Yoga autonomy
Yoga has been intrinsic to my own healing and learning to move through emotions in my body. As a South Asian who comes from a lineage of diaspora between India and the West (just like yoga does), I want to claim it as my own. But when I found out the yoga school where I did teacher training was shut down because of sexual abuse by the founder my disillusionment with the yoga industry and mainstream yoga culture solidified. I started researching, and learned that the pattern of gurus who lie about their lives, achieve celebrity status, get rich off of rebranding teachings, abuse their devotees sexually, verbally, physically and by demanding free labor is not an exception - it is the very foundation that has created modern yoga, an industry that upholds Hindu nationalism and capitalizes on people’s desire to fix themselves.
Yoga is certainly not the only spiritual tradition (or invented spiritual tradition) fraught with an oppressive history and culture. Yoga autonomy is a practice of exploring how to move forward and reclaim the healing practices that our lineages offer. How do we reckon with these histories and the ongoing patriarchy, ableism and capitalism in yoga culture? How do we separate out the teachings that we want to reclaim and decide whose they are to reclaim? How do we honor the real healing that we and others have experienced through yoga? How do we honor our teachers and elders while preventing the abuse of power? How do we continue to learn and practice yoga while centering our own bodily autonomy?
I offer workshops and individual guidance sessions on yoga autonomy.
See the zine below for an illustrated overview of yoga autonomy: