I had a conversation recently with a friend who, like many of our generation, was feeling disparaged by the state of the world and the apathy that is so pervasive when it comes to the need to initiate both personal and collective change. Being practitioners, our conversation inevitably turned to yoga and its role in the state of the world. Acknowledging the increasing popularity and practice of yoga in its various forms, we began to wonder whether this increase in numbers was in any way helping to propel the change we see as so vital to this world. It is no secret that, particularly in the context of the Western obsession with asana and physicality, yoga often takes on an egocentric and materialistic dimension, celebrated for its ability to make you fit, beautiful, and youthful. Yoga’s transformative effects on the body are not a problem in and of themselves. A healthy, strong body is a wonderful by-product of the practice and is most often what actually serves to get people in the door; however, when the physical aspects become abstracted from the deeper dimensions of yoga, when asana becomes the only limb we practice, we lose the most powerful potentials inherent in yoga and forfeit the possibility of collectively creating a more socially and ecologically conscious world.

As with any popular movement or philosophy, yoga risks being co-opted by state and corporate forces, which, it seems, we have already seen to a large extent. Although I like to believe that exposure to yoga in some form is better than none and that such exposure will eventually stir a desire to look beyond asana and the proliferation of pre-packaged, easily consumable ideals, we cannot ignore the potentially detrimental and counterproductive effects of a fragmented practice that may serve only to inflate the ego and further embed us in the throes of materialism and corporate capitalism. With this in mind, how can we, as practitioners in the contemporary context of neoliberalism and global crisis, maintain the radical impulse inherent in ashtanga yoga, taking our practice beyond the mat and into even the most mundane aspects of life in order to envision new worlds, new relations, and new modes of being? If we see yoga as a radically creative impulse that propels us to awaken the intelligence of our bodies and minds in order to critically engage with the dysfunction that has been normalized to almost unbelievable levels, discovering for ourselves what is real beyond the habitual conditioning of our attachments and aversions, then the social and political implications of such a practice are truly boundless.

I propose that, as practitioners, we look at yoga as a radical practice that forces us to critically and ethically engage with the dominant institutions and values that structure our society, allowing us find ways to undermine and subvert those perspectives that sustain relationships of privilege, hierarchy, and oppression in our daily lives. Yoga, in this sense, is a way of peeling back the layers to experientially explore what is real rather than reacting to life based on our individual and collective conditioning. Through practice we can work to question those structures that have rendered themselves as natural and inevitable, demonstrating the extent to which dominant institutions stifle the creative potential inherent in people. By connecting with the intelligence of our bodies and minds, our innate capacity for spontaneous action free of reactive patterns and conditioning can naturally spring forth. When we are able to surpass our limited perspectives and break free of the confines of dualistic thinking, all that we do can become expressions of the vast interconnections that surround us, illuminating the constructed and artificial nature of separation. The power of yoga rests squarely in the heart of community, grounding our practice in the ever-shifting context of relationship.

I am still relatively new to yoga. I have been extremely blessed with amazing teachers both on and off the mat and was placed in a situation where I was able to delve deeply into the practice right from the start. I was incredibly fortunate to have started my practice in the mysore setting and was instantly blown away by the depth and beauty of the ashtanga vinyasa system. I still marvel at the intelligence of the mysore environment and the many things that practicing in this way can serve to teach us. Over the course of a few months, yoga radically transformed my life and I was possessed with a voracious desire to learn everything I could about this crazy new world of practice and philosophy that I was now a part of. I suddenly had a context in which to explore my ideals and beliefs, putting my values and worldviews into practice and coming to understand the power of community and relationship.

Although the practice of asana alone can become problematic, starting with the body makes perfect sense in this day and age. Many of us have or are struggling with various forms of insecurity that we associate with and impose on our bodies. We have become largely disconnected from our bodies, locked into an adversarial relationship in which we feel the need to control, dominate, and perfect our bodies rather than respecting the wisdom contained within the kinesthetic experience and honouring the many things our bodies can teach us from moment to moment. For most of my life I struggled with body image issues. Like most girls at some point over the course of their lives, my body was a source of anxiety, fear, and frustration. Struggling with disordered eating and substance abuse, my body was the recipient of all of my self-loathing and self-destructive behaviours. The abuse my body has endured is a testament to its strength and resilience and I am, to this day, shocked that I never ended up in the hospital or worse. My body was not the problem; however, I did not have the tools to engage with how I was feeling and could not see where these knots of hurt and anger were coming from. Instead, I lashed out at my body, trying to kill any part of myself that I could. When I began to practice, I suddenly had a very visceral medium with which to explore the roots of some of that hurt and began to discover a whole new depth of feeling and knowing within the contours of my own body. It is so beautiful the way the body and breath work together to begin an immediate process of cleansing and detoxification that goes right to the core of your being.

When we can learn to listen to our bodies, we can open ourselves up to a whole new level of intuition, provided with constant feedback as to the effects of our thoughts and actions on our lived experience. Living in harmony with our bodies becomes a huge part of the practice and becomes a natural expression of the realization of our interconnectedness with the world around us. There is no more immediate way to live and express your values than in your relationship with and treatment of your body. What we choose to consume and wear, the way we carry ourselves, how we converse with others, these are all expressions of how we view ourselves and our connection with the world. We need to be constantly aware of how our actions and choices either bring us closer to others or only further divide us, how they work to bring about social and ecological justice or simply perpetuate hierarchy and oppression. We have no hope of being truly aware of these connections when we are not even aware of our own bodies. Reconnecting with the most visceral and material aspects of ourselves is the first step in this process of critical and ethical practice. Of course, yoga is a lifelong process, so we cannot expect to change everything overnight and become model citizens of ecological and social conscience; however, there are many things we can begin to change in this very moment and choosing to completely ignore the way our individual actions are deeply implicated in the lives of others, both human and other-than-human, is irresponsible and, frankly, unacceptable. Not only that, it is a deeply damaging form of violence.

In the face of so much needed change, it is often tempting to do nothing, to hide behind societal faults and to point out the gaps in the ethical practices of others. These reactional behaviours only further engrain the types of attitudes and perspectives we are seeking to disrupt. It is true that there will always be more that we can do. Our practice will never be perfect and no matter how socially and environmentally conscious we think we are becoming, there will always be some aspect of our experience that we have not considered, some way that we are contributing to the marginalization of a group of beings that has not yet captured our awareness; however, this in itself is the reason for practice. Rather than becoming discouraged, the inevitability of failure should propel us to even greater action. Failure is one of the most beautiful human experiences. When embraced, failure results in a deep letting go of some previously held notion, a part of ourselves that no longer serves us but that we have been unwilling or unable to let go of. When we let go of something that we have so intimately identified with for so long, we are left with a new sense of beautifully open space in which the possibilities are endless. We often react to this space with an intense fear that can cause us to cling even more tightly, which is why failure must become a central part of our practice. If we can approach failure with awareness and compassion, allowing ourselves to be with failure rather than simply reacting to it, we can allow the experience of failing to become something radical in itself, a beautifully transformative process that can open us up to our deepest and most protected hurts. Failure keeps us from ever thinking that we are “done,” compelling us towards a conception of something better that is always in process and never fully realized.

I fail every single day on my mat. And every day, as I return to my mat, I am able to fail just a little a bit better. The ashtanga vinyasa system practiced in the mysore setting is one of the most powerful processes I have been fortunate enough to be a part of. Returning to the same set of postures day in and day out and watching the progress and changes in your body, breath, and mind as you move through practice is a wonderfully inspiring gift and completely changes your perception as to what is possible, instilling a remarkable sense of independence, confidence, and discipline. There is always that one posture that you are absolutely dreading having to do, that one posture that is the bane of your existence. But, regardless, every day you roll out your mat, you breathe, and you confront that place of dread until one day you find that you are suddenly in the posture and that it has transformed into something entirely different. This practice teaches us not to turn away from our discomforts. In facing them head on, day after day, we are able to explore the ways in which we can move beyond our habits and narratives of attachment and aversion in order to connect with something deeper.

Perhaps the most powerful part of this practice is the student/teacher relationship that is cultivated in the mysore setting. This practice, when approached with sincerity, humility, and devotion, can teach us what it really means to be a student. And we are all students. To be a student is one of the hardest and most important things that we can do in this life. Being a student means giving up the idea that you know anything, being constantly willing to surrender what you thought you knew in order to open up to something greater. In a sense, being a student and failing are synonymous. It is only by letting go that we can create the space that is needed to listen, allowing ourselves to become receptive to the wisdom and experiences of those who are further along the path, whatever path that may be. The practice firmly embeds us in the heart of community where, rather than running away, we must continually explore our insecurities, conditioning, and self-deceptions. By working to create space in all aspects of life, the practice allows us to be with and of community, constantly interrogating and dismantling our notions of ourselves and others without becoming claustrophobic or co-dependent. Through the practice of all eight limbs, ashtanga yoga provides a physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual practice that allows us to actively challenge and question the institutions and discourses that structure our society, asking each of us to experientially explore the complexity and depth of seemingly simplistic notions such as nonviolence and truthfulness. It is only through practice that we begin to understand the nuances of these principles. What we think we understand begins to take on a whole new meaning through practice, challenging the very foundation of our views and our most dearly cherished ideas of ourselves.

Yoga has placed me at the heart of community, surrounded by amazing practitioners, teachers, and students. The practice has begun a process of deep emotional and psychological healing that has forced me out of my shell in order to learn how to be truly intimate with the world around me. Through practice, I am learning to stop hiding from myself, to honour my boundaries and limitations, and to not lose myself in others. Yoga is working to open my heart, creating the space to explore what a true ethical practice might entail. For me, yoga has been a process of softening the rigid boundaries I have spent my entire life constructing between my ideas of myself and the reality of the present moment, allowing me to engage with things as they are rather than as I would like them to be. Yoga is a process of dropping our self-constructed narratives to really be with ourselves and others as we are in this moment, with all of our imperfections and limited perspectives.

It should go without saying that we need to be constantly vigilant of the emergence of any elitism in our practice. Whether we are practicing third series or huffing and puffing as we try to get through our first sun salutation, our practice should never allow us to hide from the world or construct ourselves as better or more “enlightened” than others. This is just another conceptual trap that only serves to uphold the dominant structures we seek to undermine. Practice should facilitate dialogue. It should expand our awareness and dismantle our notions of what is “other.” Change cannot happen in the absence of connection and conversation. Every day, in every moment, we should practice with the intention of realizing alternative, non-hierarchical relations between persons, both human and other-than-human. One person cannot change the world. One person can, however, have an impact on those around them, and, collectively, the possibilities are endless. Through consistent, dedicated practice we can cultivate a deep sense of independence and self-knowing that will allow us to realize the critical and creative capacities inherent in each and every one of us. From this place of self-knowledge we are equipped with the faculties necessary to ethically engage and subvert all aspects of society, no matter the form or content. We have all seen the immense failures of the current state of electoral politics. We cannot wait or hope for someone else to come along and change things for us. We have to embody those changes and creatively live them into being. I know that yoga works. I know this with every ounce of my being and I have only just begun to traverse this path. Yoga is relationship. It is for everyone and it is both a gift and a responsibility. So take up practice. Roll out your mat, listen to your breath, and work to become still enough to hear the answers in your own heart. A true revolution of consciousness can only come from a place of stillness. Through practice and relationship, we can transform this world.