Episode 1: Reconnecting to the Traditional Yogic Ecosystem with Prasad Rangnekar

Written By Harpinder Mann

Yoga is expansive—all at once, it is a life skill, a process of self-transformation, an experiential practice, and a complex body of knowledge. In this first episode of the Liberating Yoga Podcast, host Harpinder Mann is in conversation with Yoga & Resilience Educator, Prasad Rangnekar. Together, they explore yoga’s many definitions and margas, while unpacking all that is lost in a society that narrows its abundance down to a commercialized brand of asana.

WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE:

  • The varied definitions of “yoga,” which depend on historical and philosophical context

  • How practitioners can expand their understanding of yoga beyond physical well-being practices

  • The differences between traditional yoga and the version that is popular today

  • Why the commodification of yoga strips its rich ecosystem of vital history, ethical frameworks, and cultural roots

  • Raja Yoga and the intersecting margas (paths) leading to samadhi (spiritual enlightenment)

Access this episode’s transcript here

ABOUT Prasad Rangnekar

Prasad Rangnekar is a E-RYT 500 Yoga educator and Yogic mindset mentor based in Mumbai, India who teaches Yoga as a science of Mind, Body, and Life transformation over last 30 years across the globe. For Prasad, Yoga is more than a pursuit of poses, it is a process of breaking free from our fundamental mind-body limitations to realize who we truly are. With this aim he guides people to transform themselves and inspire others. He is the Founder-Director of Yogaprasad Institute and conducts Yoga Teacher Trainings, mentorship sessions, retreats and workshops to spread the wisdom of Yoga in its traditional sense.

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FOLLOW, RATE, AND REVIEW THE PODCAST

Thank you so much for tuning into this episode of the Liberating Yoga Podcast! If you enjoyed it, we invite you to rate and review it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.

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.

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Episode 2: Yoga vs. Commercialization: Can We Reclaim It? with Susanna Barkataki