Embrace Yoga's Roots: Courageous Ways to Deepen Your Yoga Practice

For everyone teaching and practicing yoga

To say this book has transformed my relationship with the practice of, and teaching of yoga is an understatement, this book has transformed my life.Western yoga, and I say this as a white, western yoga teacher, has been diluted in many ways. I read this book looking for answers for ways to honor, embrace, and truly value yoga’s roots, while recognizing that I have built my career around a practice from a culture that is not my own. Susanna has a beautiful way of raising topics with open ended questions that challenged me to use the tools and frameworks she’s provided to find answers within myself with her thoughtful and loving guidance. That is what I feel the magic of this book is. It guides the reader to delve deep into themself which is a yogic practice. While different readers will get the same tools and think about the same topics, every person who opens this book and sincerely reads it will form a unique and iterative relationship with the material. Every reader will get different answers and different paths forward in teaching or practicing of yoga.This book is inspiring and visionary, but it’s presented in a way it makes it fun to unpack and think about. Susanna seeks to decolonize the practice of yoga with this work, but I feel like the process of reading it has also decolonized my thought patterns and assumptions. While the book does not run away from serious topics, I was left feeling imaginative and creative; inspired and lit up with ideas to move towards liberation and unity. I recommend reading this book with a notebook next to you because Susanna’s reflection questions have inspired so much in me as I read.After reading this book I feel confident practicing and teaching yoga in a way that truly embraces the social justice roots of this practice, but possibly more important, I feel confident holding space for, and holding accountable other western yoga students and instructors engaging in this work of re-imagining and re-rooting into yoga in a way that truly honors the history, philosophy, and culture. This book makes the work of allyship inspired and exciting.This book is one that will live on my bedside and one that I will return to often.If you are looking to deep in your relationship with yoga, this book is a must!

As a woman, an immigrant, and as a person of color, it only took the first few pages of “Embrace Yoga’s Roots” (the real copy, not the fake ones out there!) to realize that there is so much more that we can do. The expression ‘actions speak louder than words’ really rings true as you read through this book and reflect on all that we think we know (I had my Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras book alongside me the whole time!). One particular area that had me thinking is one of the definitions we know yoga to be – union with the self. But there is so much more, the word union means to combine, alliance, partnership. So by default the word union is also the opposite of separation, divisiveness, segregation. It should be easy for us to understand this but yet it is not. Susanna breaks it down nicely and I had a true “aha” moment when I answered the reflection questions after I read “From Separation to Liberation”. There are so many areas in this book that are eye-opening but most importantly, easy fixes that we as ‘yogis’ and yoga teachers can implement or course correct right away to ensure that we really stay true to yoga’s roots. A great read and one to reflect on daily as we continue our journey as students of yoga.

This book will prod the reader into examining their preconceived notions of how yoga is taught, what it means to the 21st century practitioner, and how to increase mindfulness when moving forward with teaching and presenting yoga-related events.

I think this is a very important and timely book for three reasons: 1. It clearly explains why and how yoga is more than a physical fitness practice. 2. It also clearly explains how and why yoga in the West still remains a culture of mostly privileged white women and some men, and 3. why it is important that yoga in the West becomes more inclusive of people of color, various body sizes, etc. In these respects, the book does a great job. In addition, the book does a great job at explaining yoga's historical and philosophical roots in India. However, as it is important to talk about white supremacy in the West and how the same exploited India via British imperialism, there is one big elephant in the living room not at all mentioned in this book: the caste system and how it has enslaved women and exploited and marginalized people of lower castes This system has been endemic to Indian culture for thousands of years, and it is still endemic in the culture of yoga. A chapter on this taboo and complex subject would have been much welcome. Not bringing this issue out of the closet is one reason why India today, often in the name of Hindusim and yoga has become a fundamentalist state and is lashing out against people of lower castes, Muslims, and, yes, even farmers. How can we liberate yoga in the West and create yogic union (which is the author's laudable goal) when yoga in its original place, where it all began, is still endemic to the culture. In the Tantric yoga culture of India, however, do we find examples of yogis rejecting the caste system. It is time this topic becomes part of this important discourse and movement toward a "unified yogic culture."

Me encanta la mezcla de análisis de Susana con información histórica o científica y la motivación a la autocrítica .. hay que tener mente abierta para leer este libro y sacar el máximo provecho

Susanna hit the nail on the head with this one. From educating her readers on why yoga was originally cultivated, to listing fundamental ways we can actively practice yoga in the most effective and respectful manner, this book is a much needed push to go deeper and amplify yoga’s true meaning, Unity. Something we could all practice to deter us away from our struggles. Even if you don’t practice yoga, this book can still spark you to self reflect on numerous ways we may cause harm to others, without us even knowing. Susanna asks us questions that will make us think, and rethink the way we do things for a much better impact.

This book goes deep into trauma and how they affect. How the yoga industry is white washed- how to be a better ally in the studio. It helps you blur out what white folks have tried to make yoga and enforces what yoga IS!! As someone who was recommended this book through a trauma informed yoga program- I am so happy this was expected to read!! Everyone should read it.

For people who are interested in yoga, it's time for becoming aware of what yoga really is about. For too many years, the western world has carried out a cultural appropriation of the principles of yoga and many oriental traditions. It’s time to go from "appropriation" to "appreciation" and to approach the study of these disciplines with the depth they deserve.

Bellissimo libro che approfondisce argomenti scomodi che generalmente non si trattano, soprattutto nei teacher training. Capire dove si sbaglia, come insegnante e praticante, per cercare di migliorare. Consigliatissimo!

So many tab markers! This book is soul inspiring, knowledgeable, and also challenges us to look into ourselves and reflect upon how we have been engaging in western yoga culture either positively or negatively.It is time to start recognizing where white colonial oppression and erasure has caused harm, especially to the original practitioners and teachers of yoga (Indian, South Asian, and BIPOC).Thank you Susanna for writing this book and truly calling in each reader to do better.

This book comes at a time when many patterns are embedded in the landscape of yoga. Some of those patterns are are like wounds that have scarred the landscape. By reading this book, we can contribute to interrupting those patterns and re-route our collective thinking about yoga. Barkataki writes elegantly and informatively unearthing ingrained beliefs about yoga. Parts of the book are like a workbook and the reader is asked to respond in practical ways to the questions. In this way, the learnings are tangible and stay with you. This is an important piece of writing that should be required reading within teacher trainings so the next generation of teachers embrace the depth of yoga's roots.