Kali Lakshmi Matlock has the most intense gaze I’ve ever seen in a two-year-old. Surrounded by the bustling exuberance of Westwood, Los Angeles, on a Sunday afternoon, she observes our gathering with calm inscrutability, taking in the world one drishti (focal point) at a time. Kali is the youngest of a group of Yoga Angels; Radha Ruiz, 16, and Philip Otto, 19, are old-timers who have been involved with Yoga Angels since it began in 1997. Radha and Philip run the organization’s online publication, YAP, and have invited me to join them as they conduct interviews for their magazine. With Kali as our muse, we set off in search of our respective stories, reminded that focus and penetrating curiosity make great investigative tools.
Investigation and empowerment are integral to the mission of Yoga Angels, an organization founded by Subhadra Bowman – yoga teacher, youth activist, entrepreneur and mother of four (including Kali and Radha). Yoga Angels operates through multiple channels that share one goal: to empower Los Angeles youth through yoga. Your Kids Organization, the not-for-profit branch, produces in-school and after-school educational programming targeting cultural diversity, yoga and meditation, nutrition, educational and financial planning and professionalism.
Yoga Angels Publication (YAP) provides a forum for youth to ask questions, tell stories, share wisdom and develop writing skills while addressing an audience of their peers. Stories about holistic business owners, young Hollywood stars, vegetarian cooking and yoga fashion address a readership of urban pre-teens and teens who are interested in both the entertainment industry and yoga lifestyle. Attention to ethnic, cultural and economic diversity is central to the Yoga Angels vision, and to YAP. Subhadra hopes that Yoga Angels kids learn “the truth – that there are no limits. That [kids become] what they perceive themselves to be regardless of their socioeconomic status.”
Radha and Philip’s first interview of the day is with Marsh Engle, a Los Angeles-based entrepreneur, author, talk show host and creativity coach. Radha and Philip prefer to find interview subjects organically, through the personal connections of friends and family. Engle fits this criterion perfectly; she is traveling to Jamaica with Yoga Angels in August, where she will teach media training, entrepreneurship and self-development.
Radha asks psychologically penetrating questions. She wants to know where Marsh found her inspiration, and whether helping others overcome obstacles has, as a side-effect, the discovery of one’s own. Radha is also interested in demographics: the relative percentage of male and female clients and the degree of ethnic diversity in Marsh’s practice. Philip’s questions gradually reveal the architecture of the business and industry. He wants to know more about Marsh’s training and background, areas of expertise and how her work differs from that of a traditional psychologist. He asks how clients present themselves and how the work of creativity coaching actually unfolds. The interview is fast-paced and dynamic; more than an hour passes, yet there are still questions left unasked.
Kids become what they perceive themselves to be regardless of their socioeconomic status.
Another organic discovery comes in the form of Tanya Petrovna, chef and CEO of four Native Foods vegetarian restaurants. Tanya is the second interview of the day, and Native Foods is sponsoring a nutrition and health education workshop during the Yoga Angels’s Jamaica retreat. As we gather around a plate of Tanya’s delicious Save the Chicken Wings, Radha and Philip investigate the origins of Tanya’s vegetarian philosophy and entrepreneurial drive. Both are curious about Tanya’s motivations for becoming vegetarian, how she maintained her focus through years when vegetarianism wasn’t mainstream, and the extent to which her commitment, and evident joy in what she does, has influenced others. Radha asks about maintaining work/life balance, Philip wants to know more about transitioning into a zero-waste business.
As the interviews draw to a close I am impressed with Radha’s savvy, self-assured sense of teenagers’ presence in the marketplace; her questions and observations show a rare ability to participate fully in different generations’ questions of identity. Likewise, I am struck by Philip’s ability to uncover the essential challenges that define different industries.
Through the research and questioning of these insightful teens, YAP offers its readers two distinct opportunities: the shared wisdom of community leaders who live integrated lives, and the Yoga Angels’ model of inquiry – a way of thinking one’s way through the world powered by intense focus and curiosity.
Read YAP online at yapwitus.com.
Rebecca Joly lives in Santa Monica, California, where she practices yoga and writes about the arts, culture and yoga.
