The Idea Behind that created Black Boys OM

Written by  Danny Angelo Fluker Jr

I had been practicing yoga for few years. I started because my chest was tight and I was holding my breath for extended moments throughout the day, every day, and having to remind myself to breathe. I had anxiety because I had lost my dream job and missed several mortgage payments on my condo. This was 2015 into 2016.

At the suggestion of a friend I had gone to a Chinese herbalist who told me that I had a lot of energy blockages and recommended Tai Chi and Yoga. I think I may have taken one or two Tai Chi classes and months later I stumbled on free Yoga in the park.

From that first yoga session in the park (near the skatepark on the Beltline in Atlanta specifically ) I noticed I was breathing better. I ended up returning to the free park sessions for as long as they lasted that summer.

My first teachers after Tai Chi and the Yoga Park session were a Black man at a major franchise yoga studio that I would later end up taking my first yoga teacher training at. I deeply appreciated the fact that both my Tai Chi teacher as well as my Yoga Teacher in that major franchise studio were both Black men. I saw myself in them and felt comfortable attending their classes as I explored these modalities that felt foreign.

Another Black male teacher I was blessed to learn up under was, Brandon Copeland. Brandon had these phenomenal Trap Yoga classes that was the most embodied and connected I felt at the time. The music, paired with Brandon’s teaching and the energy of the full warehouse where we all practiced just elevated my experience and love of yoga. I also deeply enjoyed practicing with Black people, led by a Black teacher , with Black music. Brandon would just casually drop yogic wisdom that would literally change my experience of life. We would be in the middle of a challenging pose and he would say

“Don’t want anything”

I remember thinking, “wow, imagine not wanting anything, what freedom!”

I would later learn that Brandon was the creator of Trap Yoga as he found it life giving as he married his Yoga asana practice to Trap music during his time as a student at Howard University.

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