Following tense protest, Riverwalk yoga aims to offer unity

Pop-up Yoga is defined as yoga performed in impromptu places like public libraries or parks and at impromptu times like after a downtown protest rally where emotions just ran strong.

Anna Maria Island yoga instructor Rachael Croll has both definitions covered with her “Stand Up Against Hate,” a Pop-Up Yoga event scheduled for 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Riverwalk in downtown Bradenton, on the grassy lawn just south of the Riverwalk Skatepark.

Croll, who operates Salty Buddha Paddle & Yoga Co. in Bradenton Beach, is leading the pop-up in the wake of violent demonstrations in Charlottesville, Va., and the non-violent, but emotionally tense, protest march and rally in front of the Manatee County Historic Courthouse in Bradenton Monday.

“I was very saddened, deeply moved and feeling like I wanted to stand up and say, ‘This isn’t OK,’ ” Croll said Tuesday of the events at Charlottesville, where a young woman was killed during the protest when a man ran his car into a crowd. “The hatred that is kind of blanketing our country right now is very suffocating. I think that so many people can feel it and it’s really dividing us.”

“My platform is yoga, so I thought my biggest way to reach people to unite in love and not create more hatred would be through yoga,” Croll added.“It’s just a way to unite people for love and equality and to stand up against oppression, racism, bigotry and white supremacy.”

A background in yoga is not needed to participate in the event, which is free but where donations will be taken for the NAACP chapter in Charlottesville, Croll said.

“I will do some basic yoga instruction and there will be a lot of modifications for people to have a very gentle yoga practice,” Croll said. “For people who are a little bit more skilled practitioners, I will offer up some options for them to advance their practice a little bit.”

“It’s really going to be an hour of connecting with our breath, connecting with each other through our collective energy and just a way for us to move and feel good outside in a beautiful location,” Croll added.

Jessica Jones, a Holmes Beach resident and a student of Croll’s, expects the event to be relaxed and low key, but with a definite focus on drawing attention to hate.

“The more we draw attention to, rather than simply live in complacency, with ideas of hate, the ripple effect can allow us to find more common ground and assure these behaviors are not the norm in society and outliers among the general collective,” Jones said.

Some may ask: “How can yoga really combat hate?”

Croll has an answer for that.

“Yoga means to yoke, to bring together,” Croll said. “Yoga gets people into their breath, into their minds and into their bodies to kind of reach that soul level of compassion and empathy where we naturally say, ‘How can we be brothers and sisters to each other in this human experience we are having?’ ”

This story was originally published August 22, 2017 at 2:24 PM with the headline "Following tense protest, Riverwalk yoga aims to offer unity."