Yoga is entwined with politics in the epic Mahabharata and it's most famous chapter, the Bhagavad Gita. And it's not just in the epic and mythological literature; many early kingdoms and states in India connected their politics with yoga, just as many yogis in rural India (where its majority lives) often resisted such rule. Mohatma Gandhi applied a radical commitment to ahimsa, non-violence, to help rid India of the British while Sri Aurobindo organized 10,000 yoga warriors to try to take on the British Army. The current Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, has made yoga and politics an art form for his BJP party and the larger religio-nationalist Hindutva political movement.  

So what about yoga and the November 2024 presidential election in the United States, where basic rights, the planet, and perhaps democracy itself are at stake? What's an American yogi – and yoga teacher – to do, or not do?

First, consider Shakespeare, "to thine own self be true," before reflexively ...

Whether one seeks the meaning or purpose of yoga from ancient texts such as the Bhagavad Gita, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali or Hatha Yoga Pradipika or looks to more modern or contemporary sources for guidance and inspiration, awakening to or cultivating conscious awareness, more awakened being and a better, healthier life are constants. Standing on the edge of the mythical battlefield of the Mahabharata War, Prince Arjuna was frozen in inaction due to misunderstanding the nature of his being; in finding his path (dharma) he would become clear in his awareness and thereby able to act consciously and forthrightly in his life. Patanjali similarly identifies the source of human suffering (klesha) that motivates yoga in ignorance of one’s true nature (avidya) that is rooted in a confused bodymind, offering an eight-step approach to betterment that includes moral and practical observances, asana, pranayama, pratyahara (relieving the senses of their external distractions), and meditation as a d...