On a mild Sunday last May, I walked into a room filled with black and brown faces. Women with shea butter-kissed skin and tresses ranging from afros to twists to braids to locs perched on yoga mats, some stretching, others sitting serenely, looking around the room in anticipation. Apart from my sister at my side, I didn’t know anyone there. Yet, I immediately felt a sense of community. I immediately felt at home.
We sat in a large circle. One-by-one, moving counterclockwise around the group, we introduced ourselves and shared anecdotes about our experiences with mental health. Some teared up as they shared long-ago and recent traumas. Others celebrated accomplishments and stories of renewal — triumphant testimonies.
I was one of the last to share, and sat in awe of the strength and sincerity on display among strangers. I spoke of feeling a constant state of transition — physically, mentally and emotionally — over the past year. I spoke of feelings of loneliness in the absence of black female friends where I lived. The words caught in my throat and I was surprised by the tears forming in my eyes. I rarely emote that way, especially when surrounded by people I’ve just met. But that’s the power of Black Girl In Om.
“The overwhelming thing that I hear literally every single session from at least one person is … this idea of never have I ever entered a space with like all black and brown women … being in a space of positivity and affirmation and vulnerability,” said Lauren Ash, Black Girl In Om founder and executive director.
Ash, a 200-hour yoga certified teacher, established Black Girl In Om (BGIO) in 2014 after a series of serendipitous encounters. The holistic wellness lifestyle brand “creates space for women of color to breathe easy.” This space manifests in the form of a monthly Self-Care Sunday series, Om — an online publication featuring stories categorized under mind, body, soul and space — a podcast, new book club and a gorgeously curated social media presence that reaches women of color far beyond Chicago.
Ash was working an unfulfilling 9-to-5 job when she decided to complete yoga teacher training to focus her time outside work on something more meaningful. She said she was in a yoga class when the phrase Black Girl In Om came to her.
“I started to just kind of like reflect on what does this mean, what does it mean for me to be a black woman in a very white, traditionally white space?” she said. “Like literally just looking around and seeing that I was more often than not the only woman of color and you know, rarely if ever had a black woman guiding class. … I knew what it felt like to actually be surrounded by other women of color in a space and like that feel-good kind of familial kind of energy. I was like, ‘Why can’t that be in a space like this?'”
Visit the BGIO website or Instagram page, and it’s immediately clear this is a brand created by women of color, for women of color.
“One thing that we preach a lot is just being unapologetic about your blackness,” said Deun Ivory, BGIO’s Art Director.
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“I’m a really big advocate of us telling our own stories. There’s a difference between, like, creating something about black people for white people. So I’m really intentional and always rooted in that philosophy,” Ash said.
Ash and Ivory strive to make wellness affordable and accessible for women of color. Self-Care Sunday classes cost $20, and BGIO has collaborated with other Chicago groups and spaces — like skincare shop Scratch Goods — to offer free or inexpensive programming. The BGIO podcast features conversations on topics including nutrition, mindfulness, and meditation. Both say their viewpoints on holistic wellness have changed since Black Girl In Om.
Because of the prevalence of trauma and mental health issues in the black community, Ash stresses the importance of incorporating more preventive wellness practices into a daily lifestyle.
“We’re not the cure-all for everything, but it’s like we are one resource that I believe is very powerful in a holistic sense for those in need,” she said.
Click to read the full story and learn more about Black Girl In Om.