Yoga Journal: What It’s Like to Be a Black Yoga Teacher

“When someone walks out of my class before it begins, I often wonder if it’s because of who I am or what I look like,” shares Chelsea Jackson Roberts, who leads Yoga Journal’s new Inclusivity Training course. Read the full article here->

An excerpt from the article, What It’s Like to Be a Black Yoga Teacher by Chelsea Jackson Roberts, PhD:

“…despite my 10 years of teaching yoga, students regularly seem surprised that I’m the teacher in the room. Maybe they’re making an assumption that someone named Chelsea doesn’t look like me. Maybe it’s because they’ve never seen 
a yoga teacher, or an image of one, who wasn’t a white, thin woman. When someone walks out of my class before it begins, 
I often wonder if it’s because of who I am or what I look like. When I roll out my
 mat and take the seat of the teacher, do they suddenly realize that they are in the wrong class or that I am the wrong teacher for them? And then there are the students who stay, and at the end of class say things like, “Wow, I cannot believe that you’re such a great teacher!”