I just want to remind everyone that this a support group for those who have been certified or are in the process of being certified in the YogaSkills Method of Kemetic Yoga. Our primary purpose is to provide support to each other in our quest to develop our skills as practitioners and teachers of this system. Therefore the group is reserved for those who have invested their time, money and effort towards that end. I mean no offense to anyone else who do not fit into that category. I urge all whom I train to explore all other styles of Yoga as they see fit and to participate in other forms of physical, mental and spiritual development, but this group’s purpose is very specific so please be mindful of that when you invite folks to join our group.
The practices and methods I teach are not known, understood or embraced by those who teach their versions of “Kemetic Yoga”. I am not shy about stating that there are differences in terms of safety, authenticity, effectiveness and power between what we do and what I have observed others doing. Just because someone uses the phrase “Kemetic Yoga” or “Egyptian Yoga” etc, does not mean that it conforms to the standards that we are trying to create and adhere to.
Authentic Yoga in general and Kemetic Yoga in particular must pass certain tests. Is it therapeutic from the perspective of being able to heal physically and mentally? Does it activate the flow of life force through the energy channels? Does it connect you psycho- spiritually to the ancestors, gods-goddesses and Universal Creative Force? Our version of Kemetic Yoga practice entails specific patterns and methods of combining breath control with movement. It is not simply performing Kemetic looking positions without any understanding of bio-mechanics or breath-energy dynamics. Authentic Kemetic Yoga is not simply putting the name “Kemetic” on any Yoga position or raving about how “white people or Indians” stole everything from us. Furthermore, there are many “positions” that we see in the mdw ntr, tombs, and temples that some call Yoga positions, but are not!
The Kemetic Yoga we practice follow a lineage that has its roots in 1970s Chicago with my teacher, Dr. Asar Ha-pi and myself. We never invented Kemetic Yoga, nor do we claim to be the “father” as some do, but we did develop this system based upon science and as much authenticity as possible. What we did was to do primary research of the available material and begin the process of the re-awakening of awareness of Yoga from an ancient African perspective. I don’t know of anyone else using the phrase “Kemetic Yoga” prior to me using it during the time I studied “Kemetology” with Dr. Jaccub Carruthers at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago where I studied MDW NTR (the sacred writing some call heirglyphics) as part of my masters degree in Inner City Studies. Others who started to write books in the mid 1990s used the word “Egyptian Yoga” to describe information that they received by studying the work of my teacher, Dr.Asar Ha-pi without ever giving credit to the source!
There is one other man in the world, whose name is Yogi Khane from Senegal who has independently developed an ancient Egyptian based system of Yoga based upon his own primary research. His work is primary shared with Europeans in Europe and Canada.
In my view Kemetic Yoga is something that is dynamic and will be forever growing, but there is a lineage to this knowledge and there is an order to what constitutes authenticity and effectiveness.
