Yoga, for woke souls

Yoga poses give a total body balance experience but the deep breathing and mind focus are what feed the soul

When I think of yoga, this is what comes to mind: lithe white women holding rolled-up yoga mats and drinking green juice. Probably because that’s how yoga is presented on TV. Because of this — and the people I had seen doing yoga at the gym — I didn’t think yoga was for me. I wasn’t interested in it until I came across a tweet by @Banesa_Creative, saying: “Two black female yogis have decided to open up their own yoga studio.”

After reading that tweet, I knew I had to pay the girls a visit. I asked a yoga-enthusiast friend to come along.

Located in Joburg’s vibey Greenside neighbourhood, we were welcomed by Banesa Tseki, The Nest Space co-founder and kundalini yoga instructor. She had her golden faux dreads tied in a bun and was ready to sweat in white tights and a sports bra.

As someone who goes to the gym five times a week, I’m quite fit and strong. I found myself judging the women doing yoga, thinking that there was no way they would ever be able to lift the weights I lifted. But after my first session, I quickly found out that yoga is a total workout.

The class exceeded my expectations. It consisted of nine poses like the camel pose, forward fold (or front bend) and lunge stretch, and each pose was held for between one and three minutes.

After two poses, my knees were shaking. I couldn’t hold poses, which made me realise that my body strength is not only about being able to lift heavy weights but how well I can balance my body in uncomfortable positions.

But kundalini isn’t just about your body: it’s about your mind and more importantly, your spirit.

With every pose Tseki kept reminding us to take deep breaths. The breathing exercises helped me to be spiritually focused because that’s what I do daily when I feel a bit anxious. During the spiritually focused part, Tseki kept sharing words of wisdom, like: “You’re exactly where you’re supposed be, doing what you’re supposed to be doing. Let this moment in.”

I realised during the session that my spirit really needed a place of calm and re-evaluating my soul without doing hectic workouts.

“This is about reawakening African healing through spiritual yoga,” said Tseki in a post-yoga chat, see below.