Brain Cradle Is Not Neutral: On Yoga, Discernment, and Why Some Things Are Non-Negotiable

Recently, during a free consultation, I found myself saying something very clearly:

“Customizing the illustrations to be all white is not an option. It’s non-negotiable.”

The conversation ended shortly after—not because I was reactive, but because I no longer subject myself to conversations that don’t support my values. That moment stayed with me, not out of frustration, but out of clarity. It showed me where I need to be clearer about who I am, what Brain Cradle exists to do, and what kind of work I will and will not participate in.

So let me explain.

Who I Am—and Where This Work Comes From

I’m an E-RYT 500 and YACEP who has been practicing yoga in my hometown of Berkeley, California since I was 14—nearly two decades now. I began teaching in 2017 after completing my BA in Social Justice and Sustainability, and from the beginning, yoga has lived in my body and mind the same way my academic studies did: as a tool for inquiry, responsibility, and liberation.

After my foundational training in San Francisco, I spent several years traveling throughout Asia, practicing yoga in ways that deeply reshaped my understanding of it. What I experienced there is what I consider real yoga—not rooted in fitness or aesthetics, but in relationship, community, harm reduction, and the radical work of advocating for peace.

Yoga has always intellectually stimulated me. It pushed me to think critically about access, power, culture, and who gets to feel safe, seen, and supported in learning spaces. That curiosity—and responsibility—has never left me.

What Brain Cradle Actually Is

Brain Cradle is a labor of love aligned with my core values. It is not just a business that provides white-label yoga teacher training manuals.

Brain Cradle exists to offer a framework for real yoga—one that is open, but discerning. One that supports aspiring yoga professionals while refusing to participate in harm, erasure, or quiet compliance.

I didn’t spend 20 months building this business to undermine my values. I built it to walk alongside them.

Illustrations, Representation, and Discernment

The place where my values are most often tested is in relation to custom illustrations.

Every illustration in Brain Cradle materials is created by me. They are informed by literal reference photos, lived experience, and thousands of yoga classes I’ve taken throughout my lifetime. These illustrations are not designed to coerce, sanitize, or perform inclusivity—they exist to reflect yoga as it is lived by real people.

So when I was asked to create an all-white manual, I paused—not because the boundary was unclear, but because I wanted to understand why the request felt so fundamentally incompatible with yoga.

At first, I considered making a blanket statement like: “All illustrations will depict diverse populations.”

But the truth is more nuanced than that.

Here’s what alignment actually looks like.

If a Haitian yoga professional approached me to create a 200-hour foundational training manual centered on mindful masculinity, I would absolutely feel aligned creating illustrations that primarily depict Haitian men, shaped by that specific cultural and lived context.

If a training were designed specifically for Muslim women—like a cooking class I once facilitated where the space was fully closed so women could safely remove their hijabs—I would absolutely customize illustrations to reflect that lived reality.

Supporting underserved populations through intentional, context-specific design is not the same as blindly enabling exclusion.

And despite trying, I cannot envision a scenario in which creating an all-white yoga manual aligns with yoga. Not intellectually. Not ethically. Not spiritually. So that is the line for me. 

Kindness Is Not the Same as Compliance

I value kindness deeply. But kindness does not mean neutrality, passivity, or a lack of discernment.

What is happening in my country right now is horrific. It has required me to tighten my boundaries, sharpen my clarity, and practice discernment with more intention than ever. Anger has a purpose—and in this season, it helps me protect what matters to me and my business.

Just because Brain Cradle embodies care does not mean we are naive.

I would rather work with one or two deeply aligned clients a month than blur my boundaries to accommodate values I don’t share. That choice isn’t about scarcity—it’s about integrity.

Access Without Compromise

I’ve spent an enormous amount of time building systems that allow me to reduce pricing in meaningful ways, because access matters to me. Supporting real needs matters to me.

But reduced cost does not mean reduced quality. And accessibility does not mean abandoning discernment.

A Final Word

Brain Cradle is here for yoga professionals who understand that yoga is relational, radical, embodied, and alive. If what I've written here resonates, I'm here to support you. If it doesn’t, that’s okay too, but please don’t book a free consultation.