Yoga is a sacred, living tradition rooted in diverse South Asian and Indigenous spiritual, philosophical, and movement lineages. Today, it stands at a crossroads — commodified, whitewashed, militarised and severed from its liberatory potential. I reject the weaponisation and appropriation of yoga for capitalist, nationalist, casteist, and colonial agendas. This manifesto is a call to action, reflection, and transformation for all who practise, teach and share yoga.
Principles of a Decolonised Yoga
Honour the Indigenous caretakers of the land where we practise.
- Land & Ancestral Acknowledgment
Acknowledge the spiritual, cultural, and political histories tied to yoga’s origins.
Critical Lineage Awareness
Recognise the multiplicity of traditions and communities that shaped yoga.
Reject homogenised, Brahmanical, or nationalist retellings of yoga history.
- Anti-Caste & Anti-Supremacy Commitment
Oppose casteism and its spiritual, linguistic, and institutional expressions.
Center the voices and liberation of Dalit, Bahujan, Adivasi, and oppressed communities.
- Cultural Responsibility
Refuse cultural appropriation; embrace respectful cultural appreciation.
Question the use of Sanskrit, chants, symbols, and attire when not rooted in personal lineage.
- Liberation Over Commodification
Resist capitalist packaging of yoga as a product for profit.
Cultivate yoga as a collective, healing, and justice-centered practice.
- Accountability in Practice
Share yoga non-hierarchically and democratically.
Examine personal privilege, positionality, and complicity in systems of oppression.
- Community Over Individualism
Build spaces of solidarity, healing, and resistance.
Use yoga to support movements for social, racial, and ecological justice.
- Decolonial Education
Continuously study and engage with the work of marginalized South Asian, Indigenous, Black, and Queer thinkers.
Challenge dominant narratives in yoga teacher training and studio culture.
- Transformative Spirituality
Engage yoga as a tool for personal and collective evolution.
Restore yoga’s spiritual roots beyond aesthetic performance and physical postures.
- Global Solidarity
Oppose the use of yoga by military, police, or nationalist institutions to sanitize violence.
Reject omwashing and stand in solidarity with all communities resisting occupation, oppression, and injustice.
Commitments
I commit to lifelong unlearning, ethical self-reflection, and action.
I envisage a yoga that:
Is liberatory, not exclusionary
Is rooted in justice, not neutrality
Honours complexity, not simplification
Cultivates healing, not harm
Yoga, in its truest form, is a practice of union — of mind, body, spirit and community. A decolonised yoga is not a destination but a path walked in solidarity, humility and deep love for all beings.
This is my sacred work.
COSMIC PATH
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