By Nikita Mehta

Dear Yogis. It has been a trying year, to say the least. Between an unknown virus ravaging our lives, an uncovering of the inequities in racial biases and a complete shut down of interpersonal contact with friends and family, we have all been through the ringer.

During challenging times in the past, the one thing that I have always been able to rely on and turn to were yoga festivals and trainings. This year, those were seemingly out of reach as well. A few trainings in those early months switched to an online format, but I was wary about this platform. You mean I can’t touch people? You want me to learn and be vulnerable in the same space that I work and connect with my partner? But after a few months of yoga silence, I was willing to try anything.

I had actually never taken a class at Laughing Lotus SF when I reached out to them about their Advanced 50 hr YTT. I made my way to the page via a teacher of mine from LA. But Lotus had the offering and I was there to receive.

One of the gifts of the pandemic is that it pushed all of us out of comfort zones. Lotus is not a local studio of mine, nor was it my home studio (the studio that was closest to my home when I first moved to SF). In an online format, none of that matters. I didn’t need to worry about parking or how long it would take me to drive across the city at rush hour. I just had to find my way to their (digital) doorstep. What I arrived at was a small studio based in the Mission that has been around for 13+ years; a studio that has consistently shown a commitment to using yoga as a tool for supporting its community and to create a more equitable and just world. When I was introduced to this virtual training I was happy to learn that the Lotus has a long history of weaving social equity conversations into their teachings and training.

I bet you that I had all of the same misgivings about an online training that you would have; I won't be able to focus because I will be staring at a screen again; how can I learn if I am not actually with people?; I don’t want to do an asana practice in my home; I want to be able to hang out with the people that I am vulnerable to.

In reality, for all of you who have been working from home and having your kids do school from home, we are so incredibly adaptable, and even more so when we are motivated by something we love.

If nothing else, here are the amazing takeaways from an online format:

1. We had students in my cohort from all over the world. There were people that were getting up at 3 am in order to be on the weekend calls. It was amazing to have insight and collaboration with people outside of our 7 x 7 microcosm. I do actually get out a lot, but to have the input of diversity in a teacher training like this, is rare, and it was invaluable to my growth. I was able to break out of my Bay Area bubble while I was very literally sitting in my SIP bubble.

2. Online trainings are more inclusive. Since there is no brick and mortar building that we all have to go to, travel time is cut out, cost of babysitting, parking, food, time away from family, all of that is taken off the table. More importantly, since the actual teachers don’t have to travel and the studio does not have to pay as much overhead (they are still floating so many costs during this time), trainings are less expensive!

3. Zoom format means that you can take class from anywhere that you have a steady signal or WiFi connection. We might be in the middle of SIP, but I work with kiddos and I still had socially distanced classes everyday. There were times that I listened and participated in the training from my car, or from my parents house, while I was camping or in a hotel room. I am a person that is always on the move, and I hope this format of trainings sticks around forever now.

4. The level of training benefited from not being in one geolocation. We had teachers from all over the US. Teachers in NY, in TX, and in different parts of California. Lotus brought in their expert teacher on whatever we were studying, and did it without additional cost. We all learned from the right person, not just the person that was right there.

Brima Jah was my mentor during the 50 Hr YTT and led the Yoga and Social equity module of the training, he brought a level of understated grace to a subject matter that can easily become heated. Brima is a Oakland based yoga teacher and social worker whose 700+ hours of yoga training has informed his ability to use “yoga as a tool for addressing oppression in all forms.”

He is also leading their 25 Hr Yoga and Social Equity Training. This training, which will span over the weekend of December 4-6th and 11-12th, will provide a platform for yoga practitioners to uncover how “yoga philosophy can serve as a framework for restoring social equity.”

Taking the time to invest in our understanding of social equity and unlearning patterns of racism is more important than ever, but to fill the gap with an offering of compassion and understanding is in the true nature of yoga.

This online training, which is open to both students and teachers, can be taken either synchronous or asynchronous. Recordings will be available for all who cannot join in real time. As with all Lotus Yoga School trainings, scholarships and work trade are available and the cost is a sliding scale from $300- $625.

Lotus also will continue its donation based Love Saves the Day classes on Livestream as well as offering free classes every Saturday, featuring new Lotus graduates.

Learn more at sf.laughinglotus.com.