We were lucky to catch up with Adi Devta Kaur recently and have shared our conversation below.
Adi Devta, appreciate you joining us today. We’re complete cheeseballs and so we love asking folks to share the most heartwarming moment from their career – do you have a touching moment you can share with us?
No one could have told any of us that as a collective we would all experience massive fear and trauma. I visited India in 2020 during the height of the pandemic. I originally went to India to study Kundalini and advance my practice by becoming a 500 Hour Registered Yoga Instructor. The course was only meant to last a month and my plane was booked for April 1st to depart. Needless to say, I arrived in February and left in August. I saw so many things that elevated my perspective and way of seeing things. I had so many different encounters but there is one that I will never forget. It was a young child’s birthday. He had to be turning all of 10 years old and he had siblings all around. They planned a special birthday party. I was walking down the hill to the market when they stopped me to let me know that it was his birthday and that I should get some cake. I told them that it was possible for only one piece of cake and that I would be back soon. When I got back up the hill they all led me to his house and it was a surprise birthday party they wanted to have for the boy. What makes this story so heartwarming was that I only brought one piece of cake and he cut it and gave a slice to everyone in the room even before he gave himself a slice.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
THEBLKYOGITRIBE was founded in 2021 by Adi Devta Kaur, E-200, 500-hr, YACEP in Birmingham, Alabama in hopes of providing yoga and wellness for disenfranchised communities in the Greater Birmingham Metro Area. After the year-long pilgrimage to India in the East, Adi knew it was time to cultivate authentic practices for folks in the Americas, specifically the Southeast Region. Adi began practicing yoga around 2015, primarily headstands. It was not until she enrolled in her first 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training that she began to understand yoga as more than just movement. She began to experience the “sacred union” of mind, body, and breath. Breathing Living Knowledge is just that, an effort to share the heavily omitted practice of breath awareness, retention, and distribution in marginalized communities.
In 2022 we certified over 20 yoga instructors in Restorative Yoga, 3 students completed our 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training in the Fall and certified 10 Reiki Practicioners.
We host monthly gatherings that are centered in “Black Joy” and judgment-free zones, Sunday Funday, Pics in the Park, and Melanin Mala are a few of the events that we host that have made a major impact in the Greater Birmingham Metro Area.
We have a website with handmade crochet finds, graphic tees, and other yoga necessities. You can shop with us here: www.theblkyogitribe.bigcartel.com
We host quarterly and yearly training with space for travel and rest.
What truly sets us apart is that we are the first to ever do what we are doing in this city. What sets us apart is our drive and willingness to continue in the face of odds. We are different because we embrace the no and the rejection as protection. We’ve truly figured out the power of thought and how you can alchemize your current situation for the greater good of the community in which you are a part.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
This is a sensitive topic, but one that needs to be talked about.
Birmingham has a population of 80% black, brown, and indigenous people of color. There are zero yoga or wellness spaces that exist and very few that are white-centered have representation with people of color in leadership positions. This is why what we are building is so essential.
Adi arrived back from India as a 500 Hour Registered yoga instructor after completing a 300 Hour Yoga Teacher Training in Kundalini. (* a 500-hour yoga instructor is the highest level, you then just get (e) added to your name which means experienced. )
It was actually a dream for Adi to work at a specific studio when she arrived back in the US. There are 0 Black yoga instructors that teach at this studio making it a perfect opportunity Adi thought. She continued to reach out asking if we are being honest begging for a space to teach in this particular white-owned/centered yoga studio. She was told that there were no resources to hire other instructors because of the pandemic. Adi then witnessed a yoga instructor from her class (white) be hired at the same studio.
She then decide that she would not make herself available to be in spaces and places that had no intention of celebrating her, or people that looked like her.
In April of 2022 Adi started a GoFundMe :https://gofund.me/ac46c8b9 fundraiser to raise $20,000 to renovate and open the first Black Yoga Studio in Birmingham Alabama.
It is currently being renovated with over 150 donors and almost $10,000 in donations.
We are actully setting up for a fundraiser collab with some friends (allies) from Harvest Roots, Pete and Lindsay, on June 17th at their Kombucha brewery. We are estimated to raise around $1,500 + dollars from baked goods and proceeds from the Trauma Infromed Yoga Class starting at 6:30 pm. They actually come to us in the nick of time with open arms and the ambition to see this thing through. We are extremely grateful for their efforts.
We are expected to open fall of this year, November 11th!
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Our reputation BLK- Breathing Living Knowledge grew specifically from being visible. When we say gorilla marketing we mean it. You have to become immune to the criticism in your own head and get out of your own way. Make that post(s), become valuable, and share your knowledge!
If you don’t share your classes, events, or information how will people know?
Sometimes people will unfollow or unfriend you but that’s all a part of the process.
You are making room for those that truly support you and want to see everything that you have to offer and all that you bring to the table.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://blkyogitribe.offeringtree.com/offering_packages
- Instagram: @theblkyogitribe
- Facebook: @theblkyogitribe
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3uvRCJPZkUhBIyISA8cVRw