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Diversity & Equity in the Modern Yoga Practice

Yoga, at its core, is a practice of unity—connecting mind, body, and spirit while fostering a sense of collective well-being. As I shared last month from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, I teach Yoga as the practice of getting connected with our authentic selves AND our community.

However, the accessibility and inclusivity of yoga have historically been influenced by systemic inequities, including racial, economic, and cultural barriers. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in yoga are about dismantling these barriers to create spaces where everyone, regardless of race, age, gender, ability, or socioeconomic status, can benefit from the transformative power of yoga.

In today’s political climate, discussions around DEI have become more polarized, with some movements pushing back against inclusivity efforts. This affects yoga communities, as certain groups may feel excluded or discouraged from participating due to political rhetoric that undermines equity initiatives. Additionally, economic policies, healthcare disparities, and social justice movements impact who has access to yoga, how yoga is taught, and whether it is viewed as a tool for personal liberation or an exclusive wellness commodity.

By acknowledging these challenges, the yoga community has an opportunity to reaffirm its commitment to inclusivity. This means actively creating welcoming spaces, advocating for accessible classes, and ensuring yoga remains a practice that serves all people, not just those with privilege. As yoga teachers, practitioners, and advocates, we have a responsibility to uphold yoga’s deeper values—compassion, justice, and unity—especially in times of social and political uncertainty.

Yoga offers profound teachings on difference, value, and interconnectedness that can illuminate how we approach DEI work in the larger culture. Let’s break it down.

Yoga, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

Yoga philosophy aligns with DEI by celebrating unity within diversity and rejecting hierarchical value systems. Traditional yoga views differences as natural and essential. Concepts like ahimsa (non-violence), satya (truth), and sangha (community) support DEI by fostering belonging, equity, and collective healing. Several key yogic concepts align closely with DEI principles:

• Ahimsa (Non-harm): Practicing non-violence toward ourselves and others means creating spaces where all people can feel safe, heard, and respected.
• Satya (Truthfulness): Speaking truth to power and recognizing systems of oppression without denying or minimizing the lived experiences of marginalized groups.
• Svadhyaya (Self-study): Encouraging deep reflection on our own biases, privileges, and assumptions, leading to more mindful action.
• Sangha (Community): Yoga recognizes the importance of community and collective healing. True inclusion requires intentionally building communities that embrace difference and foster belonging.

By way of the practices of breathing, moving and resting, we at Life’sWork Yoga, are committed to community & connection and the mission of DEI intentions and practice. Our recent Book Club study is a prime example of our continued commitment and study to celebrating difference and challenging our cultural context. The Body is Not an Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor is an excellent integration of the practice of love as a healing strategy for injustice caused by imbalanced cultural power structures. As a practice, Yoga invites practitioners to:

• Embrace self-study and reflection on personal biases.
• Shift from individualism to collective responsibility.
• Create inclusive, accessible spaces.
• Honor multiple paths and perspectives without judgment.

Ultimately, yoga and DEI share a common goal: recognizing shared humanity, celebrating difference, and building compassionate, inclusive communities rooted in love and connection.

Understanding Difference: Unity Within Diversity

Yoga is often translated as union or yoke, signifying the practice of integrating seemingly opposing elements—mind and body, breath and movement, individual self and universal consciousness. Importantly, this union is not about erasing difference but about recognizing it while honoring our shared humanity.

In the Bhagavad Gita and the Yoga Sutras, difference is seen as part of the natural order. Diversity of expression—whether in physical form, personality, or experience—is not only accepted but celebrated as a manifestation of the infinite. Each person’s journey is unique, and yoga encourages us to honor those differences without assigning hierarchical value to them.

In many cultures, especially Western ones, difference is often used to establish systems of dominance and hierarchy. This can manifest as:

• Superiority and inferiority: based on race, age, gender, ability, class, or sexual orientation.
• Commodification of difference: where diversity is reduced to tokenism or aesthetic value.
• Binary thinking: seeing difference as right or wrong, good or bad, worthy or unworthy.

Yoga disrupts this binary thinking by inviting us into a space of non-judgment and radical acceptance. Rather than assigning worth based on external markers, yoga teaches us to look inward, where all beings share an intrinsic, equal value rooted in consciousness itself.

Bridging Yoga and DEI in Practice

• Acknowledge the History and Roots of Yoga: Cultural appropriation is a critical issue in contemporary yoga. Honoring the practice’s origins and the voices of those historically marginalized in yoga spaces is essential for equity.
• Create Inclusive Spaces: Ensure that yoga spaces are accessible to all bodies, abilities, and identities. This includes addressing physical accessibility, language, and representation in leadership.
• Use Yoga as a Tool for Social Change: Yoga can be a tool for resilience and healing for activists and communities working toward justice.

Yoga Supports DEI Efforts

• Move Beyond Individualism: While much of modern yoga is focused on personal wellness, traditional yoga invites us to see ourselves as part of an interconnected whole. DEI work asks the same of us: to shift from self-centered perspectives to collective responsibility.
• Create Brave Spaces for Reflection: Just as yoga provides a space for self-inquiry and growth, DEI efforts require spaces where individuals can reflect on their own conditioning and privileges without judgment but with accountability.
• Support Embodied Awareness: Yoga is a practice of embodiment—being present in the body and aware of our lived experiences. This is what we mean by “somatics”. DEI work also calls for embodied awareness: recognizing how oppression and privilege live in our bodies and how collective healing is necessary.
• Honor Multiple Perspectives: In yoga, there is no single path or approach that works for everyone. This aligns with DEI principles that honor diverse experiences and reject a one-size-fits-all approach to justice and inclusion.

Reflection

At its core, yoga invites us to recognize our shared essence while honoring the diversity of form and expression. This mirrors the work of DEI—building a world where difference is not a marker of worth or power but a source of strength, creativity, and connection. The journey toward equity and inclusion is deeply aligned with yoga’s call to awaken to our true nature—one rooted in love, compassion, and collective liberation.

Yoga philosophy teaches that difference is natural and essential, not a marker of value or worth. It emphasizes unity within diversity—encouraging acceptance and honoring unique experiences without creating hierarchies. Concepts like Ahimsa (non-harm), Satya (truthfulness), and Svadhyaya (self-study) align closely with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) principles by promoting non-judgment, reflection on biases, and building communities rooted in belonging and safety.

In the broader culture, difference is often linked to systems of power and hierarchy, leading to exclusion or tokenism. Yoga disrupts this thinking, inviting us to move beyond individualism toward collective responsibility. It offers tools for embodied awareness, mindful self-reflection, and creating inclusive spaces where all identities and experiences are respected.

Ultimately, both yoga and DEI work call us to live with compassion, challenge injustice, and recognize our shared humanity while celebrating our differences. Together, they guide us toward personal and collective liberation.