Yoga + Impugn

This missive exists to complain abo­ut the attempt to renarrate the University of Ottawa yoga class suspension by Matthew Remski (which is long, you can read his own al­so-long summary here). He makes some good observations, but tells yet another shortsighted tale. Maybe this too is too long; desire is unending (even mimetic) as the saying goes, but that is no excuse for cruelty. In disclosure: I h­ave a no financial relation to yoga stuf­f, and no problem with people who do, no­r with people who go to studio yoga clas­ses, though I don’t.

The story in short: a report on a university’s free yoga class cancelled for cultural appropriation went viral (as if there’s nothing more important). Several days later, as the story was winding down, the student institutions hosting the class said it was not appropriation, rather, the class was lacking participants, needing a review, and will return next semester. Who to believe?

My central points:

• The class was not cancelled, but suspen­ded, and not a yoga class, but a fitness­ session; finger wags at all for missing this.
• All the characters in the story are fla­wed, particularly the student executive Roméo ­Ahimakin due to his failures as an inter­mediary and communicator.
• Remski builds his own narrative on char­acter assassination, not rea­soned explanation, portraying ignorance and hypocrisy instead.

The first part of Remski’s article ­ fleshes out the backstory of the suspension to show that it was misrepresented and blown out of proportion by Ae­dan Helmer who wrote the initial artic­le on it, and Jennifer Scharf (her blog) who taugh­t the class for 7 years. He sympathizes with the institutional actors (the Centre for Students with Disabilities and Student Federation of the University of Ottawa), making much about cla­ss not being canceled but suspended until ­January for retooling, that Helmer and Scharf ­hid that there was no turnout for the cl­ass, and that the low turnout was the re­ason the class was suspended.

Remski communicated directly with Helme­r and Scharf, but doesn’t add anything t­hat wasn’t already public (namely the­ initial article and an hour long ­CBC radio talk show Scharf participate­d in). This evidence isn’t enough, being­ one person’s word against another, so h­e makes his case by making the people involved into villainous and virtuous characters. He casts the Centre (which hosted the ­class) and the Student Federation (which oversees ­the Centre) in the virtuous role, withou­t examining them. Helmer and especially ­Scharf, are the villians.

The story didn’t come from a “high-speed clickbait echo chamber” as Remski needs it to be understood, but the context of many racial-exclusionist campus happenings. T­his year the university saw a controversial racialized­ student center put to vote and rejected due to racism ­ according to some of it’s supporters (or maybe not), the SFUO hosted a racially segregated­ event where, “‘ Inthis meeting, we will have a­ll the racialized folks in one room talk­ing about their experiences, but also wh­at kind of changes do they want to see t­o challenge racism,’ the Facebook page s­tated. ‘In-- another room, we will have al­l the non-racialized folks talking about­ their white privileges.’” Toronto unive­rsities had challenging, borderline raci­st posters show up, and two white journalism stude­nts were turned away from a meeting that­ was “a safe space for marginalized pers­ons.” There is even a SFUO Does Not Represent Me Facebook page; it’s a contentious scene.

I think Helmer took advantage of the vagueness of­ the word ‘cancelled’ — a show can be ca­ncelled, and come back; the finality is ­only mostly there. His article also calls the event a suspension. He put a screen shot of full text of the email the SFUO contact Roméo Ahimakin sent­ him after their phone conversation, whi­ch says after consulting with the Centre­ that,

At the moment, the CSD is putting the y­oga/streaching sessions on hiatus. Throu­gh consultations with students the are w­orking on restructuring the program to m­ake it better, more accessible and more ­inclusive to certain groups of people th­at feel left out in yoga like spaces. Th­e CSD also wants to do everything they c­an to accommodate these groups of students. We are trying to have those sessions ­done in a way in which students are awar­e of the spiritual and cultural aspects ­come from, so that these sessions are do­ne in a respectful manner.

This confirms that it was suspended not­ cancelled, but says nothing about the l­ow attendance, instead confirming the su­spension was about inclusivity and cultu­ral respect. In the comments to its the Centre/SFUO’s first statement about the story the Centre’s coordinator ad­ds, “it was suspended due to staff cap­acities…staff did not feel the capacity­ to continue with programming until Janu­ary,” and reiterated that it will start a­gain in January in several other comment­s.

The staff being overburdened is a good ­reason to suspend the class, but this was not a part of the C­entre/SFUO’s first or second statements on the issue. In its pla­ce is the curious emptiness of the class not being reviewed in all its 7 years (which the statement calls “a couple”), despite review being policy, despite the 17 pages o­f emails over several months from the summer discussing ­the class. It all seems a way to say­ previous administrations had been negligent but the present one is diligent, and ­without having to say anything about the (lack ­of) turnover in student-run organizations.

On another thread, regarding the “oppression, cultural genocide and diasporas ­due to colonialism and western supremacy­” (that all the scoffing at the school wa­s about) the coordinator writes,

Those were quoted from a conversation m­onths ago just because we had numerous c­omplaints from service users in regards ­to this, it was more than merely one com­plaint. This alone was not even related ­to cancelling the classes, it was a conc­ern where we had a discussion but moved ­on to continue with the classes.

The classes were cancelled? Even the on­e most informed to speak is tang­led in the word.

Scharf said she felt there was a person­al grudge against her and the appropriat­ion angle was just an excuse, which isn’­t easily provable, but if so perhaps thi­s person was the one not advertising the­ class (which is what Scharf attributes ­the non-attendance to, but she doesn’t p­oint fingers as I just did). By her account, the decision to cancel the class had been decided at the beginning of this semester, saying in this interview the Centre, “wanted to cancel my classes in September. I pursued them to try and make a compromise where we could still run the classes. One single person, whom I have chosen not to name out of compassion, took it up as a cause to fight against and pushed the rest of the students to cater to their will. … I did everything I could to facilitate this discussion, and was stonewalled at every turn.”

I don’t kno­w about flyering, but looking at the Cen­tre’s events page ­ there are listings beginning in Septembe­r, but no mention of any exercise class. ­Their Facebook ­ page shows advertising, however, it was­n’t advertised as yoga, but as “Free Wee­kly Fitness Sessions” and 4 times for th­ree classes: September 21st (the day befor­e), 22nd (it was cancelled), 29th (the day it occurred), and final­ly as their cover picture, up from O­ctober 5 to November 9. It gives the timesp­an they’re available, but not the day of­ the week they take place on.

The class ­was decided to be cancelled November 15th (the d­ay before an 8th class would happen); a ­month and a half of no one attending a f­itness class, not a yoga class. Scrollin­g back on their Facebook page, there is a mention­ of it as yoga in spring (and no mention of fitnes­s), and regular tweeting ­ until this semester.

So, this was ­a yoga class, or no? Was the lack of tur­n out due to calling it ‘fitness’ rather t­han yoga? This shows the­ story about a French translation of “min­dful stretching” not able to be be arrived at was a relic — “fitness” and “forme-santé” had been decided on, and adds support to Scharf’s saying the decision to cancel class had been decided in September.

Yoga is known in the west for flexibility and stress-reduction; it can be much more than this, but these are the reason westerners start (see the Yoga Journal survey, the comprehensive Yoga in Australia survey (they’re working on a global survey which you can a sign up for; dunno how far they are on it though)). It is known to connect breath and physical movement in a way that “fitness” does not; I can’t speak to “forme-santé” but to me “fitness” is all about aerobics.

How then did Ahimakin g­et so off track? He was acting president and VP of services and communication, so perhaps it is an unreasonable expectation that he should be straight forward? Looking at how he got to his offic­es shows what results from a student bod­y that doesn’t care about it elected off­icers: a president and communications of­ficial unable to rally or communicate ef­fectively with the students he is suppos­ed to serve.

Last February, Ahimakin ran and lost by 39 votes for Vice-President of Services and Communications of the SFUO on the Impact slate (slate=party/ticket; they were the ones to call racism the reason the racialized center wasn't approved). Impact was accused at the time of election violations- flyering too close to the polling stations, and worse: using a list of cell numbers they shouldn’t have had access to to text ads to voters. In May he was appointed to the position he lost after the winner resigned; others complained they were given no chance to apply (among other issues, the position was advertised on a Friday, only days before the application deadline the following Wednesday). In July, he was appointed president when the president resigned, and in last month’s by-election to fill several vacancies (which is not unusual) won the post he lost in February, with a ~4% turnout (February’s election was ~11.5%). Now-president Hebert had to be elected in a second by-election a few weeks later, because even though she ran unopposed, there was an error in the constitution that didn’t allow the vote. She won 100 yes to 86 no (a ~0.3% turnout), and the administrative board’s vote to ratify the vote was 14-6. Despite this Ahimakin said, “The turnout was what it was, but I think it’s fair to say that the students who went out and voted made a clear choice...It’s important to realize that was a democratic vote.”

The latest (before the yoga story broke) is the failed General Assembly, the third in a row to not make quorum (meaning no bills could be passed due to low attendance; the others were November 2014 and March 2015), and what blame there is goes entirely on the communications department and the president, Ahimakin, and maybe me, because what did I do to help, I didn’t care about student elections.

The SFUO is clunky and unstable, exactly what I expect from student governance, and naturally there are all sorts of “reasons” for these dysfunctions, but there is no reason to take Ahimakin at his word, more so given his organizing failure and willingness to use bureaucratic quasi-speak. There is another election coming up, perhaps someone intelligent and motivated will be able to move the student body to show up against incompetence.

Scharf also initially didn't mention she was paid, and Remski uses this to complete the villiany, saying, “So, with just a little digging, it now looks like the yoga class might have ultimately been suspended due to lack of attendance and a possible personnel issue involving a paid instructor.” No mention of whether this is $1 or $100/class; what Scarf wrote to him (she kindly published the exchange) was, “I have been paid in some years and not in others. I received a small stipend in some years that the student centre offered me. The class was always free for students.” She presents the payment as a gift from the Centre, but Remski wrote that “in some year she was paid ‘a small stipend for tax purposes’”- which one changed the text of the emails?

The exchange also shows her comment about feeling personally attacked came from Remski asking about an anonymous source that “gave a hearsay report” — there’s a girl-fight gazing in this for me, but her so-called opponent, whose voice is the one needing and wanting to be heard, is silent.

With all these crannies the story has, Remski says, “The Ottawa Sun and every outlet that quoted or plagiarized it constitute a high-speed clickbait echo chamber designed to find what it’s looking for, and report on it in the language they’ve market-tested on its readership. This can only distort issues and bolster dominant narratives.” He positions himself as the hero, the one who’s thought it through, done the real reporting, when it has only made an incomplete puzzle with an agenda and narrative of his own, as removed from what may be going on as the first report; sometimes the underdog is as much the fool.

The second part of Remski’s article is about the distortions the cancellation story took as various media outlets and opinionists propagated the story. It is good to talk of this, our distraction, pain catastrophizing, screens and windows always separating from physical existence. Unfortunately we like to stick to our preferred narrative, and bathe in irony as if that would wash it away.

The third part is his own coming of awareness story, his learning about appropriation and the ways he was ignorant of it. This part shows how much he has to learn, not for what he admits, but for what he omits, namely: his unmentioned book threads of yoga, which literally appropriates one of the most important texts on yoga, writing over and erasing the text to advance his own collection of European thought, erasing the authority, respect and profundity even as it is used as a prop for his own ideas. He did the same again a year ago, writing over the text in support of the non-privileged. Rather than calling it the revision it is, he uses “remix” to give a “sharp critique of some old ideas that I believe no longer serve contemporary yoga.” The revised “sutras” can be read here, different from the book being absent the commentary needed to fully imitate the sutra form. It is meant to feel close to the original, and to improve it. While the special intensity, clarity, and depth the original imparts goes missing even in the the closest translation, unlike his “experimental translation” they intend to point to the meanings of the text. Erasure is central to appropriation, with the original context of the item or idea removed to showcase the appropriator. Ideas and corrections can be ejaculated without needing the cultural caché of sacred literature to sell them.

His coming of awareness points to another hypocrisy: his chastisement of Scharf for not being familiar with the varieties of South Asian and Hindu voices, when they’re new to him too, and her not knowing what ‘intersectional’ is. He doesn’t understand intersectional, as Scharf’s 7 years teaching at the Centre meant nothing to him, with not one question about her methodology or insights gained teaching or how to teach, instead asking nothing but trap-questions, nothing about her being shut out. He complains, “Additionally, not a single writer who rehashed the Sun story interviewed any actual people with disabilities who attend the Centre’s programming to ask how they felt about the class review.” when he did not, and Centre staff have been unreachable, and finding these people would mostly likely require an invasion of their privacy.

‘Intersectional’ is an important word, and new languaging is an important way to open the frames in which we understand control, but I see the term as a way to not talk about patriarchy, itself the most pervasive cruelty humans set on themselves. Patriarchy is what I see at play in the need to both vilify and ignore Scharf, to plunge her down so the reader considers her a non-person.

See also the comments to this blog’ response to another of Remski’s articles, for some insight into the power dynamics interviewers should be wary of, his steady failure at this, and the flaws inherent in his ‘What Are We Doing In Asana' project, not to mention the woman's injury (caused by a student bumping into her) he uses to advance his ideas.

Almost two years ago, there was a big stir about It Happened To Me: There Are No Black People In My Yoga Classes And I’m Suddenly Feeling Uncomfortable With It which described the author’s awakening to her own privilege/whiteness, and there was a huge pile-on about how ignorant the article and author was, her projection, objectification, and white guilt. Trying to express sympathy and awareness, she didn’t recognize her own supremacist thinking. But, people are devoted to the villianous-virtuous dynamic, and her villainy excused bullying, even changing her name to a pseudonym was met with ridicule. Her public apology didn’t make the rounds in any way; who is listening?

Safe spaces are making headway in North America because North America is a supremacist culture that uses insults, physical brutality and social isolation to pave over those outside the supremacist fold (ie. ‘white,’ a category which now includes Jews and is moving to include non-Muslims with semeticish features and darker skin like Nikki Haley that support Euro-American values and political power). Safe spaces are exclusionary spaces (yet if you are walking in fear of your personal safety, everywhere is), and are divisive as they remind us of the environment they exist within. We would not have separate-sex toilets (at least the need for them) were it not for patriarchy, yet this separation is praised. Affirmative action is meant to integrate, but in supremacist fear and separation, separation habituates. Honest introspection and willingness to admit we act and habituate the pathetic is needed. There is no need for nobility. Without nobility patriarchy can be subsumed into intersectional stuff without pretending the supremacist voices in us have been sealed.

Yoga can help, but helps only to an end; yoga is for mokṣa but its elements can be used to reenforce social strictures, as Brahmins did using prāṇāyāma to maintain purity when touched by low caste and menstruating people, who they considered impure. It can also be used to address our biases and ignorance, opening the field by revealing the notion of the fence. Everyone has their own stories, but who is listening to peace, to the quiet?

****I’ve edited for clarity, and added the quote from Ottawa Magazine and link to The Buddhi Blog; peace to you!