In conversation with: Donna Noble about inclusivity and finding her voice

I first interviewed Donna Noble for the Yogamatters blog at International Yoga Day in June 2016 at Alexandra Palace in London. It was at this time that we both started and found our path as we stepped into the unknown. A lot has changed for both of us since then and this opportunity to reconnect and catch up is a real privilege.

Donna is currently working on her first book on body positivity in yoga, an accessible yoga training manual for yoga teachers, which will be published next year. With the opportunity to take over OM Yoga Magazine's Instagram page, she now has a monthly series called Noble Conversations, where she most recently interviewed internationally recognized yoga teacher Seane Corn. She is an advocate for anti-racism in the wellness industry and is determined to advocate for invisible people and disrupt the wellness industry when necessary. Nominated in the 2020 National Diversity Awards, Donna has developed a 12-week yoga teacher program focused on navigating these difficult times. Yes, I am teaching diversity to teachers based on my experience as a Black yoga teacher, but there will also be an opportunity to ask questions and pick my brain about anything. ' The course is offered online via Zoom and can be accessed by anyone, not just yoga teachers, anywhere in the world. Back in January 2020, Donna appeared in US yoga company FERAL + TRUE's list of 20 yoga teachers to watch in 2020 - the only yoga teacher from the UK in this list, invited after the tragic death of George Floyd, offering her services to teach the yoga community in the US so that yoga teachers there can rest.

Looking back, Donna realizes what a turning point that class she taught that day at Alexandra Palace actually was. I took this class. I saw the number of Black yogis who stayed all day to join Donna in this class and felt the incredible spirit as we practiced together in this special moment. For some reason, Donna didn't realize the significance of this at the time. Writing for Elephant Journal recently in an article titledMy blackness is not a trend,Donna admits she initially tried to be invisible: 'When I founded CurvesomeYoga in 2015, few knew that I was the innovator. Again: Hide! While teaching at a yoga show on International Yoga Day, it was discovered that I was doing my community an injustice by hiding. 'Yes, she felt overwhelmed that so many black yogis had come to support her, but didn't realize at the time how important it was for those yogis to see a black yoga teacher teaching the class. As she reveals in the article, she can see that now'Representation is crucial. If you had never seen someone who looked like you do something, would you even consider it? The likely answer is no. In the UK, only 56% of black women get the 60 minutes of exercise per week recommended by the British Medical Examiner. '

Donna wasn't ready to see the magnitude of what was happening at the time. She wasn't sure if she should be made aware of being a yoga teacher. Now she sees the truth. These people came to this class on International Yoga Day because it was black. That's the beauty of her involvement with NoireFitFest, which is aimed at the black community because they aren't generally concerned with wellness and exercise. After hearing others' experiences and from her own experience, Donna knows how hard it is to be the only black yogi in the class. When a Black person comes to the mat and brings their daily trauma and experiences of discrimination into the yoga room, a teacher who looks like them will understand them better. It will feel like a safe place. As Donna points out, this happens even with curvy women or complete beginners. To feel safe, they need to feel represented and understood.

This brings us back to our first conversation four years ago, “In Conversation with: Donna Noble.” What Donna cares about is real people. Real people of all shapes, sizes, backgrounds, abilities, religions and ages. Real people doing real yoga... Donna's Curvesome Yoga initiative was born out of a desire to make yoga more accepting of all bodies in the UK. 'She still can't put her finger on when and how. She had no intention of carving out a niche for herself. She grew up with family members who were curvy and had a deep desire to support those who were invisible. She ended up doing something that no one else was doing at the time.

In that sense, not much has changed.

And yet, Donna now feels comfortable being in the spotlight as a Black yoga teacher. She has developed a strong voice that has a lot to say. She still speaks for those without a voice, for those who are invisible. However, she is unwilling to be seen as "trendy" or invited to something that checks a diversity box, saying, "If people are real, that's fine. If it's about checking a box, I'm not interested. I'm going to call it out now. I don't have to put up with that." She's no longer assimilating. She's more independent and getting stronger. She has a platform and a lot of valuable experience that Can positively influence opinions and practices.

She is grateful to have grown in a part of London that was very diverse. Her early experiences with yoga were also varied: her first yoga teachers in the late 1990s were Indian and then mixed race, and then she went to a studio run by two black yoga teachers near Clapham Common. However, she entered a corporate world where she didn't see many people like her. She worked in a law firm where she faced the double discrimination of being a woman and being black on a daily basis. She was under pressure to try harder than anyone else and watch what she said. This is an internal trauma that she carries with her everywhere. She completed her Triyoga yoga teacher training as the only black person there. She was used to it. She continued her training in the US and worked in Texas, where she focused on body positive yoga. And then when she came back from the States, she looked around and said, “Who isn’t on the mat with me?” That's the question she always asks herself.

The events of the last year have been a massive catalyst in Donna's life. COVID-19 has pushed them to teach more online with a rapidly growing natural organic reach on YouTube. After being seriously ill in February, possibly with COVID-19, Donna initially sat back, took the rest she needed and went with the flow. As more people of all shapes and sizes turned to yoga, more and more people discovered Donna, the Noble Art of Yoga and CurveSomeYoga online. Donna was already confident about using Zoom and saw what was a natural and positive transition for her. She explained, "COVID has shown me how adaptable I am. I love change. I embrace change. COVID forced me to do what I had been putting off for years and develop my teaching online. This gave me more time for my own practice and more time to rest and reflect. I met people online and developed friendships that I never would have had otherwise."

Donna doesn't have much of a plan. For her it is simple: “I share myself and I share what I like and often it resonates”. Her thirst for knowledge was reawakened - knowledge about her background and the background of yoga - and she questioned what she was taught. She is concerned that the Black Lives Matter conversation has now become very quiet and she is determined to continue speaking her truth. Whatever path Donna Noble takes, this truth will remain her noble calling: “I try to help in any way I can to change the landscape we find ourselves in right now.”

To learn from Donna, sign up for her 12-week course: “The Noble Art of Yoga for Teachers “from October 28, 2020 Here. This course is designed to help newly qualified or experienced teachers who are feeling lost due to the pandemic to navigate the “new normal” and find your clients who are waiting for you to find them.