This has been a tough, tough week and it’s only Wednesday. As an American woman of colour, it has been my privilege to serve you as Managing Director for the last five years. I don’t often pen a message directly – I let the products and the service speak for themselves. But this week is different.

We serve a worldwide yoga community – a community built on the principles of yoga – non-violence (ahimsa), compassion (daya) and truth-telling (satya). Many in our community have been shaken to their core and are feeling the collective anxiety of the continuous racial injustice of the world.

News from my family, messages from my friends and the reports from journalists in the USA are filled with such darkness. Such pain. Such brokenness.

The brutal and hugely disturbing death of George Floyd on 25 May 2020 that has sent shock waves around the globe was sadly not the first at the hands of those who are appointed to serve.

I fear it won’t be the last.

I have no answers, but I must stand up for what is right. I represent a business that also stands up for what matters.

So, we at Yogamatters stand alongside those who are marginalised and disadvantaged simply because of the colour of their skin.

We at Yogamatters invite you – our teachers, customers and studios – to stand with us because Black Lives Matter.

We have no agenda or clever call to action, we simply ask that you join us in calling out injustice and racism whenever and wherever you see it.

Yoga and well-being have been front of mind for everyone during the lockdown – no top 10 list of things to do was complete without yoga and meditation.

May we as a yoga community keep justice and hope for our world front of mind as we stand up against those, and the systems, who would divide us by our skin colour and our heritage.

May we stay safe and stand tall together.

Twanna