This week is Mental Health Awareness Week.
Mindwalk Yoga exists to reach people who wouldn’t normally think Yoga is for them with anxiety and stress relieving therapeutic yoga practices. Inclusivity is built into the DNA of the enterprise which basically means listening, engaging, building bridges, being innovative, and being ready to change course in a moment. All things that make life exciting and make yoga truly come to life, moment by moment.
The mainstream wellness industry is not a reflection of our diverse society. It is a reflection of our unfair, privileged world. Let’s change this.
Racism, discrimination, social and economic inequalities all impact mental health disorders leaving BAME and deprived communities hardest hit and least served by the wellness sector.
#KindnessMatters - let’s stop just looking at BAME mental health stats, let’s start to look at our role in these stats, what does that mean for me, my job, my community, my family, my friends, people I see in the street. Can we as a society begin to grow empathy and consideration and change course because of these stats?
COVID-19 has exacerbated the situation because of the disproportionate death rates for Black and Asian people.
Acknowledgment of the context around these stats is vital - from managers who hold biases and let them dictate how they treat their workforce, to NHS staff who might treat BAME employees or patients with less care, to blatantly racist immigration legislation that passes without proper scrutiny. This can change and it starts with the individual. It starts with me and you speaking up, looking again, challenging, and with time, progressing.
Right now, my role is pointing this out and asking for others to listen, look at themselves, their environments and to be more aware of how their own bias plays out in their lives, and most importantly, what impact does it have on the mental health of the people around us?
