How The Wellness Movement Ostracizes Women Of Color

By Salma Haidrani

Women of color like me aren’t just invisible in health and wellness. We’re not welcome.

After months of emails from the local yoga studio, I finally signed up for my first class on a whim. I envisioned myself clad in cute matching spandex outfits, getting centered and serene, maybe even mastering the downward dog.

But within 20 minutes after arriving, I found I couldn’t quite relax. It wasn’t the music or the mats, sweaty as they were from the session before. It finally dawned on me: There wasn’t a single other non-white person in the room. I felt conspicuous, even exposed.

Much has been made of yoga’s lack of inclusivity in recent years. The practice might have hailed from India, but it’s long been associated with white, lithe, and affluent women; a 2008 NIH study showed that 85% of U.S. yoga practitioners were white and 79% were women. Even so, London is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, and Camden — the location of my studio — was home to some of the most vibrant multicultural communities in the capital. I expected to see at least a few brown faces.

But there wasn’t a single one, besides me. And it just kept happening.