The One Thing I Wish I Had Learnt Sooner is…
The one thing I wish I had learnt sooner, both personally and professionally is…
How to be more comfortable in my own skin.
My beautiful, controversial, loved and hated brown skin.
Brown skin that had been used as a means to control, dominate, subjugate, manipulate, disempower and disenfranchise for centuries.
I have spent much of my childhood and younger years hating my skin. Hating its shade, its itchy texture from eczema. As I got older, the texture cleared but the internal battle only got worse. I understood quickly that lighter skin would mean better marriage proposals, better job opportunities, better quality of life. Even now, I look at all the different shades of brown on my body after being on a sunny holiday, and I have so many big feelings.
It has taken YEARS to unpack these feelings. I learned that this notion has a name. Internalised racial inferiority, or when we accept and act inferior because historically, that’s what we’ve always felt like. And this in turn leading to things like colorism, ethnocentrism and feelings of self-doubt and shame. I’m sure every person of colour has experienced this to a certain degree. Growing up in the Middle East and in a primarily Caucasian pre-mass immigration Canada, and as a 4th generation Kenyan Indian, my entire definition of race has been turned on its head right from the start!
Learning to become comfortable with one’s skin is a journey every person, especially every person of colour, takes, at some point in their life, be it consciously or subconsciously, in order to try and accept ourselves and make sense of the world both inside and outside of us.
Self-acceptance is the epitome of wellness and the gateway to our true goal of Yoga; Samadhi. So I would argue, if you truly want to practise Yoga authentically, then learning to love and accept your skin is absolutely essential to your Sadhana or your personal Yogic journey.
Does any of this resonate with you? Have you ever had similar feelings about your own skin? Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.