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

I interviewed Donna Noble for the first time for the Yogamatt blog at the International Yoga Day in June 2016 at Alexandra Palace in London. At that time we both started and found our way when we stepped into the unknown. Since then, a lot has changed for both of us, and this opportunity to connect and catch up again is a real privilege.

Donna is currently working on her first book on Body positive in yoga, a training manual for barrier -free yoga for yoga teachers, which will be published next year. With the opportunity to take over the Instagram page of OM Yoga Magazine, she now has a monthly series entitled Noble Conversations, in which she recently interviewed the internationally recognized yoga teacher Sean Corn. It is committed to anti -racism in the wellness industry and is determined to stand up for invisible people and to disturb the wellness industry if necessary. Donna was nominated at the National Diversity Awards 2020 and has developed a 12-week program for yoga teachers, which is about mastering these difficult times. Yes, I teach teachers in diversity, based on my experience as a black yoga teacher, but there will also be the opportunity to ask questions and ask my brain about anything. 'The course is offered online via zoom and can be called up anywhere in the world, not only by yoga teachers. As early as January 2020, Donna was published in the list of 20 yoga teachers of the US Yoga company Feral + True, which were shown in 2020-the only yoga teacher from Great Britain in this list that was invited after the tragic death of George offers Floyd to teach the yoga community in the USA so that the yoga teachers there rest can.

In retrospect, Donna recognizes what a turning point this class, which she held in Alexandra Palace that day. I visited this class. I saw the number of black yogis that stayed all day to join Donna in this class, and felt the incredible mood when we practiced together at this special moment. For some reason, Donna did not recognize the importance of this at that time. Writing for Elephant Journal recently in an article with the title My blackness is not a trend, donna admits that she initially tried to be invisible: 'When I founded curvesomeyoga in 2015, only a few knew that I was the innovator. Again: hide! When I taught on a yoga show on the international day of yoga, it turned out that I was wrong with my community by hiding. ' Yes, she felt overwhelmed that so many black yogis had come to support them, but at that time did not realize how important it was for these yogis to see a black yoga teacher who held the class. As she reveals in the article, she can now see 'Representation is of crucial importance. If you had never seen someone who looks like they are doing something, would you consider it at all? The probable answer is no. In the United Kingdom, only 56% of black women make the 60 minutes of movement recommended by the British Medical Examiner. '

donna was not ready to see how big it was, what happened at that time. She was not sure whether she should be made aware of being a yoga teacher. Now she sees the truth. These people came to this class on the international day of yoga because she was black. This is the nice thing about her commitment to Noirefitfest, which is aimed at the black community because it generally does not deal with wellness and movement. After Donna has heard the experience of others and from her own experience, she knows how difficult 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 their discrimination experiences to the yoga room, a teacher who looks better will understand them. It will feel like a safe place. As Donna emphasizes, this also happens to curvy women or absolute beginners. To feel safe, you have to feel represented and understood.

That brings us back to our first conversation four years ago "in conversation with: Donna Noble". What Donna is interested in are real people. Real people of all forms, sizes, backgrounds, skills, religions and age groups. Real people who make real yoga ... Donna's initiative curvesome yoga has arisen from the desire that yoga in the UK accepts every body more. 'She still can't put a finger on when and how. She didn't intend to create a niche. She grew up with family members who were curvy and had a deep desire to support those who were invisible. In the end she did something that nobody else did at the time.

In this sense, not much has changed.

and yet Donna now feels comfortable to stand 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 not ready to be seen as a "trendy" or to be invited to something that a box ticks for diversity and says: "If people are real, it is okay. When it comes to starting a box, I am not interested. I will now be called out. I don't have to put up with that." She is no longer assimilated. Can have a positive impact on opinions and practices.

She is grateful to be grown in a part of London, which was very diverse. Her early experiences with yoga were also diverse: her first yoga teachers in the late 1990s were Indians and then mixed belts, and then she went to a studio that was led by two black yoga teachers near Clapham Common. However, she entered a corporate world in which she didn't see many people as she saw. She worked in a law firm in which she was exposed to double discrimination every day to be a woman and be black. She was under pressure to make more than everyone else and observe what she said. This is an inner trauma that she carries around 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 USA and worked in Texas, where she focused on body -positive yoga. And when she came back from the states, she looked around and asked: "Who is not on the mat with me?" That is the question that she always arises.

The events of the past year were a massive catalyst in Donna's life. COVID-19 has made them teach more online with a rapidly growing natural organic reach on YouTube. After Donna was seriously ill in February, possibly with Covid-19, she initially leaned back, took the rest she needed, and went with the stream. As more and more people of all forms and sizes turned to yoga, more and more people discovered Donna, the noble Art of Yoga and Curvesomeyoga online. Donna was already confident of using zoom and saw what was going on as a natural and positive transition for her. She explained: "Covid showed me how adaptable I am. I love change. CoVid forced myself to do what I had postponed for years and to develop my lessons online. This gave me more time for my own practice and more time to rest and think.

Donna has no big plan. It is easy for them: "I share myself and I share what I like and often swing it with". Her thirst for knowledge has been awakened again - knowledge of her background and the background of yoga - and she questions what was taught her. She is concerned that the conversation about Black Lives Matter has now become very quiet and she is determined to continue to say her truth. Which path Donna Noble may also take, this truth will remain her noble calling: "I try to help in every conceivable way to change the landscape in which we are currently."

to learn from Donna, register for your 12-week course: " The noble art of yoga for teachers" from October 28, 2020 here. This course should help newly qualified or experienced teachers who feel lost due to the "new norm" Find your customers who are waiting for you to find them.