Maya Gwynn
With KVCR Public Media, I'm Maya Gwynn with Black Perspectives IE, a show we learn about the amazing things members of the Black community are doing in the Inland Empire. My guest today is LaToya Berthil, yoga instructor and founder of Soul Roots Wellness. Thank you so much for being here.
LaToya Berthil
Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
Maya Gwynn
I think especially now we often talk about how rest and healing are revolutionary acts, especially for black women and members of other marginalized communities who are always expected to constantly push through and give more. How does your work in creating intentional tea blends and teaching yoga fit into the larger movement towards a collective healing?
LaToya Berthil
It's revolutionary to take your health in your own hands, and I like to teach from that perspective. And so when I use my tea in my meditations, because I teach a tea meditation, I teach people to slow down, you know, and make that an intentional act of wellness for them. Because I try to preach that, you know, a cup of tea a day helps to get your necessary vitamins and nutrients and just that jumpstart of a mindfulness part of your day. And so I like to teach from that perspective, that slowing down perspective, supporting yourself, being mindful of what you are doing and thinking throughout the days, and that creates intentional rest, right? When you're actually slowing yourself down, you're able to kind of rest the brain and say, okay, are my thoughts productive? Are my actions productive? And I love to teach yoga from a yin yoga perspective, which is a slow flow stretch, you know, calming the self, calming the nervous system. And so I love to usher people into that radical rest by just doing things a little bit slowly, you know, a little bit more mindfully.
Maya Gwynn
How have you seen stress, anxiety, especially burnout, in this climate, show up in our community? And how does your company respond to that?
LaToya Berthil
So I see it show up by way of inflammation in the body. And so this is why I teach knowing where your food comes from. As a Master Gardener for the County, I try to teach people to know the source of their food, how to grow food, because all of it starts in the gut. And I see my people with the hypertension, you know, the high cholesterol, the diabetes, and a lot of it is we're not being intentional about what we put into our bodies. And so I use tea in that way to get people to understand that, hey, we have to start to think about what we're doing daily. And so even if you can get a cup of green tea daily, a cup of herbal tea daily, you know, it's not only going to soothe the gut system and it's going to help with, you know, the natural detox process of the bodies, but it's also going to help with the mindful stuff. You can just slow down and make yourself a cup of tea, sip your tea slowly, even with your coffee, if you like coffee, if you can slow down and do that process intentionally, we can kind of combat a lot of inflammation. We can combat a lot of the mental stressors, right? Because we're actually making sure that we have practices in place to take care of ourselves, because inflammation shows up everywhere, in so many different ways, and I see it in my community. I see it with the lack of sleep. I see it with the lack of access to food. So if we can get ourselves back into community and knowing who our farmers are, knowing who where the local farms are, knowing where the local farmers markets are, and knowing how to read your ingredients labels too, right? Knowing that, hey, this avocado came all the way from Peru instead of Mexico. You know, you can kind of - I don't know avocados come from Peru - but you can, you just taking in that mental moment of where your food is coming from. You can help to combat the inflammation in the body.
Maya Gwynn
What's the number one food you would suggest for someone who's dealing with inflammation?
LaToya Berthil
Ooh, that's a good one. I'd say incorporate more ginger. If I had to think of a spice, because I love to deal with herbs. As an herbalist, I would say ginger is like a number one for all things digestive and inflammation in the body, even joint pain.
Maya Gwynn
That's good to know yoga is often seen as I feel like it's gotten better now, but growing up, I felt like it was definitely something that was luxury. But I like the way you frame it as an essential tool for healing, especially in hard times. And I really like how you've been saying during this interview, just be intentional and slowing down with what you're doing. What do you think keeps people from accessing wellness practices like yoga, and how can we start breaking down those barriers?
LaToya Berthil
I love this question because it's why I do what I do. I aim to make yoga affordable and accessible to my people. So this is why I do a free yoga in the farm. We have a free yoga in the farm monthly, or donation based as well. Because I've noticed that if I put $1 on it, people may show up for their dollar, then free, right? And so making yoga accessible to the community, not having to go inside of a stuffy yoga studio, because a lot of people such as myself, like we have aversions to the gym, right? Because we have so many things to worry about getting to the gym. What are we wearing? And I hate worrying about what I'm wearing and representation like you don't see a lot of Black yoga instructors. You are seeing more pop up now, and I love it. And people thought of yoga as a religious practice when it's really more of a mind body connection. And a lot of the traditions come from places where they did use yoga as a part of their religious structure, but making it accessible. I feel like that representation matters for Black Americans especially, and I teach yoga with jazz music, so you're not getting anything that you don't really feel that resonates with you. Making it more exclusive to Black people and Black women is part of my journey of making sure that it's accessible, especially Rialto, San Bernardino. We need it here.
Maya Gwynn
Yeah, definitely. We're gonna move to our rapid-fire question. So just whatever pops in your head. No wrong answer. If your work had a theme song, what would it be?
LaToya Berthil
Doing My Job by TI.
Maya Gwynn
If you had to teach a master class or give a TED talk on a random skill you have besides yoga, gardening, and tea, what would it be?
LaToya Berthil
Motherhood.
Maya Gwynn
Oh, I love that. And what's your favorite IE restaurant or a landmark that reminds you of the Inland Empire?
LaToya Berthil
Castle Park. Yeah, that's what popped into my head.
Maya Gwynn
Oh yeah. I've been on many field trips there. And how can people keep up with you and support your work? Like, when do you teach yoga in the park and then your gardening? I think people would love to hear that.
LaToya Berthil
At Sister Nature Yoga on Instagram or Soul Roots Wellness. I'm in a transitionary state for my business, my tea business, because we are doing some new things. So you can follow me on Instagram for all things. Sister Nature Yoga or Soul Roots Wellness, free yoga. At the farm we're doing, we have a black owned farm in Rialto at Sandalwood Farm. Shout out to Sandalwood Farm. They're amazing. It's, you know, in the works, but we're up and operating a Black-owned farm there. We can learn about composting and growing your own and so I partner with Jessica of Sandalwood Farm, and we're doing a free yoga on the farm series once a month, Sundays at 9am. And you can follow me at Sister Nature Yoga for that information as well.
Maya Gwynn
Amazing. Thank you so much.
LaToya Berthil
Thank you! Thank you for having me.
Maya Gwynn
Of course. LaToya Berthil is a yoga instructor and founder of Soul Roots Wellness. Find this segment and others at KVCRnews.org/bpie. Support for this segment comes from the Black Equity Fund at IECF, advancing racial equity and supporting long term investments in black led organizations and Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Join us again next week for Black Perspectives IE. For KVCR Public Media, I'm Maya Gwynn, thank you.
