Decolonizing Yoga

Join Tara Sonali Miller for a deep dive in decolonizing yoga. In this 5-part series, we will touch on topics such as yoga history, colonialism, caste, Brahminism, Islamophobia, cultural appropriation, spiritual bypassing, and how all these systems relate to yoga practice and teaching.

As we dive into this material together, we will lean on our yoga practices to be with the complexity of two seemingly opposite impacts of yoga in our world: liberation and harm. The yogic concepts of satya (truth) and ahimsa (non-harming) can be guiding lights that invite us into truth telling and seeking, repair, and transformation of the complex harm that has come from yoga’s appropriation and proliferation around the world.

Rather than reviewing do’s and don’ts or checklists, this section will support you to hold many questions that yoga teachers and students who aim to practice yoga for liberation navigate on a daily basis:

- How can I teach or practice yoga with cultural appreciation rather than appropriation?

- What does it really mean to decolonize yoga?

- How can I/we acknowledge, repair, and transform harm that is done in the name of yoga?

- How can I facilitate yoga as a practice for liberation?

This series is an introduction to these topics and will likely prompt further study and research of these vast topics.

WHAT'S INCLUDED

• 5, 3-hour sessions, including one session led by guest expert Anjali Rao

  • Anjali presents on yoga history, offering insight into the stories and histories that have been obscured by heteropatriarchy and colonization

• Articles, podcasts, and reflection prompts

• Recordings of sessions, which are available for up to 2 weeks after each session

NOTE

Students enrolled in Decolonizing Yoga will be taking this immersion alongside cohort members of our Yoga teacher training program. Sessions are catered first and foremost to our trainees, and we are thrilled to open this section up to others who are excited to dive deeply into this topic.

If you're interested in learning more about or attending the entire SOMA School Yoga Teacher Training, then please go here.

DATES + FORMAT

Dates:

• Self-directed study 10/25 - 11/20

• Meet Fridays, 5:30pm - 8:30pm PST on 11/21, 1/23, 3/13, 5/1, 6/12 

Format: In-person, Livestream, or Pre-recorded

INVESTMENT

Amplifier: $289 - Pays for your spot and supports others

Sustainer: $269 - Pays for your spot

Supported: $249 - A need-based discounted rate. Please select this rate if you cannot afford the regular rate. See our Equity Pricing Information to determine whether this rate is for you.

APPLY

About Tara Sonali Miller

Tara (they/them and she/her) is Co-Director of the BYMC and the Soma School of Yoga and Somatics. Tara has completed multiple yoga teacher trainings and has most recently been deepening their practice and study through advanced trainings with Khushi Malhotra. They are excited to share these deep healing practices with you.