The Importance of Awareness

Rest in Peace George Floyd. This blog is dedicated to you.

Awareness is so important when you are on a journey of self-improvement. Whether teaching yoga, meditation, fitness, guiding patients in rehabilitation or even nutritional counseling, I can be a broken record at times with my mantras, one being, “Awareness is Key!” AWARENESS is one of the KEY INGREDIENTS to SUCCESS in several situations, both PERSONALLY and PROFESSIONALLY. In sport environments, the skill of awareness has been a vital characteristic of elite athletes. Awareness of the body, breath, temper, attitude, and essentially the overall state of your mood, including personal biases or beliefs that may be holding you back or that key driving force that propels you through the tough times…such as the times we are in right now. Awareness of yourself will be the start to change because once you become aware of negative energy you may hold, imbalances in your life, and behavioral patterns you will see the areas that call for change. But you need to be listening to hear the call for change. Listening, in other words, being aware. This applies to the body and beyond, GLOBALLY we need a change.

Im listening to the world right now and my heart goes out to George Floyd’s family and all who were affected by his death which is the entire African American race. #BlackLivesMatter and The ExerScience Center stands with you and all. The times we are in require a call for change. It is very important, to me, that I let the community know: we should treat EVERYONE EQUALLY with no bias to color, creed, age, religion, or financial status, etc. We are one and I truly love all.

Tony L. Clark holds a photo of George Floyd outside the Cup Food convenience store on May 28, 2020, in Minneapolis

It saddens me what’s going on right now BUT IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN going on. The beauty of this time is awareness of the situation. As a Jew, (my Hebrew name is Simcha Zelda) I have always been aware of oppression. My family in Israel is constantly surrounded by wars. You may be surprised but when I wear my Jewish star some people will smile until they meet eyes with the 6-pointed image as if it represented something evil. My mother always stressed the importance of studying history because she said it repeats itself. Mass killings of the Native American Indians, the holocaust, slavery, racism against the Asian Americans, and more. I am married to a beautiful man, tall-dark-handsome half Puerto Rican, half Nicaraguan Christian with two beautiful tan little caramel boys as a result. We are part of the melting pot my mother dreamed of where we will all be one color. I think different colors are beautiful, but she honestly believed unless we are all the same color there will ALWAYS BE WAR. I wonder if she was right???

My experience with racism against Black America started in middle school. I questioned if I should share this part but I want to show my roots and how I formed my current position:

I grew up in a predominately white area in Davie, FL. Moving to my father’s house in Hollywood, FL mid 6th -grade year, I transferred to Attacks Middle School, a predominately African American School. White was the minority. It took me some time to get used to it and fit in but when I did, it was just like any other school BUT with way more FLAVOR! It’s true. The CULTURE is very RICH in music, dance, food, etc. I would have never been exposed to the culture in that way if I didn’t go to that school during this very important developmental period of my life. I am blessed for those experiences and they helped form who I am today. Moving back in with my mom to white suburbia in Davie, FL as a teen, I ironically met my first boyfriend who was African American. (I told you, I went to the other school during a key moment in my life, as a preteen where I started developing feelings for the opposite sex, as well as taste for music, fashion, and more.) We dated for 7 years, all of which I was advised against by counselors, teachers, even DARE officers and those passing by just giving their unsolicited opinions to “choose a better path.” What path were they talking about? The path without my African American boyfriend???

My first boyfriend was ARRESTED and sent to detention centers for the same childhood pranks our white classmates would participate in. None of us are perfect but the manner of repercussions was completely different and over exaggerated for him due to the color of his skin and his criminal history before entering high school geared the next 10-years of his life, making him disqualified to receive a high school diploma or even apply for a basic job. This is a common story. We came from the same place but with very different paths but it was a great experience, dating someone of the opposite race for 7 years because I saw through almost every stage of my adolescence people treat us differently and the “white privilege” most are unaware of. He would describe it to me as simple as this, “when you walk by a store, they open with a smile hoping you will come in to buy something. For me, they look away keeping it closed wishing I will keep walking past. This applies to everything. Jobs, teachers…Everything!”

Over the years I realized how not only he was at a disadvantage just because of the color of his skin but he was also a TARGET for HATE and so was I just for my relationship. For just one example of a hundred, in 7th grade we went on a picnic lunch date, yes skipping the lunch period, going off campus for a romantic lunch. This was not uncommon in my area at the time, to sneak out to lunch in middle school. But when we were caught by area police officers. As I said before his punishments were always the harshest and this one was a violent one... they didn’t give us a citation, call our parents and bring us back to school as they should’ve. They handcuffed me while beating him up at 13 years old. Then they spit on me and told me what a disgrace I was to the white race. They said a lot of other mean slurs I will not include in this blog because it included the N word many times.I realized the evil and prejudice in the world but the awareness was a gift at such a young age because I always knew to treat everyone equally and to make an extra effort to those who are oppressed, AN EXTRA EFFORT to let them know they are welcome, loved and equal. Even as a college student at The University of South Florida I experienced racism within the Fraternities. Racism has always been around but can make a change. We have too.

It is my duty in this world to heal people. It is my calling. I want everyone to feel welcome and loved. I was going to write this blog on the awareness of the body, monitoring biometrics and how the awareness of my sleeping patterns will positively impact my overall health, but of course, just like in real life, I went off on a tangent because I am passionate about the topic. I will save the biometrics for next week. Plus, I will have more data but if you want a sneak peek head on over to BIOSTRAP and learn more, get excited about my review next Thursday. In the meantime, inhale positive light, exhale negative light. Donate your time and available resources. We all have something to give. Imagine if we all did. And even though the world is distracted from the Pandemic and Covid-19, I wanted to take a moment to shed light on the increased racism against Asian Americans. Just because the disease originated in China or wherever doesn’t mean you should place blame on your Asian American neighbor. What does that solve??? Love to all. One love. We are one. The time is now. Let’s rise up. Mind over matter and Black Lives Matter.

As a business owner I am usually advised against political blogs, but if I don’t speak up, what do I stand for? I am here for you all. If you need something, reach out to me. Speak up, let’s work together. You are not alone. Tell me what I can do? We all need to lift each other up now more than ever. Ignorance is NOT bliss. Educate yourself on the topics. Learn. Listen. Reach Out. Be a part of the solution. Lets all be solution-focused, can you imagine what we can get done???

No more hate. One love. I would like to nominate two Black Owned Business to support: Carribean Mystique 813-991-7390 8909 Regents Park Dr #415, Tampa, FL 33647