Liberating Yoga

By Harpinder Kaur Mann (Author)

Liberating Yoga

Yoga teacher Harpinder Kaur Mann shows yoga practitioners a path to reclaim yoga from appropriation and recenter the practice where it belongs.

In the West, the practice of yoga comes to us stripped of cultural context. Colonized and appropriated by capitalism, dominant culture, fitness trends, and body shaming, yoga in America today is associated with expensive classes, trendy athleisure products, Corepower, Lululemon, and white women. However, yoga is not a one-hour fitness class aimed at stretching and flexibility. Yoga is a spiritual practice from South Asia with the ultimate goal of connection, self-realization, and liberation.

In Liberating Yoga, yoga teacher Harpinder Kaur Mann draws from her own perspective as a Sikh-Punjabi woman who was alienated by the way yoga is practiced in the United States but found her way toward reclaiming the spiritual practice for herself. Mann demonstrates that moving away from appropriated forms of yoga and back to yoga's roots is the only true path to healing--both for yoga practitioners who desire to engage responsibly in the practice with cultural appreciation, and especially for folks who have been marginalized who wish to reconnect with their ancestral spiritual practices and reclaim their full identity.

From Appropriation to Healing

Endorsements

Liberating Yoga Book Launch Celebration

Join us for an evening filled with yoga, kirtan, and ecstatic dance at the Pieter Performance Space. Immerse yourself in the joy of movement, music, and community as we celebrate the release of this transformative book. See you there beloved being!

You can purchase your ticket here.

Liberating Yoga Podcast

Liberating Yoga Podcast

Hi! I’m Harpinder Kaur Mann, your host as well as trauma-informed yoga teacher and mindfulness educator for women of color and allies. I help students learn all aspects of yoga as a spiritual path as a pathway for powerful embodiment and healing. Together, we study diligently and with devotion in the efforts to bring forth clearer integration of our body-mind-spirit and be grounded in our faith and presence.

Welcome to Liberating Yoga, a space to explore yoga as a practice of healing, resistance, and deep connection. Here to dive into the roots of yoga, dismantle appropriation, and uplift practices that honor tradition while making yoga truly accessible.

All of these conversations were recorded two years ago as part of my research and interviews for my book, Liberating Yoga: From Appropriation to Healing. Now, I’m bringing them to you—unedited and in full—to continue the dialogue on how we can honor yoga’s past while shaping its future. Let’s move beyond the surface and into the heart of yoga. This is Liberating Yoga.

To fellow podcasters, if you want me to be a guest on your podcast, send me an email at harpinder@harpindermann.com.