The Yoga Manifesto: How Yoga Helped Me and Why it Needs to Save Itself

Product Information

Yoga has become the latest wellness practice to fall victim to cultural appropriation – but that will come as no surprise to the many industry insiders who have been speaking out on this issue for years, with growing urgency. What is abundantly clear to me as a yoga teacher is the practice has been led astray by western economic forces. Cultural appropriation remains a contentious and triggering topic for some. “What’s the difference between appropriation and appreciation?” I’m often asked. People argue that it’s a fine line, but I fail to see it. It’s just one of the problems plaguing the industry.

Yoga Events | Eventbrite Kingussie, United Kingdom Yoga Events | Eventbrite

If you enjoyed this podcast then you might also enjoy Scott’s conversations with Pamela Weiss, Peter Levitt and Martin Aylward.

In this book there is not only an incredible honesty surrounding her own relationship with yoga, but also a clear & inspiring manifesto of 8 areas where yoga can (& is argued, must) work to revolutionise itself in a new era to overcome the murky waters it has become trapped in. Today Gregor teaches an anatomically sophisticated interpretation of traditional vinyasa yoga, integrated into the practice of the higher limbs in the spirit of Patanjali and T. Krishnamacharya. His zany sense of humour, his manifold personal experiences, and his vast and deep knowledge of scripture, Indian philosophies and yogic techniques combine to make his teachings applicable, relevant and easily accessible to all his students. About Mark Williams Mark Williams is Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Oxford, having held posts at the Medical Research Council’s Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at Cambridge and the University of Wales, Bangor. He co-developed Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy and founded the University of Oxford’s Mindfulness Centre that works to prevent depression and enhance human potential through the therapeutic use of mindfulness across the lifespan. His books include The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness (with John Teasdale, Zindel Segal and Jon Kabat-Zinn) and Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World (with Danny Penman). His most recent work focuses on how to sustain and deepen mindfulness through a programme that explores feeling tone (vedanā) 'frame by frame', as explained in Deeper Mindfulness (2023).

Nadia Gilani

Mireille Harper, writer and editor @mireilleharper “Nadia has written a brave and inspiring book that points to the way yoga has changed over the years. She shares in a beautifully raw way how yoga moved her, where she finds it now and challenges us to look at the practice we hold dear with tender eyes." His aim: to bring the good news re: “the mindful life” beyond the choir & to all those who didn’t know they gave a care. elephantjournal.com His dream of 12 years, the Elephant “Ecosystem” will find a way to pay 1,000s of writers a month, helping reverse the tide of low-quality, unpaid writing & reading for free online. Yoga’s appropriation by the white wellness industry is a 21st century form of colonialism. Its whitewashing is why I felt so lonely and out of place when I first started teaching. But having taught yoga to refugees and vulnerable teenagers, those in addiction recovery and people with mental health and mobility issues, I’m less interested in yoga being “decolonised” or reclaimed. To move the conversation forward, it’s imperative we understand why yoga has become out of reach for some of those who need it most – and find ways to make it available to more people.

what compelled David to start yoga. how his years of Bhakti yoga practice changed him. his views on how we move on from the sexual abuse of K Pattabhi Jois. how we can develop as practitioners by asking more questions. ---

The Yoga Manifesto: How Yoga Helped Me and Why It Needs to

An informative and unapologetic look at today’s yoga industry and how it has made a sacred practice out of touch to so many. It is at once a call-to-action for us to strive to protect cultural and spiritual practices and an ode to survival.”I loved this conversation with David. He is one of the most generous teachers you'll find, with the information he shares and the way he shares it. David Swenson is one of the most loved and respected teachers for a reason. This conversation captures that..." Nadia holds up a mirror to the culture of yoga in the west, which is often far from compassionate or healing, and tells us her story beautifully, mirrored through the rhythmic and disciplined lens of Ashtanga yoga, of practise and transformation.” The solution to bringing about real change must include everyone. If we’re in the business of yoga and get paid for selling it in some form, it’s our duty to ensure we’re doing it with respect and integrity. Those changes alone could revolutionise the way yoga exists in the western world. Above all, we all have a responsibility to make sure that yoga is available to anyone who wants to practise it. I had ended up on the course because I needed a break. I had decided to look upon it as a retreat and form of healing because after many years of troubles with food and alcohol and almost a decade of working as a news journalist, I was exhausted. I needed a rest but was also searching for some serious discipline in what had otherwise been a chaotic life for too long.

manifesto — Nadia Gilani

Nadia Gilani is a writer who teaches yoga (because she loves it). She first discovered the practice as a teenager when her mum took her to a class in the 1990s. Yoga hasn’t always been an easy ride. In fact it’s been really hard at times, but somehow the practice has been a constant source of inspiration in her life over the years.When Viv Albertine signed my copy of her book, she wrote: To Nadia, from Viv. Write! Write! Write! So that’s what I’ve done. I hope you enjoy it, whether you’re a long-standing yoga student, interested in getting started or just curious about what the practice can mean for us all on a personal level, but also what it might mean for the modern world we all live in. CHAPTER 1 Lost in Yoga A YOGA teacher, writer and influencer will be visiting a Nairn studio as part of her UK tour on Friday. We were halfway through the first Sun Salutation sequence when the giggles started. I couldn’t help but feel myself almost laughing too because, looking at it from their point of view and given that we had only just met, what we were doing was pretty odd. But I remembered my authority, I was the teacher so had to keep myself together. I did my best to cajole them along, walking between their mats and waving my arms to show them the way, exaggerating my movements the way people do when they don’t speak your language. ‘Breathe out and bend the knee,’ I called out, getting them into Warrior Two pose. ‘Bend the knee,’ I said again when no one responded. ‘The knee is bending, more bending, bending more...’ Everyone’s legs were shaking, but I could see that they were strong so I held them there a while longer.