notes on yoga as liberatory practice

TLDR; If your yoga doesn’t extend beyond yourself, it doesn’t make us free.

Self-care is essential to support aligned action. I’ve seen a lot of burnout in the nonprofit and advocacy world, and I’m glad to see, in these times of polycrisis and global trauma, a lot of reminders to rest and nourish. As the airlines wisely counsel us, ‘secure your own oxygen mask before assisting others.’

But it seems sometimes that folks are reading that as ‘secure your own oxygen mask and then close your eyes and focus on your own breathing.’ 

Over and over, for decades, I’ve seen people lean on their yoga practice as reason to ‘stay out of politics’ (i.e. discussion of the world outside the yoga room) and focus on cultivating love and light within themselves. But yoga that doesn’t extend from the mat, that doesn’t acknowledge interconnection, yoga you consider as yours and yours alone, is incomplete. It’s dishonest. And it doesn’t make us free. 

Yoga is a path of collective liberation. We’re tuning inward - not tuning out - for the purpose of remembering interconnection. For the purpose of bringing forth the strength to fight. 

In the Bhagavad Gita’s epic tale, the protagonist prince Arjuna invokes the concept of ahimsa (often translated as ‘non-harming’) as reason to stay out of the war, a family feud, in which he has been called to fight. But Krishna counsels him to think of the harm that will be done if he does not fight. Arjuna learns a broader application of ahimsa that requires acting with love, and acting to prevent harm. The Gita teaches a yoga of aligned action, doing what you know is right simply because it is right.

And hey, bonus: living in accordance with what you know is right is more easeful, more joyful, more liberatory than simply ignoring what is wrong. Aligned action is self-care, just as much as any practice on the mat. So I’m here with a little nudge to encourage you to practice - by taking care of yourself, and each other.

practice and be reminded:

aligned action can move through you like breath. 

you can be a conduit for collective strength. 

you don’t have to hold it all yourself.

…and you won’t know freedom until we all do. all beings everywhere. no exceptions. ✌️

// michelle