Actions for Peace

Cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

As your awareness expands, change happens — a visceral change that influences other aspects of your life, revealing points of evolution in profound and dynamic ways. So we wondered: are people who practice yoga and meditation more likely to be the citizens who respond to calls to action? If so, why?

We asked three Iowa practitioners to share their experiences of how yoga provided a pivotal point in the formation of advocacy, business, and involvement — and how their practices continue to reinforce these efforts.

Mackenzie (Ken) Appleby

Cedar Rapids
Breathing Room Yoga

I’m organizing a free monthly yoga practice specifically for transgender and non-binary (genderqueer) community members. Transgender people are individuals whose gender expression isn’t the same as their assigned sex. Non-binary/genderqueer folks (myself included) are persons who don’t identify exclusively feminine or masculine.

The inspiration for the project starts with a close friend of mine. Let’s call him Sam. Sam came out as transgender about two years ago, shortly after he started his journey with hormone replacement therapy to combat his gender dysphoria and become his true self. During my training to become a yoga instructor, Sam expressed an interest, but was nervous, since he wasn’t comfortable with his body, let alone others seeing him in a vulnerable light.

Reflect to your own first yoga class. Were you a little anxious? Imagine how daunting it would be if you weren’t comfortable in your own skin! Sam began his yoga experience in my living room, where he didn’t feel the need to bind his chest, and could move freely without fear of judgment. After a few rounds at my place I convinced him to take the plunge and attend a free class taught by my good friend, Sarah Cram Driscoll. The very next day, Sam texted me and said the 60-minute practice from the night before had helped soothe his anxieties and allowed him to get the best sleep he had in years.

Reflecting on Sam’s experience and my own, I’ve come up with a plan of action to offer others in our clan the chance to give back to themselves. Yoga gives us the opportunity to look inward, to seek love and peace within inside us. I’ll be reaching out to Gay Straight Alliances (GSA) at local high schools to contact with the younger generations, in addition to colleges, and the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City LGBTQ groups. I invite you to share this with others! My hope is that by making yoga accessible in a safe and tranquil environment, lives may be touched.

Vivette Perry

Des Moines
Shakti Yoga

Picture this: a young woman growing up in the 1960s during a time of racial unrest in the south. Born and raised in Memphis, where Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968 at the Lorraine Motel, my mother, Viola, participated in sit-ins and marches, advocating for civil and equal rights.

Listening to her, a former educator, recall these memories is humbling and fascinating to me, since I didn’t endure these trials growing up. Nevertheless, she raised me to fight for what I believe in, to stand even if no one else is with you. This is the fiber and the strength that runs through my veins. Participating in marches, rallies, and parades is second nature. My latest endeavor was rallying at the Des Moines Women’s March On January 21, 2017. Mom couldn’t attend, so I stood in the gap for her. It was a humbling, uplifting, and enlightening moment for me as well as many others across the world.

The path of enlightenment is something that I seek every time I step on to my yoga mat. This path hasn’t been easy — even challenging at times — bringing up fears, anger, and regret, wondering “Can I do more?” “Can I make a difference?” In these trying times, I must remember to hold on to my breath, my inner peace, and allow that “this too shall pass.” I set an intention to be aware of these things. Turning my attention inward allows me to breathe, find calm, and be still, all while providing the strength to carry these characteristics off my mat and into everyday life. Holding compassion and understanding for others as well as unifying others as one is something I send out into the universe for the greater good — which we need now more than ever. This is the energy my practice affords me. Since we’re all human, all of us deserve basic human rights. Standing on the shoulders of all those who came before me is why I protest, march, make calls, and send letters for those that don’t have a voice, because as Mom always tells me, “How do you know where you’re going if you don’t know where you came from?”

Ciji Mitrisin

Des Moines
Shakti Yoga and Power Life Yoga

My true relationship with yoga started as a way to continue my dedication to RecycleMe Iowa’s (RMI) progress. Before RMI, my yoga practice consisted of watching a P90X yoga video once a week and stopping at the 30-minute mark. Then, in the midst of the extreme excitement, chaos, and stress that comes with starting a business, my social media intern invited me to a yoga class at the old Harmony Yoga studio in Des Moines. This is where the commitment began and I felt the need for yoga in my life. For an hour, a teacher guided movement and breath with such encouraging words, helping adjust my body to align with the poses correctly. The next thing you know, the class was over and I left the studio feeling lighter, less stressed, and calmer. I was hooked.

Yoga slowly became the main ingredient in my new business venture-filled life. It provided a sense of willpower and determination off the mat when difficult business decisions needed to be met. Since 2010, RMI has walked an uphill battle in a land-locked, landfill-prized city, taking on many issues in the waste industry. We provide door-step services for apartment tenants with no recycling dumpsters, execute recycling programs for businesses with environmental standards, and work with vendors and event organizers to divert event waste away from the landfill. I hope to make the amount of recycling going to landfills due to lack of convenient services a thing of the past.

When critics said it won’t work, I would turn to my yoga practice to stay grounded in believing Des Moines residents could adopt a landfill free system given the proper tools and services. Knowing I’ve held more difficult positions in yoga than holding my ground in a board room always adds a little extra confidence going into meetings. Whether it’s focusing on breathing through difficult conversations or digging the four corners of your feet into the floor to stand your ground, you can almost hear your yogi voice say, “Just breathe, you got this.”

This article was originally published in YogaIowa’s Spring 2017 issue.