PeoplesHub Workshop Series – Connect online as an individual

Decolonizing Yoga: A 2-Part Series

This “Decoloniality in Praxis” workshop invites yoga teachers and practitioners to contemplate how coloniality, white supremacy, and structural oppression show up in our practice, consumption, and circulation of yoga; and it also encourages us to consider how we can build and sustain a yoga theology that invests in the healing, justice, and liberation of oppressed communities.

The first part of the workshop interrogates the colonial history of yoga by naming its connection to white supremacy, global capitalism, Brahmanical casteism and Hindu nationalism. The second half of the workshop offers practitioners and teachers an opportunity to consider if/how yoga can be reimagined toward an ethics of liberatory praxis. The process of “reimagining” challenges us to transform the spiritual tradition of yoga not into a glorified relic from the past, but rather into a praxis that affirms and embodies the resistance struggles, humanity, freedom and healing of oppressed peoples and that challenges us to consider how, where, and with whom we engage and share this sacred practice.

Trainer:

Dr. Sheena Sood

Training Length and Type:

2 hours per session

Connect as an individual

Workshop Offered:

Part 1:

Thursday, September 10th

From 4-6pm PDT/ 6-8pm CDT/ 7-9pm EDT

Part 2:

Thursday, September 17th

From 4-6pm PDT/ 6-8pm CDT/ 7-9pm EDT

This training is ideal for:

Community organizers and activists who want to incorporate healing practices such as yoga and mindfulness into their daily lives. It is ideal for yoga practitioners and teachers who have questions about the historical connections between Hinduism, casteism and yoga; and who want to cultivate a healing practice that is community care-centered and in opposition to far-right cultural nationalist projects.

Training Outcomes:

Participants will:

• Learn about how yoga’s colonial layers operate in mainstream yogic spaces and popular culture; and will be able to acknowledge the pervasive influence that these popular approaches maintain in our philosophical and practical understanding of yoga and spirituality.​
• Learn how to move beyond surface-level critiques of cultural appropriation toward a more honest engagement of the ways that all yogis, including people of color, perpetuate oppressive class, race, religious nationalist and casteism in our yogic practices.
• Establish a deeper understanding of the ways that yoga is connected to projects of cultural nationalism and religious supremacy in India and other countries around the world.
• Leave with tips/tools on how to liberate their spiritual practices.

What do you do to prepare?

Please choose a location with a strong internet connection, where you are able to share and listen comfortably. You’ll need a laptop or desktop computer, with video and headphones.

If able, read Cultivating a Yogic Theology of Collective Healing: A Yogini’s Journey Disrupting White Supremacy, Hindu Fundamentalism, and Casteism.

Cost:

Choose what to pay, starting at $40. The true cost of this workshop is $100/person, which allows us to continue offering programs like this one and pay trainers a fair wage for their time and expertise. Like you, our trainers work hard for change in their communities and have often developed the knowledge, skill and gifts that they are offering through many unpaid hours — let’s support them to be sustainable in their work and craft!

Ready to sign up?