Episode 2: Yoga vs. Commercialization: Can We Reclaim It? with Susanna Barkataki
Today’s mainstream yoga culture is steeped in capitalism, exclusivity, and cultural appropriation. How did we get here, and how can we protect the wholeness of the practice for future generations? In this episode of the Liberating Yoga Podcast, host Harpinder Kaur Mann is in conversation with Yoga Teacher & Social Justice Advocate, Susanna Barkataki. Together, they analyze the nuances of yoga’s history, accountability for yoga professionals and decolonization in practice.
WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE:
Yoga as a lifestyle and practices that brings us closer to peace, personal freedom, and collective liberation
How interlocking systems of oppression (including ethnonationalism, caste oppression, gender binaries, ableism and white supremacy) create an exclusionary and hierarchical culture within modern yoga
Why yoga teachers have a responsibility to acknowledge the vastness of yoga beyond asana
The nuances and complexities of cultural appropriation, privilege, and the potential to cause harm
Historical explorations of how modern yoga culture has become one of commercialization, scarcity, and competition
How to take the first steps towards decolonizing and preserving the true nature of yoga
ABOUT SUSANNA BARKATAKI:
Susanna Barkataki, (she/her) has been called “a trailblazing yoga leader and visionary for our times.” An Indian teacher building bridges in the West, she is known for her work in decolonizing and embracing the roots of yoga. She founded Ignite Institute for Yogic Leadership and Social Change to train students in using authentic spiritual tools to create positive social change. She’s author of #1 International Bestseller Embrace Yoga’s Roots: Courageous Ways to Deepen Your Yoga Practice.
Susanna’s trainings merge authentic yoga and social justice. She runs 200/300 Embody Yoga’s Roots Yoga Teacher Training programs and Yoga Class Curator, a year long training to deepen beyond YTT that are changing the face of yoga today. She consults with organizations like the UN, Yoga Alliance, TEDx.
connect with harpinder:
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connect with susanna:
Website: SusannaBarkataki.com
Instagram: @SusannaBarkataki
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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.