Photo taken by Katherine and Mariel Tyler for Naaya
The founder of Naaya, Sinikiwe Dhliwayo, is sick of being told to think positively when it seems like all the news is bad news. You can’t think your way to being positive, she says, when you can clearly see that the world around you is a bonfire. But that’s what she sees from so many of her peers about health: blind people, pretending they can’t see anything but love and light. She finds it particularly striking since COVID began: “A pandemic is still killing people,” Dhliwayo said. “The people it is killing are disproportionately Black and Brown. However, I see people sell one version of this about what it means to be healthy and then refuse to acknowledge the other ways we are actually unwell. Feeling very disappointed.”
That is what drives Dhliwayo’s mission in the healthcare industry: honesty. “Since my body exists, I have no choice but to ignore the pandemic and forget about racism,” she said. Her first wellness brand, Naaya, hosts race and health conversations that don’t skip the hard parts. And her latest project, Ilanga, will put those conversations into motion: It’s a platform in motion—currently in its crowdfunding phase—That will provide yoga, Pilates, and strength training and center a true out-of-the-world experience. That is, you don’t ignore the positive vibes. You get over whatever hurt, fear, and grief you’re working on in the moment and emerge on the other side with some sense of change. You may experience some fun in the process. But is it love and light? Not here.
How do you get healthy?
I got injured while training for the New York marathon. I’ve never really enjoyed running — I wanted to do it as a bucket list check. When I got hurt, I said, Yeah, I don’t have to force this. I started doing yoga to regain my strength. What fascinates me is that yoga is more than just body movement. I think the eight-limb practice of yoga will help us move away from individual self-care and into more collective care.
What’s your longest held wellness ritual?
I have been meditating for four years. I do a Buddhist meditation called Theravada. The basic belief is that you can achieve liberation — super-mind I know — through your own efforts of meditation and concentration. It is based on the idea that you will suffer to some degree in your life, no matter what privilege you have. But if you can be present with your life and less attached to your suffering, you need not operate from a place of suffering. If I am angry, I can be angry, and I can still function from a place of compassion.
Your comfort watch?
I don’t even know how many times I watched it Gilmore Girls.
Favorite healthcare treatment?
I like acupuncture.
A wellness approach you’d like to explore?
I have heard good things about cupping.
How do you like to move?
Aside from yoga, I think walking is a great way to get moving without having to sit in front of a screen and without spending a fortune. I did a lot of Reformer Pilates in a while before the pandemic, which I also really enjoyed.
What’s the biggest takeaway from your yoga practice?
Much of what makes Blacks go against yoga. Ahimsa, one of the eight limbs of yoga, means no harm. How liberating and radical would Negroes be if we all practiced ahimsa. A world without the threat of violence just for blacks. A dream.
Go buy take away?
I try to keep it healthy. Sometimes it’s Sweetgreen. Sometimes it’s pasta.
What’s so hard about building a company from scratch?
That there are limits to what you can do while living under capitalism. I want to develop Naaya and hire people and do it right. But there were times when my sister said, “Hey, I know you want to hire people and pay them fairly, but you also need to eat and survive.” So you will do a lot of things on your own. And there’s only one me.
What inspires you?
Not to be cheesy, but love. It’s mentally and spiritually difficult to constantly go up against people who have more resources and power than you, and it’s hard to speak up for yourself unless that’s what you love. And I really love that: I want a space where we can teach movement and meditation rooted in social justice so that people like me feel like they have somewhere they can. can cultivate happiness.
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