022. The Trans Yoga Project

The Trans Yoga Project is a collaborative effort supporting Trans* people's spiritual wellness through community (re)education, advocacy within the yoga and wellIn Episode 22 Jivana Heyman welcomes M Camellia and Puja Singh Titchkosky to learn more about the mission of the Trans Yoga Project.ness industries, community building, and creating guided practices by and for Trans* and non-binary people. M and Puja share deeply about how their collective began their work together and how the shared values of the groups have led to this new project. M and Puja talk about the subtle and overt ways that assumptions and language can make yoga spaces feel unwelcoming, unsafe, and inaccessible. This rich conversation invites us all to investigate how we may be creating harm and inaccessibility for Trans and Non-Binary folks and reminds us of the responsibility we each have to shift, learn and advocate.  

This week we explore:

• How the Trans Yoga Project is cultivating spaces that allow Trans folks to thrive and find access to safe yoga and healing spaces
• How collaboration created this new project and leads how they work together
• How language can make yoga and wellness spaces harmful to Trans folks
• How making assumptions about our students leads to misgendering and other harmful experiences
• How the layers of assumptions, social conditioning and discrimination make yog and wellness spaces inaccessible 
• The importance of developing a practice of using and respecting pronouns; yours, others and strangers
• The importance of examining the unnecessary practice of gendering that happens in our yoga spaces (for ex. Bathrooms, changing rooms, pose cueing)
• The importance of investigating and engaging gender in our own experience
• How M leaned into investigating the stories of gender and got a grounded understanding of herself
• The importance of understanding the expansiveness of gender as a step towards understanding and inclusivity 

This week’s question: 

How are you creating space for gender exploration?