first. Then once the community knows individual needs, then the community can act to solve that need. What future are you hoping your Black and brown wellness community gets to experience? Taylor-Theba: The future that I’m hoping for is that we really take a perspective where the goal is always balance, something that you can learn from nature. The goal is not optimum performance or maximization. The idea is balancing the masculine and the feminine. It is balancing the natural and the technological. When you work towards that goal, you will consider all of the elements – personalities, the history and the future. That is a very nature-based way of seeing the world, when our goal is maintaining balance. We see health as the outcome of the pursuit of balance. We do not consider all the aspects. In considering emotional well-being as foundational to physical wellbeing, is a really big difference. We think health looks a certain way, we end up pursuing the aesthetic of thinness, not actual health. [What] we should be saying is: Do I have a balanced relationship with food? Do I have a balanced relationship with movement? Do I have a balanced relationship in my relationships? Do I have a balanced relationship with money? Consumerism is what will kill us. Consumption. We don’t see consumerism as the enemy. Consumerism leads to commodification. Commodification is the enemy of culture, of the creative spark. I think inside the concept of culture is the concept of rituals. Inside of the concept of nature is the concept of rhythm, when we can align and feel these, we become happier. So as a wellness community, we want our members to really understand that culture is the foundation of our wellbeing, that connecting to the rhythm and cycles of life are foundational to being in balance, and being in balance is the pursuit. And it’s a daily pursuit. For the full Q&A, visit RacismUnveiled.org.
“Slow Roll” facilitator Anthony Taylor-Theba welcomes riders.
to see themselves growing. So that’s how we do it. I never would let you go alone the first three, four times, you get a lesson every single time. We do it as a community. And the goal was building community. It’s not learning to ski. It’s actually being a part of a skiing community of Black people. And then broadly you feel like you’re supported by people. So that’s a shift that is opposite. The European paradigm of outdoors, which is the rugged individualism. That’s the ethos sometimes that we sell of outdoors – it’s about rugged individualism. Proud suffering. And I’m saying, no, it’s skill-building. All the things you need to survive are skills. So let me show you the skills in order so that you can feel successful. And if you feel successful, I want you to come back. And that’s the way we do it. So you have to have that introduction in a way that really makes you feel good about yourself. And if you do that, you’ll come back. The other part of it though, that’s the equipment side of it. We run a program called Melanin In Motion, and Melanin In Motion is all about outdoor activities. The thing I find about outdoor sports – because I think that’s very particular, wellness is different – outdoor sports, gear is an obstacle. But this is our goal: build community first. Build community first, don’t worry about gear. Build a community of people that support each other. What happens inside community is equipment rotates, but the problem is getting into the community. Once you’re in the community, people buy new gear, they hand it down and it starts to rotate… But because we don’t build community first, we always have the obstacle of gear. So that’s our goal. We build community
This story is part of the Racism Unveiled digital storytelling project with generous funding from the Otto Bremer Trust, HealthPartners and the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation.
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