Yoga for Social Justice and Liberation

In this workshop, we will dive into the dialogue surrounding “decolonising yoga”, in both a Western and South Asian context. Grounding ourselves in history, culture, philosophy and politics, we will start to build the foundations of an embodied social justice practice within the practice of yoga. We will explore:

• A brief history of yoga in South Asia and an introduction to Sanskrit, the ‘language of yoga’
• The rewriting of this history: Sanskritization & Brahminization and the absorption of non-Brahminical traditions into Hindu Brahminism
• A critical examination of caste and language in yoga, and the pervasive impact of caste in South Asia and the West.
• How yoga and spirituality are weaponised within colonial, imperial, white supremacist and nationalist systems and governance
• Yoga as a tool of liberation and social justice
• Spiritual bypassing and white washing of yoga, and the difference between appropriation and appreciation, claiming and reclaiming 

We will move through this content in intellectual and cognitive capacities, whilst also grounding in other somatic and embodied processing. Somatic explorations will include;

• Acknowledging Country 
• Noticing and sitting with discomfort and tension
• Moving from a place of curiosity and intrigue 
• Finding a liberatory, congruent and expansive yoga practice

This workshop will not include

• An āsana practice
• A prāṇāyāma practice

This workshop is for all who are interested in expanding their awareness and embodiment of decolonial yoga practice, and have foundational understandings of colonialism, imperialism and white supremacy. This workshop is for all cultures and races, including (and perhaps especially) for white folks. Please come with the intention of learning, listening and expansion.

Roshni Lakhani, Co-facilitator

Roshni (she/her) is a Sanskrit scholar, teacher and facilitator. She holds a BA Hons in Sanskrit and South Asian Studies from SOAS, University of London and has furthered her learning with intensive grammar and linguistic programs in Pune and Kerala. Roshni grew up in a caste-privileged Gujarati Hindu family and has been immersed in Sanskrit language, yoga and the spiritualities of South Asia since her childhood and schooling in London. As she delved deeper into these practices as an adult, Roshni became increasingly aware of the complex ways in which caste, gender and race impact and intersect with them. She thus recognises the importance of approaching modern yoga and spirituality through a historical, intersectional and language-based lens and seeks to increase awareness of caste apartheid within the Western yoga community.

Roshni has also worked globally in the non-profit sector, which led her to completing a law degree. In 2023, having worked in the social impact legal world for some time, and on the brink of qualifying as a lawyer, Roshni chose to redirect her career towards her foundational lifelong passion—South Asian studies. Roshni now resides on Bundjalung Country, Australia, and spends her time researching, silversmithing and basking in the beauty of the rainforest that surrounds her home.

Han Weeramanthri, Co-facilitator

Han (they/them) is a queer therapist (M.Couns & B.Psych) and yoga teacher, with Tamil and Irish ancestry and connections to the lands of Tamil Nadu, Tamil Eelam & Cúige Mumhan. Han lives on unceded Wurundjeri Country, growing up on Noongar Country, and recently returning from formative years living on Gimuy, Walubura & Yidinji Country.

Han works from an abolitionist, intersectional and decolonising lens, and is trained in accessible and trauma-informed yoga practice. Han’s therapeutic style includes a mix of attachment theory based approaches, and internal family systems, somatic experiencing and psychodynamic therapies. 

Han is a mixed race person from a lower caste family that experienced upward caste mobility after converting to Christianity during British colonisation. Because of these intergenerational experiences and complexities, Han holds a complex and critical relationship with the practice of yoga. Han is determined to interrogate race, caste and colourism within the yoga practice and industry, in the West and in South Asia. Han is particularly interested in non-Vedic and indigenous lineages of yoga and South Asian spiritual practices.