I was born in Venezuela. My mom is Cuban. My dad is Argentinean. They met in Puerto Rico. I was raised in Miami, the melting pot of all Hispanic countries. If you hear me speak Spanish you will see how unique my accent and choice of mixed words are.
Spanish is the third top language spoken in the world and the second most spoken language in the United States.
So for a presidential candidate of the United States (Donald Trump) to speak down to Hispanics in such a blanket way without considering this statistic only shows an unfortunate level of ignorance.
My Latin blood starts to boil when I see how Trump has inspired and divided people by clumping Hispanics and other ethnicities into one group of uneducated, violent criminals: read this.
My impulsive reaction is to stand up, fight, call him names, and belittle him. Somehow I think that will make me feel better, but it won’t. Calling Trump names has the same effects as him calling us names. Luckily I am educated enough (thanks to my immigrant parents putting me through good schools in the US) and am not impulsive (thanks to 16 years of studying yoga in the US as an immigrant) that I pause and look at the circumstance objectively. I ask myself questions and logically deduce that what he is saying is false so I disregard it. International yoga teacher, Eric Paskel, wisely states, “Donald can’t trump us. Only our minds can.”
I am also reminded of a quote by Maurice Maeterlinck who eloquently said, “Happy and blessed hour, when wickedness stands forth revealed as goodness bereft of its guide.” This means that you will remain happy when you have the perspective of seeing the worst person as the best person without proper guidance instead of judging them and harboring negative feelings about them. By remembering this quote, I remain calm and peaceful and I take the necessary actions in a well thought-out plan to make a positive change.
My plan is to ignite “El Movimiento Consciente” (A Conscious Movement) in the states that helps Hispanics rise up by giving them the tools through the yoga teachings. There are so many Spanish-speaking communities across the world who have yet to experience the benefits of yoga because they don’t have access to it, and my goal for this movement is to create an abundance of opportunities for them to practice in their native tongue and to experience all of its gifts. The only way to eliminate ignorance is with education that is unbiased and grounded in ancient truths that apply to all.
Side Note: I went to college in Memphis, Tennessee and I was 1 of maybe 4 “Mexicans” in the entire school. I put Mexican in quotes because this was the first time I learned how uneducated some parts of America are about Hispanic countries and culture. Many students thought that all Hispanics were Mexican and didn’t know about the 21 other countries that are considered Latin. They also didn’t know that there were many different dialects of Spanish speakers. I was astonished as to the lack of education regarding this basic geography.
Since I like to take on challenges, I am here as a yoga teacher and as a grateful Hispanic to merge these worlds together in the US. The main issue is that there aren’t the same resources available to Spanish speakers as there are for English speakers so they can’t get educated in the same ways. So El Movimiento Consciente starts with some of the basics needing to be covered. Some actions towards this movement are outlined below:
- Partnership with Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health to launch the first Spanish Yoga Teacher Training in the US. This will create a trickle down of Set for July 2016.
- Launch of an 8-week Yoga Philosophy Webinar to help learn yoga principles for lasting happiness and peace. Set for Summer 2016.
- Launch of a comprehensive yoga video library in Spanish. Set for Fall 2016.
- Support from like-minded Latin celebrities to help spread the word and message about the need to seek the higher ideal and promote this positivity.
- Working together with a charity to help inspire Karma Yoga.
- Offering yoga, philosophy and meditation classes to Hispanic communities that otherwise wouldn’t have access to it.
I would consider myself a bit of a rebel in the way that I don’t do things the ‘normal’ way or the expected way. I created a yoga teacher training where the main focus is on developing your inner self and your intellect versus developing the perfect physical poses. Their alignment is covered in detail but with the substratum being much deeper than the superficial expression of the pose. I also created a kids yoga teacher training called Super Yogis Schoolhouse Training to help adults and teachers think beyond the accepted social norms of how to approach kids by honoring them from a place of deeper truth of safety, love and empowerment.
My wish is that at some point these offerings and many more will be as readily available to Spanish-speakers as they are to English-speakers.
Let’s bring the Hispanic community together in a brighter, new light!
VIP NOTE: If you want to help or be involved somehow with this Movimiento Consciente by providing resources, making contacts, giving ideas, anything that you think could be helpful to make this more powerful please email me at rina@rinayoga.com.
-Rina
