Juneteenth 2021 — Our Bible App

Day 1 of 5: Kayla Walker

Juneteenth.
A time for community, cookouts, connection.
An opening to celebration, love, and joy.
A deep bow, a head nod, deep reverence to the Blackness in me, you, us.

That’s what I envisioned when my homie Jade from high school invited me to a Black Ass Camping Experience. A weekend in the woods with some of my favorite Blacks being Blackity Black Black. Grilling meat, moving to Anita Baker and Beyoncé, sharing kikis around a campfire.

Then, Jade asked me to lead a yoga and meditation class with the intention of encouraging our groundedness, in light of the past year’s trauma and all that we’ve experienced seeing US killed recklessly. Jade went on to ask that I invite us to heal our intergenerational curses and remove any barriers that prevent us from aligning with our light.

Full stop.

I was like… okay so you want me to address all this in a lil one hour yoga practice??? I had to laugh. It was funny for a minute — until I read Jade’s text again and felt all the grief in her ask.

Yes, Juneteenth is a celebration of Black family, community, love.
And.
After such a vulnerable ask, I cannot ignore that Juneteenth — of 2021 in particular — is also an opportunity to grieve with our Black family, communities, beloveds.

Jade stopped me in my tracks to consider one of my favorite questions: How can we honor and transform the shadow as we turn towards the light?

Now, I’ll save you the rant about all the ways that yogic traditions and practices encourage the cultivation of the spiritual energies of grounding, opening, grieving, and transforming.

The question I ask of my yoga teachings this Juneteenth hopes to approach a simple entry point to a complex conversation:

>How might we embody a balance of grounding AND opening on our yoga mats that encourages a similar energetic expression in our lives off the mat?

I’m reminded of Padma Mudra, or Lotus Seal. Padma Mudra is a heart-opening hand gesture where we bring our hands in front of our hearts in prayer (Anjali Mudra). Then, keeping our groundedness through the pinkies, thumbs, and base of our two hands, we find an opening through the pointer, middle, and ring fingers.

Padma Mudra carries the energy of the lotus flower, which floats atop murky, muddy waters and unfurls toward the sun with ease and beauty. Ain’t a Black person alive who ain’t embodied THAT energy.

So yeah, this Juneteenth?
We gon grieve. We gon ground into Mother Earth below us.
We gon celebrate. We gon open our hearts to receive an easeful love.
We gon do it together. We gon do it together. We gon do it together.
Like we been doing.

Happy Juneteenth, Black folk. I love you for real.

Kayla Walker (she/they) is a dreamer, lover, and hanging out enthusiast who has co-created communities of care for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ folk for the last decade. Currently, Kayla holds space for BIPOC to gather round the proverbial campfire and ritualize connection and creativity in a storytelling community, Called Home.

Juneteenth: Full Stop

Day 1 of 5: Kayla Walker

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