. Only to say, it seems to be our only other source of information.
For the most part, the television/mainstream media has formed most of our ideologies about society and our worldviews or lack thereof. I know many have pondered, what if all that information was controlled or filtered to steer the societal mind in a particular direction? What if that controller was, say, “evil”?
Yet, we know that there are many that are much too weighted to ponder the thought. Hey, this is one or two aspects, so to speak, of the vast earth that we live in…what about all the other subjects, ideas, cultures, histories that have been painted from one perspective!
Where does one begin to unravel the knots in our historical view of the past? There seems to be a tangled web of religious teachings and backward thinking of other cultures that block our innerstanding of spirituality.
Some words spoken to an African American Religious Christian that seem to jog thought processes are: Spirit, Spirituality, Ancestors, Egypt, Egyptian, etc. There is a disconnect.
To be Continued.
In Love and Light,
YenNefer Maat.
