Naming Ourselves Is a Practice

🌈 Intro: The Words That Let Me Live in Truth

Happy Pride!

I never felt like a woman. But I didn’t feel like a man either.
And for a long time, I didn’t know there were other options.

When I was younger, I thought attraction was supposed to follow the rules, so I said I was bisexual, because I knew I liked people across genders. But even that felt like a compromise. A placeholder.
It wasn’t until I found the word pansexual that something in me clicked.

It gave me a way to talk about love that felt expansive and true.
It helped me realize that gender had never been the thing I was responding to in others. Or in myself.

Later, I found the language for being non-binary.
And that didn’t change who I was—it just let me name who I had always been.

That’s the thing about words: they’re more than labels.
They’re tools of liberation.

When we are denied language, we’re denied access to ourselves.
We’re denied the possibility of visibility, community, and care.

Satya, in yogic philosophy, means truthfulness.
And for me, truth didn’t come as a single revelation. It came in syllables. In borrowed words that I slowly made my own. In the soft joy of being understood.

I’ve always been non-binary. Always been pansexual.
But it wasn’t until I had the words that I could live that truth out loud.

🪷 On the Mat: Satya, or Telling the Truth With Your Body

Satya is often translated as truthfulness, but in yoga, it’s more than just not telling lies. It’s about living in alignment with what’s real. Honoring what’s present. Speaking and acting in ways that don’t obscure or distort.

On the mat, Satya might sound like:

• “I’m not okay today, and I need a softer shape.”

• “This pose isn’t working for my body, even if it used to.”

• “I’m doing this movement because it feels good, not because I’m trying to prove anything.”

Telling the truth through practice means listening closely, not just to what you want to feel, but to what’s actually there. It means noticing when we’re performing instead of embodying, striving instead of softening, overriding instead of honoring.

It also means unlearning the voices that tell us our truth isn’t valid unless it looks a certain way.

Maybe your truth today is stillness. Or sound. Or stretching just one side of the body.
Maybe it’s showing up and crying in child’s pose.
Maybe it’s skipping the mat entirely and finding your breath under a blanket.

That’s Satya, too.

🔍 Macro Lens: Language as Liberation

We often think of language as a way to describe the world.
But what if it also shapes what we’re able to see?

According to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, the language we speak doesn’t just reflect our reality—it helps construct it. Our vocabulary, grammar, and metaphors shape the boundaries of what we can name, imagine, and comprehend.

When I was younger, I didn’t know what it meant to be non-binary. I didn’t know you could be attracted to people regardless of gender, or that gender itself could be expansive, liminal, or fluid. I didn’t know—because no one told me.
Maybe they didn’t have the words themselves.
Or maybe they did, but didn’t think I needed them.
Maybe they didn’t want me to have access.

Whatever the reason, the silence shaped me.

When we are denied language, we are denied access to ourselves.
We’re denied the possibility of visibility, community, and care.

This is why language is so often a battleground in fascist and authoritarian regimes.
They come for our pronouns. Our curriculum. Our books. Our histories.
Because if they can erase the words, they think they can erase the people.

This is also why reclaiming language—expanding it, teaching it, celebrating it—is a deeply political act.

When we learn new words for who we are, we aren’t just changing our identity. We’re making it legible. Shareable. Livable.
We’re practicing Satya, not just as a personal virtue, but as a collective survival strategy.

Because Satya isn’t always soft.
Sometimes it’s inconvenient. Disruptive. Even dangerous.
Truth has always been dangerous to power.

🪷 This Week’s Practice: Restorative Yoga + Affirmations | Sunday, June 8 at 9PM ET

📍 Watch on YouTube

This week’s live class is a soft but powerful one: a restorative practice woven with affirmations, because words shape how we see ourselves, and that makes them sacred.

We’ll move slowly, with long holds and lots of support. Throughout the practice, I’ll offer affirmations rooted in truth, care, and queer joy. You’re welcome to speak them aloud, whisper them, write your own, or just receive.

This is a space to be with your body as it is. To hear yourself clearly. To rest without justification. Because that, too, is a kind of truth.

Suggested Props:
• 2 large pillows or a bolster/couch cushion
• 2 smaller pillows or yoga blocks
• 2 blankets or towels
• Optional: eye pillow, warm socks, or anything else that helps you soften
🪑 If you practice in a chair, consider grabbing a second chair, ottoman, or table to support your forward folds and rest your legs.

📬 Closing

Words matter.
Not because they’re perfect, but because they give us something to hold on to. Something to build with. Something to share.

If you’re still finding your words, that’s okay.
If you’ve lost them and are learning them again, that’s okay, too.

You are not late. You are not behind. You are not broken.

You are here.
You are real.
And you deserve to be known.

In truth and non-binary joy,
Shannon

P.S. I also hold in my heart everyone who isn’t able to speak their truth right now. Your truth isn’t any less valid for being quiet. 💜