I open my email to a newsletter …
Another White Woman Yoga Retreat …
This one Shamanic …
Seemingly appropriating not only one, but several indigenous cultures.
I sigh.
I feel a mix of emotions.
Perhaps it’s because I know this particular White Woman in question and it is not so easy to pile her into the lump of other White Women and Men (otherwise known to the leftists as the “colonizers”). Perhaps it’s because I live in a small Mexican town that has economically tied their survival onto tourism and these White Women Yoga Retreats while simultaneously I see that very economy disintegrating the very values and “culture” the White Tourists romanticize (and often then appropriate).
In all of these layers, there lies the argument that these events and people bring money, which is (you guessed it) “good for the economy” … but is it really?
And what economy, anyway?
An economy that develops at a rate and in a manor with complete disregard for the health of the environment, their employees, or communities, and literally in the process is destroying the very product that they sell?
Yes, the White People bring money and the money is not enough.
Please read that again.
Your money is not enough.
I’ve spent a lot of time over the last 25 plus years thinking about tourism, our perception of “the economy”, and what it means to build a community. I’ve also thought a lot about how many traditional indigenous cultures might understand “economy” or the economics of reciprocity.
In the Western World we are vastly confused about what it means to create and sustain a thriving community. Most of our values focus on the liberty of the individual, rather than the overall heath and well being of the collective. We have thus intermixed the meaning of commerce and contribution.
We think that with purchasing power, we have a right to something – even if that something isn’t within our right to buy.
We forget that some things have inherent value and cannot be bought and sold for the highest price, further confusing commerce and basic human rights. So thick is the veil of commercial illusion, that many have begun to believe that their “value” as a human being can be akin and directly compared to a designer handbag.
Like the gringos here who think because they’ve bought a vacation home here and spend their money in the fancy restaurants on the beach, the town and the people owe them something – maybe that something is the “right” to a “local” status in the surf lineup. Some are arrogant enough to think that in their saviour complex, they are helping contribute to the local economy.
Meanwhile, “locals” are selling their birthright in order to keep the hungry ghost of the “local economy” running for the tourists.
Let’s be clear.
Just because you “own” a house doesn’t mean you live in a place.
So what does it mean to inhabit a town, a home, a community?
Over time, when people start to believe their inherent value as a human is externalized (money, career, status, etc.), the underlying way that “Westerners” begin to relate to each other becomes transactional.
Just like exchanging money for a coffee, people more and more seem to be connecting based on how useful another person is or could potentially become to them. I know this sounds harsh, but it is more common than you think – and it’s often subconscious. But let’s be clear – someone you hire to drive you around is not your “friend”, they are your “driver” or “chauffeur”. That doesn’t mean we don’t have the capacity to build meaningful relationships within a transactional setting, but what I am seeing is a confusion of what is real relating and what is being in proximity with someone based on their “usefulness”.
With this, I am seeing more and more the skills required to build true and genuine, multilayered relationships becoming more and more scarce.
Are we losing our capacity to be good neighbours?
Maybe we need to start asking the right questions.
As I read the White Woman Yoga newsletter in my inbox, I start to think to myself, what if …
What if part of the proceeds of the retreat go directly to support the community?
I’m not talking by renting the space and going out for drinks and your morning latte …
Or better yet, what if part of the yoga retreat was to actually practice authentic yoga and participate in acts of service that directly impact and contribute to the community?
I think of all of the amazing opportunities and seeds that could be planted if we were to look beyond an otherwise extractive and essentially colonialist model. The truth is that we can actually be co-creative, generative, and contribute to the community.
This is true reciprocity.
Community building.
I think of all of the new opportunities for genuine relationships to be made.
New relationships where different perspectives can cross-pollinate and we can learn from each other.
I think of how the demand on community resources might look different if the tourists actually understood the day to day reality of the locals way of life – told from their perspective.
Another example, in the state of Oaxaca, there are massive water shortages in local tourist communities and local people have no water, yet the hotels, airbnbs and major tourist hubs are consuming water as if it’s business as usual. As a tourist staying in a hotel, you would have no idea that you are consuming a month’s worth of water in your post-beach shower before heading off for drinks at the pool.
Again, what would the demand on community resources differ if tourism had a mandate of reciprocity, rather than consumption?
I’m not saying that there is a one stop solution for any of this. However …
What I am saying is that the money is not enough.
The extractive model is not enough.
And personally, I feel like if the product you’re selling is some kind of healing, yoga, shamanic, spiritual thing … especially if you are selling a Shamanic Yoga Retreat – which by its nature is innately rooted in service (yoga) and reciprocity (shamanism), it definitely should be an example of that which we want to create in the world – not recycle the capitalist-colonialist model … again.
Let’s differentiate commerce and the sacred, shall we?
And while we’re at it …
Let’s strengthen our relationship building, community generating muscles.
I believe that is a world we would all (or at least, most of us all) would like to live in.
Namas-fucking-te,
jenn