What happened at Kindness yoga?

Kindness Yoga was embroiled recently by accusations of racism and poor treatment of its BIPOC and LGBTQ teachers. These accusations had merit. They were met initially with a certain blind resistance, now known as white fragility and defensiveness, and then within 24 hours, the company closed.

Why did Kindness yoga closed?

Kindness Yoga called out: Weakened by coronavirus, 9 studios close after Instagram campaign exposes rift over race. A hashtag led to hundreds of cancellations just as the company was readying to reopen. A photo posted to the Kindness Yoga Instagram account in November 2018.

Who are the yoga teachers at kindness yoga?

In interviews with The Colorado Sun, yoga teachers Jordan Smiley, who is Indigenous and transgender, and Davidia Turner, who is Black, said the white management team at Kindness was not willing to put in the work to make change.

When did kindness yoga begin in Cherry Creek?

Kindness Yoga, which began in 2001 with one Cherry Creek studio called Yoga Energi, had an outward reputation of inclusivity — with its earthy studios in Capitol Hill and Hilltop, gender-neutral bathrooms and person-of-color yoga nights where “white friends and allies” were asked to “respectfully refrain from attending.”

Why was kindness yoga called out on social media?

Harrington, a straight, white guy who expanded Kindness to nine studios and 160 employees across metro Denver, announced last week that he was closing them all after a handful of yoga teachers, including a Black woman and a transgender man, called out Kindness on social media for “performative activism” and “tokenization of Black and brown bodies.”

When is kindness yoga going to be reopening?

Harrington, 47, announced June 19 that Kindness was closing and that it would not reopen on July 1 as planned. The membership cancellations made “what was going to be a monumental task in reopening near impossible,” he said in an Instagram post and email shared with his 1,300 members and hundreds of other drop-in yoga students.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fayaTARX77Q