Permutations of Yoga

How this Ancient Science finds many expressions through specific persons

One of the biggest take aways I reflected on during my time in Thailand is that Yoga as a Science has uncountable permutations.

Yes there are lineages and styles of Yoga.

Also there are individuals who are so transformed by it that it touches and moves through them back into the world into something entirely new, or if not new, uniquely expressed through the individual it transformed.

An example of this is Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, revered as the “Father of Modern Yoga,” who revitalized Hatha traditions while integrating postural elements inspired by the fitness culture and physical training methods of his time. He emphasized breath-linked movement, therapeutic application, and disciplined practice, and his students, Pattabhi Jois, B.K.S. Iyengar, Indra Devi, and his son T.K.V. Desikachar, carried these innovations into distinct schools that shaped global yoga culture.

Another example is Nevine Michaan, a woman who created Katonah Yoga, a syncretic practice rooted in Taoist theory, sacred geometry, and metaphor to reorganize the body for greater function and joy. It blends traditional yogic postures with precise mapping, measured angles, and archetypal imagery to help practitioners see themselves more clearly and inhabit their lives with greater agency.

There are so many examples, there’s Face Yoga, Thai Yoga, Chinese Yoga, Christian Yoga and so many other permutations.

One of my own teachers, Brandon Copeland, owner of Khepera Wellness married his love of Ashtanga Yoga with Trap music while a student at Howard University and created Trap Yoga.

Recently I’ve been allowing myself to navigate and document the history of Black Boys OM in a series of posts, I have written it in three parts, you can read the first here and the second part here, there’s at least one more part I have yet to write, maybe two.

When I decided to turn Black Boys OM into a School of Yoga I had to ensure that a specific yoga lineage and a specific philosophy were articulated in the curriculum. The Krama Lineage of Yoga was chosen and the philosophy of Non Dual Kashmir Shivaism was chosen.

The Krama lineage offers a progressive and intentional approach to practice that honors steady unfolding, integration, and the refinement of awareness over time. Non Dual Kashmir Shivaism teaches that the divine is fully present within each of us and that liberation comes from recognizing our inherent wholeness rather than striving for it outside ourselves.

The Krama lineage arose in medieval Kashmir as a tantric school focused on the step by step expansion of awareness through stages of practice. Kashmir Shaivism developed alongside it as a non dual tradition shaped by teachers like Abhinavagupta who taught that all of life is the expression of one living consciousness.

I started to think though, twenty years from now, if someone stumbled across Black Boys OM website would they say Black Boys OM was a type of Yoga?

I don’t know. There’s no way to know.

But it got me thinking, if Black Boys OM was a type of Yoga what type of Yoga would it be?

On the official Black Boys OM School of Yoga webpage it states:

To Remember Wholeness

To Awaken through Yoga

To Prioritize Black Healing

And the greater mission of Black Boys OM is :

We empower Black boys and men through culturally grounded, mind-body healing practices, including yoga, meditation, somatic movement, and trauma-informed wellness arts, delivered by Black male practitioners and leaders. Through our School of Yoga, we train community-centered, equity-driven yoga teachers who integrate healing justice, mental health, and Black wellness into their craft. Together, we nurture self-discovery, resilience, purpose, and collective transformation across individuals, families, and communities.

I think if Black Boys OM were an actual style / expression / iteration / permutation of Yoga it would be :

Meditative

Meditative (our school of Yoga focuses heavily on establishing and maintaining a meditation practice, even one of the course tracks is to complete a Vipassana course which is 100 hours of meditation over the course of 10 days

It would also be Black AF

Rooted in the Black Experience, I talk more in depth about Yoga in the Black Experience in my book Yoga and Healing for Black Embodiment

Embodied

It would be Embodied.

There would be heavy emphasis placed on embodiment because the body is our interface with life and it’s my belief that it’s not something to be transcended but something that is to be lived through as divine.

Many (rightfully) focus on mental health. At Black Boys OM we’ve always focused on Mind-Body-Spirit Health. We even did a multi year research study with Dr. Lassiter, author of “How I Know White People Are Crazy and Other Stories: Notes from a Frustrated Black Psychologist” on MBSP (Mind Body Spirit Practices) of Black Male Wellness Practitioners, which is the first study of its kind. We presented our findings to the Association of Black Psychologists.

Mind Body Spirit practices are the root of Embodiment. What I like to call Embodied Liberation. Freedom in lived experience as expressed in our individual bodies.

This would bring me to the last component of what Black Boys OM Yoga would be:

Oriented Toward the Divine.

In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras the 5th Niyama is Ishvara Pranidana, surrender to the divine.

In Yoruba cosmology an individual as a personal divinity; their Ori.

Devotion to the divine has been linked with better mental health: one review found that individuals with high religiosity/spirituality had 74% lower odds of mood disorders compared to less religious individuals (OR = 0.26)

So to review, Black Boys OM Yoga, if it were a thing would be

Meditative

Black AF

Embodied

Oriented Towards the Divine

In short :

Black Boys OM Yoga is a meditative, culturally grounded, and embodied approach to practice for Black people. The method centers Mind-Body-Spirit health, Black healing, and devotion as core components. In simple terms, it is Meditative, Black AF, Embodied, and Oriented Toward the Divine.

And a bit longer take :

Black Boys OM Yoga is a meditative practice centered on Black healing and cultural grounding that honors the body as a sacred vessel for divine expression rather than a limitation to overcome. Rooted in the Krama lineage and Non-Dual Kashmir Shivaism, it weaves together intensive meditation, somatic movement, and trauma-informed wellness as tools for embodied liberation. The practice cultivates mind-body-spirit health through the disciplined work of sustained contemplation, precise inhabitation of the physical form, and devoted recognition of the divine presence within each practitioner, drawing from both the yogic principle of Ishvara Pranidana and the Yoruba understanding of personal divinity through Ori. Led by Black male teachers and practitioners, Black Boys OM Yoga serves as a pathway for Black people to awaken through yoga, remember their wholeness, and catalyze collective transformation rooted in their own lived experience and cultural wisdom.

Thank you for reaching and engaging with this thought experiment with me.

If you are interested in joining the Black Boys OM School of Yoga please consider applying. Our 200HRYTT is on demand, self paced and can be completed in 4 to 9 months depending on individual pacing.

The 300HRYTT starts in 2026 and is limited to only 24 persons. You can access the waitlist here.

If you would like to support our School of Yoga Scholarship Fund you can donate here

I’ll close by sharing our official end of year flyer, feel free to copy and paste to help amplify our cause.

Update: After hitting the publish button I thought of a name for what Black Boys OM Yoga would be.

Ori Yoga

Thanks for reading.