I just wrote a letter to the Vancouver Sun re: Ohm the Bridge in Vancouver
I have practiced Ashtanga yoga for over 20 years. I love yoga, and credit it for saving my life on more than one occasion. Yoga is an amazing physical practice of reconciliation; the reconciliation of the mind and spirit with the body and physical world. And in the spirit of reconciliation I would like to say that the best possible thing to do at this point, is to stop yoga/bridge day and to invite our First Nations peoples to celebrate their day on that bridge instead.
We so often get things wrong. It’s almost impossible to open your mouth and not insult someone, their culture, their heritage. It’s difficult to know how to be politically or culturally correct in the rapidly changing world we live in. But it is easy to admit you are wrong, and to extend your hand to the wronged.
Yoga doesn’t need a day. Yoga is about clearing your mind and soul and body so you have the strength to help yourself and others. It is totally inappropriate to hold anything but an Aboriginal Celebration on that bridge on Sunday. Let’s do something right, as yogis, as humans, and admit our mistake and change this from an insult to a moment to reconcile.
Amanda Euringer
