Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Adi Kaur. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Adi , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?
My mom was strong, she has always been that way. I have always seen my mother be in a position of power. She was an officer in the U.S. Army all my life and she served for 20+ years.
My mom played zero games. It was kind of intimidating as a child but as I got older I grew to truly understand the power of boundaries and intentions. I learned that you can be firm and command the room if that is your true desire.
My grandmother has a huge role in my life, I will always remember her sayings, and the most relevant one “You must be sweet baby, you can get more bees with honey than you can with vinegar. ”
I spent summers in North Carolina at my grandparent’s house and the women of my family have a true influence on the way that I do what I do.
I am eternally grateful for the lessons.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Breathing Living Knowledge, BLK – YOGI – TRIBE was founded in June of 2021 in Birmingham AL. We are an organization serving the disenfranchised communities of the Birmingham Metro Area.
Our organization has been a part of several collaborations that directly impact the city of Birmingham as a whole leading with Self Sooth Saturday. Adi Kaur is the first Black Yoga instructor to lead a Yoga Class at the Birmingham Museum of Fine Arts.
For the past two years, we have partnered with mental health therapist eMotion Therapy as sponsors for our annual yoga event Melanin Mala Project, a community yoga mala of 108 rounds dedicated to loved ones, ancestors, and the forgotten.
We are an organization delivering results to an under-exposed community of individuals and groups. We find that the more we build the more our tribe finds us.
Our current initiative ‘Restorative Yoga For Black Men’ took off in a meaningful way. We are releasing a documentary of real feedback from participants and instructors about their experience and how this practice can benefit others.
We host Restorative Yoga trainings quarterly and the next one is September 22nd, 23rd, and 24th.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
We represent 7% of the yoga space and we are currently certifying yoga instructors annually to increase presence, representation, and awareness.
We are renovating the first Black Owned Yoga School in Birmingham. It was in 2022 that we became the first Black Registered 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training with the Yoga Alliance of Birmingham, Alabama.
That is monumental. With the help of over 200 donors, we have managed to raise almost $10,000 on a gofundme to renovate the 530-square-foot yoga studio.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
The lesson to unlearn is that we are not deserving.
A lot of the time we as a people are placed in situations that make us feel inferior to another. We allow ourselves to be underneath or tend to take a back seat roll. Our natural nature is to appear or seem docile or nonthreatening causing us at times to totally alter who and what we know we truly are.
We are deserving of respect and to be treated with kindness and care. Our compassionate hearts are what continue to fuel this world. We are a strong body of people.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://gofund.me/ac46c8b9
- Instagram: @theblkyogitribe
- Facebook: THEBLKYOGITRIBE
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/Kbr12yZe6Dw
Image Credits
-Abiola S. – Credit for digital Yoga Posture [Photos from a non published book by Adi Kaur]