Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I'm excited to be gathering for our office hours for this month of March.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and I wanna welcome you, and we'll take a moment to drop in.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): But first I'd love to invite folks to drop in the chat where you're here from, and maybe 2 words how you're doing in this moment. So just taking a moment to check in.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): How is it with me?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): What's arising
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): in this time? Perhaps if there's a Yama or Niyama that you're practicing with, or that feels like present for this moment.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): For me it is
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Brahmataria.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I feel present and grateful.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Justine. And Hello! From Massachusetts. It's so it's actually really nice to hear where folks are from, because I see you
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): every every month, a couple of times a month, some of you more. And I don't always know where you are in the world
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): grateful for Sangha. Yeah, I am, too such a special place to be able to gather with folks who care about these values and are working to apply Yogic values and Yogic tools to our lives.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Clarity!
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It will always be clarity, Anita. Hello! From the San Fernando Valley. Feeling grateful and inspired.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I grew up in the San Fernando Valley. That's so cool. Jenny, in Sacramento, resting and cold. Yeah. Glad you're here.
Bonnie Hood River, Oregon.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the confederated tribes of warm springs, excited and grateful, leaning into Brahmataria and tapas
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Chico California Eileen grateful for sunshine and warmth.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Konstina. Hi from Costa Rica Cleo from Lanape and colonize land in the Bronx.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Constina, did you message me? I just wanna double check because I wanna make sure to get back to you about the retreat that Blair Amani and I are doing in Costa Rica. Let me know you can. You can message me in the chat. And if anyone else is interested, we have some spots and we have, we're gonna be doing scholarship spots. So I'm gonna send that to you all first, of course. So just letting you let me know wonderful. Okay, let me
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): make sure I message you back. And then we're gonna take a moment and drop in
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So whatever you're doing, you can kind of put like, if you have other applications open.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): put those aside. Just give yourself some time to drop into time and space
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and and presence together, and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I'm going to invite the bell.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and we'll breathe and explore
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): in aware of your breathing, in
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and breathing out.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): aware of your breathing out.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): taking a moment to feel the energy in your body.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to teck in with your own energy source.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then to open up, knowing that the practice of Yoga connects us always to everything to our interconnected nature.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so, if you're feeling a little depleted or down, or just need some support, receiving that from the elements around you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): from the earth supporting you and holding you up
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the water.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the waters both in you and around you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Fire.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): passion. inspiration, the electricity that allows us to connect with one another across time and space.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): air in your breath.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and all around
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): space
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): within you and around you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): practicing your guest dog, ritdiduruda.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the supporting, the calming of the fluctuations of our mental chatter
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): of our minds.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): letting our energy rest in the present moment.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): marching with this moment, with life.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): with all
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): checking in on
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): what you do to practice Ahimsa, to practice. Care for yourself. to practice bromataria, to care for your energy.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): maybe what you need right now.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It's different than what you needed last week or a month ago.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and as we pour into ourselves and care for ourselves, really like grounding and founding ourselves in a foundation of practice, we're able to show up
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): as agents of spiritual possibility.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): as agents of change
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): in our relationships
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): with
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): friends, our families at work.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And it doesn't have to be grand. It doesn't have to look like, you know.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): any kind of like big banner waving movement. It can just be one conversation, one pause, one breath at a time. one connection at a time.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): But what defines
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): a Yogic change maker or an agent of spiritual possibility
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): which we can become through to simply practicing Yoga is
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the connection to a spiritual foundation. and this can be multifaith any faith or no faith.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and a connection to our interconnectedness.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And then we act from that place moment to moment to moment.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so moment we'll move a little bit and then move into some journaling.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): reflecting now in our movements.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): what might self care, self nourishment look like. So you can follow what I'm doing, and I'll guide you with my voice, and can also look at me if you want, or just check in with your body, so I'm lifting my arms up, placing my fingertips on my shoulders, rolling my shoulders back and around.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): You can stay here with your hands like this, or open your arms out, and give yourself your whole arm.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and gently clasping your hands behind one side, so I'm bringing my hands together and clasping them under my right ribs, and drop your left ear towards your left shoulder, left shoulder down towards the earth, face casing down
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): towards the sky
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and breathing here, maybe finding a spot to hang out and imagine that you have gills so you can breathe through
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the right neck and shoulder.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): What does Ahimsa look like here?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And then gently releasing on your next breath and clasping your hands.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): them up and around above your head.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): gazing up at the sky past your fingertips, and then arms come back and down, clasping them to the other side, so bring them to the right or the left side body, and even class them. Anyway, you want. Sometimes I just clasp my hands like, put them together. Sometimes I interlace
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): my left side a little tighter. So this side. I'm just gonna kinda get my hands together. However, they go there and then relax my left shoulder.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): relax my right shoulder down and drop
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): here
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): right ear towards your right shoulder, right shoulder down towards the earth.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): looking down. looking up, softening your daf. You would like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): finding a spot to hang out here.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): How can I care for my energy
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): in these times in this moment?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): One more breath here
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): inhale, releasing your hands, stretching up.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and this time, as you bring your hands up, perhaps, if you'd like extending into a little bit of a back bend, so, arching your back, lifting up with your heart.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then releasing, folding forward, and that folder can be a hug, or it can be forward fold, bringing everything down towards the earth from expansion to contraction.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): just curling in. tending to yourself.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): because we practice for ourselves and other beings. expanding with your next inhale. lifting up and out, exhaling, maybe sending some care
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): out to the world.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then one more exhale curling down. If you were giving yourself a hug, other arm is on top
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): receiving support.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so you can give it. And just because there's no no one needs to earn or deserve support.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I am doing enough. just as I am perfectly imperfect.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): once more expanding out the option to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): cactus your arms or lift them up and out.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then exhale hands together at Heart Center. We'll close our practice with a tent.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): The Santi Mantra. Boka, Samasta, Sukinovan, too. practicing
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the wish for peace.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): typing it in the chat in case you want to see it.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): wish for peace for ourselves.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and the first time we chant will be for ourselves the second time
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you can wish for peace. healing. freedom from suffering for someone in your life. and then the third time is for all beings, and you can hold all beings in your mind, or a particular community, or ecosystem, or
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): group of folks.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so we'll chance 3 times, the first for ourselves, the second for a specific person or being, and the third for all beings or a group of beings. Sometimes it's helpful to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to think all people dealing with chronic pain, or all people suffering from State violence who could really really use some relief.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): We'll send this practice within and without, which is really the same thing. deep breath in and full breath out.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Inhale to tant!
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Oh. summer star! Huh! Sukino. by 1, 2
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): look. summer star. Sukino
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): low da.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): so musta Sukino.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Oh.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Shanti, shanti shanti Shati, Shatti, Shatti, peace, peace, peace, peace, peace, peace peace. and power, power, power.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): power of liberation
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to beloved to all.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so an invitation to stretch, to move to your journal, or, if you wanna type into the chat.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Any reflections on this practice on your yoga at this time. and also on how it's showing up.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and Ramataria as well. So non-harm and energy.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): how it's showing up, and we'll take few minutes, maybe 3 or 4 min, just a journal. And also, if there's any questions percolating, we'll move into our discussion after we take some time to reflect.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I'll play some music.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and if you would like you can turn the sound down or
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): listen music with no words.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): This is coffee by
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): sarathi.
you
okay.
the
okay.
and the
the
to
the
to
the
to.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): hey? I wanna move into an opportunity for us to share.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and so inviting you to continue writing. If you want or finish up what you're reflecting on and to as we move into practice this practice of being in community and sunda to see if you can keep that kind of yogic awareness that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): maybe it's even 60% inward and 40% out or 50 50. However, you wanna do that awareness internally, and then externally, that awareness of Aimsa and Prometharia in action in real time.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Hmm! Would anyone like to share out loud into the space with the group?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yes, Bonnie love to hear from you.
Bonnie Walker (she/they): Hi, thank you. yeah, I don't feel like typing. This is, and if I say it out loud, I may as well just say it out loud instead of dictating. So
Bonnie Walker (she/they): I'm actually having a pretty amazing day today and
Bonnie Walker (she/they): I was in a webinar on regenerative economics this morning, and there was a guest speaker. A woman from Mexico. I can't remember her full name.
Bonnie Walker (she/they): I should, though it was just amazing, like
Bonnie Walker (she/they): like regenerative economics, regenerative agriculture, and combining the 2, and then finding a way to meet current day investors where they're at so it was really powerful, totally amazing.
Bonnie Walker (she/they): This is also turning out. It's a beautiful day. I can see Mount Adams or click a tat mountain from here, and things just fell into place with Yoga Wellspring. I was getting a lot of pushback from insurance companies. Apparently insurance wise. I'm not allowed to be a Yoga teacher, web developer and grant writer, but I found an insurance company that will
Bonnie Walker (she/they): handle all 3, cause they know it's just me. It's not like I can actually do everything at once. So that was the other thing is, last year
Bonnie Walker (she/they): I had to say No, as my friend, and just say no to everything. And this year I'm looking for that right balance, because I'm realizing spring is my
Bonnie Walker (she/they): my weak point. It's when I tend to say yes to absolutely everything, and totally over commit myself. And so I'm finding that this practice has been really helpful in finding that right balance between yes and no and taking on the right amount of stuff. So.
Bonnie Walker (she/they): and also all of that also led to me finding the local rally for Palestine rights and ceasefire. So I'm going to that on Friday. And I'm so excited. So yeah, it's like all of it's just coming together today. So
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I love that Bonnie. Thank you so much for sharing, and I think a number of us can relate to that. Like. you know, we think that we're separate, but we're so flowing with the tides, with the seasons, with the elements. And so, as
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the world around us moves to those budding new shoots and seeing it all around.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I too often can like like all the new ideas, all the shiny objects, and and that's not
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): bad thing, but it is helpful for me to remember ramataria and balancing of energy. And with activism to like my activism. Now, I just turned 47 is different than what it was when I was 27, you know, and like in a weekend, I might do 5 events
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): in my 20 S. And now
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): it's okay that I can. I can balance and and get to one or 2 right? And so
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that that season
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): internally and then externally and and flowing with it. I'm resonating with what you shared, and and Bramatari as a container for holding it all
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): me, too.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Anyone else
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): want to share out loud.
Constina: Hi! It's Christina! I'll I'll share out loud.
Constina: So I posted my thoughts up here. But I'm glad you mentioned earlier that
Constina: we're not alone. This magnificent world that we live in.
Constina: we're connected in many different ways. And one of the ways that we're doing that is, through this zoom and also through social media, and also for these valleys going to and and and it still is triggering
Constina: all of these things that are going on.
Constina: partly because I'm I'm I'm truly aware that I'm holding on to the concept of what I want the world to be.
Constina: and I'm not settling into what is
Constina: and not to say that I have to agree with what is but
Constina: just sort of honoring that.
Constina: you know, like a puppy like a kitten like a baby.
Constina: This planet is young and it is growing. and it's fostering into something that I did not grow up in. And Ahemsa is a way to keep me grounded.
So it's not all doom and gloom.
Constina: I returned to the practice. II really enjoy how you opened up this particular session with grounding and movement, albeit, and even as we were moving I was speaking to myself, Ahemsa is
Constina: feeling. feeling. feeling, feeling, yes, feeling for those who cannot stand.
Constina: I did this in a seat, and I was like, Oh.
Constina: Hi! Golly! Yoga, for all! So That's how what Hamsta is showing up in my life. I'm I'm returning to
Constina: the practice. I'm sharing the practice with others as much as I can. I, as I mentioned earlier, I'm in Costa Rica, and everybody's living is pure life problems in the world.
Constina: People just walking around and and me and a few other people are sharing these, you know, sharing with each other, and it's a real real thing. And
Constina: and I have to remind myself that I can't control everything that's going around and practices from within.
Constina: So I wanted to share that and thank you for holding space.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Hmm! I'm just really feeling that and feeling the peace. There's like a piece.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and coming from you, and also in what you're sharing with us. I'm so appreciative. Yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Anyone else
wade: I can share.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yes, wait, bye.
wade: Hi, good afternoon, everybody. I'm in a really interesting space right now. I wrote that I'm
wade: like joining in from Las Vegas, and it's a fight for the Colorado River
wade: that brought me here? And so
wade: just to be in a space where.
wade: knowing that this whole place exists because of the exploitation of my home.
wade: and from the coal mining to all the extraction to the water and the theft of the water
wade: up and down the river that enables the space to reflect on like what a him saw
wade: looks like for me in this space is like. is it's really really like I feel like when I cry. It makes me so emotional?
wade: But I think.
wade: reflecting on that the need to rest. but also allow joy in
wade: when joy presents itself and to embrace it because one of the things that keeps recurring to me. In my meditations is
wade: to pray for peace, but also to prepare for war, like the coinciding of those things, and it can feel so heavy and so serious.
wade: Especially in the community that I come from because I reside
wade: on the Navajo nation. And I'm kind of like a front lines person in terms of like I'm on the land there, I care. Take
wade: my family's livestock out there and do everything I can to maintain and protect our traditional life ways, and it's, you know, to be on the front end of that can be so exhausting.
wade: And to tell myself like, it's okay to take a break from that from time to time.
wade: And allow for joy.
wade: Even though it's such like important work, and that's why I do it. You know, II know the importance of it. But just really like
wade: taking that in. But yeah, it's heavy, it's really, really heavy, and it can feel just exhausting and draining and
wade: having those boundaries with like organizing, and all of that. But to really take in the time to like have joy
wade: and like laughter.
wade: Laughter is good medicine, as they say. It's really really good medicine and just kind of
wade: you know. Just be able to breathe and know that you take in the air, and the ancestors and all of the courage and the wisdom that's what I was writing down is like. It's dealing with fear and finding the courage to move forward by like embracing joy.
wade: Oh. to happen!
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Hmm!
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Thank you for sharing with us, and also for what you are doing and caring
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and also celebrating. I reflect a lot on that interconnectedness of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I don't remember who said, like.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I wanna make revolution irresistible.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): That idea of like dancing and feeling. Joy is is part of the revolution, and it doesn't
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): mean we're not doing our part or take away from it. In fact, it may nourish it and feed it.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So I'm just feeling that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that inspiration, and and also like. sometimes I think the piece that I'm
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that's feeling I'm feeling moved to share is like sometimes the activists in my life that I've kind of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): think of as comrades or people. II work alongside, even as we're working on similar or different issues. Many of them are so joyful
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and like the work super hard, right, and super focus. But then at night they're like kicking up their feet, watching some, you know, like whatever the show is, or making food and laughing, and just having the best time, and that that medicine, as you said of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): of bringing in our our joy cause it helps us sustain, and these practices help us sustain. But thank you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I'm seeing some notes in the chat that I want to read. And
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and just highlighting and Stina, what you said about the connection between
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): holding all of these like absolutely intolerable things
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and the practice that then continues to let you come back
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to addressing them in your own life and and the world. I've really been reflecting on that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): as someone who's been an activist
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): for a long time and definitely burned out and come, you know, like gone in and out and and participated in various ways. I feel like the Prac. These practices really help me sustain. They help me continue showing up, and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): also give myself the grace to show up differently, and to lean into Sangha and comradeship, and know that, if you know, like the times of my life, when I've
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): needed to kind of move in in a different way because of physical health or other things that other people are are moving forward in ways that I used to be doing, you know. So we kind of can lean on each other as well, and that's part of the gifts of these times.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I'm just looking to. Justine says my mind is like a mosh pit.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Let me read this. This is like a last bit.
I just laugh at that. Oh, so funny!
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): After trump got elected. I was just the word mosque made me think like I was with one of my best
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): friends, high school friends, and my kid over at the time is very young. When was that? I can't remember 2016. So maybe there were 4 or 5, and we were so upset that we just put on like hard whatever music and how to moshpin. So it's just like 5 year old a couple, whatever that was, we were probably like late thirties, for like banging against one another, moshing, and it didn't obviously change anything, but it changed everything for us as we were processing in that moment.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yeah, accept it and have compassion, for where it's at the harming is in the judging and fixing. Yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I feel it is learned condition of the culture, homework, home work, culture at large. I want to continue to unlearn harmful cultural practices and uncover standards that are just right or right in a fit for my brain and nervous system.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And Carly resonate, I think a lot of us resonate. yes.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yeah. If there's anyone who has challenged the educational system curriculum policies.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I think so. There are people like one of my again, I'm thinking of like the folks who are doing the work right like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I'll I'll ask but one of my colleagues from forever ago, and and activist allies
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): is working in Ucla, which is an educational institution here and in La. And it's like, Yeah, my job is basically to lovingly dismantle the system from within, you know, like.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): She didn't say that in her interview, of course, but that's what she's doing. So there are. There are people and there's books that she shares with me, and since with, you know. So
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I'll follow up with you, Justine, but I see other people dropping some some notes, and with questions like something specific in mind.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I wanna go to the 2 questions that came in. We had 2 questions this week.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): only. And that's okay. Because, you know you all can share if you if you have other questions, too. The first question was.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I'm hoping to get suggestions for further reading
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): on the Yoga sutras.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so I wanted to share
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): this. and I should go through and hyperlink all of these haven't yet done it. Let me
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): let me do that eventually, but I'm still just gonna kind of share it half done, not fully hyperlinked. And I'll share this in the chat.
This is my trainings resources aid org's that I love and recommend right? So there's a lot of different links here, but under resources for further learning.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): there's books, and I hyperlink to the 3 that I go to all the time the different Yoga Sutra translations I really like, and it was money to good nights. Yoga Sutras, the secret of the Yoga Sutras.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): it holds. It's it's pocket size, but also has a bash commentary that goes very deep.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): maybe not pocket size, but it's not huge. Each one is, is bigger with a lot of bash, a lot of commentary. And Dr. Shamwang and Athens is
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): is more academic. And what I appreciate. So
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Each one is past is is gone. But these 2 teach, I believe, actually don't know. I should look that up, but they're more contemporary, and Dr. Ranganathan is a a
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): scholar, a living scholar in Canada, who works a lot on the connection between Yoga and social justice and dismantling fundamentalism, kind of pushing back against fundamentalism and white supremacy. And so I really respect and appreciate
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): his work and his scholarship.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): obviously, what I see missing. Here are queer translations, right?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Translations that are coming from a different perspective. Then these are all Indian men, and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I appreciate their there are readings.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): but the commentary is going to come from their lived experiences. So I also tried to choose someone coming in. I tried to choose books that carry that depth where, you know, kind of stop sharing for a second. Where there's like a depth
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): of practice, you can feel that they're not just analyzing and translating, but they're in practice with
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the Sutras. and where they, as a
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): person are also living the values of Yoga. So I used to recommend some other translations, but because of the actions of the translators or the commentators. I no longer recommend them
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and and so you may. In other things I've published just naming it. You may see other
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): other text names, but I don't recommend them anymore. Because of that to me that it disqualifies them as a teacher. So I wanted to offer you those, and then also just say, like.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): it can be helpful to have a few different translations and to go like Sutra by Sutra and pull, you know, like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): maybe just reading through. Say, like. like Potter books. you know, book 2
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that talks about them as Indianas, and reading like one person's translation of, you know, Sutro 2, 15, another person's translation, and then reflecting and finding your own meaning. It's not that we need to go in the Yoga switch from cover to cover. It's more a meditation or a reflection that we can go deeply with in our lives.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And yes, okay, great. So
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): let me just make sure. Yeah, looks like you all can get into that.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): The other question that came in let me pull it up and actually, really wanna talk this through with you all? There's no wrong answer. It's not that I have a answer in my mind. I always think it's important to say that it's not like I'm testing you. This is not a test.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): but I think it's an interesting question to explore.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): a studio owner has a question about appropriation
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and Goat Yoga. On the surface it looked like a kitschy thing and minimized Yoga's authentic intent and should be avoided.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): But a class was held in their city, and they were sent video and images. And, to be honest, people looked so happy they were practicing centosia. The laughter and playfulness were so real, and people were interacting with the goats like emotional support animals. And it looked like a really beautiful community gathering.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): People did Yoga. They got a unique experience. They were bonding and having so much fun. I found it hard not to feel positive about it.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Some folks were there who hadn't practiced in a long time because it was a unique experience, and then ended up coming to the studio after it was a free event. So not about making money, and I found myself wanting to be open to it.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I was wondering if you could share thoughts.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And they also had someone
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): reach out about at their studio, about Puppy Yoga, and they felt themselves not wanting to minimize practice with Kitschy things that there was a part of them that wondered if there was something that could help the puppies get adopted and bring
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and bring new folks to the studio. So they're asking like, if we're a studio that wants to focus on speaking to the 8 limbs and working on decolonization, does that mean any of these classes with external themes should be avoided, and how can they balance decolonization and playfulness around and making that accessible?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So I thought this was like, this question goes to the heart of a lot of what many of us are
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): asking, perhaps not about Puppy yoga, or go yoga right like it. It takes it to the extreme in a way. But there's a lot in here. So I wanted to see what folks thought.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Hmm.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): 10. Yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): no, you just your hands is close to gotcha. Yeah, no worries.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): hmm.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yeah, they are really great questions.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And I think.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): hmm.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yes, bonnie.
Bonnie Walker (she/they): So this is sort of stream of consciousness. I recently left a 300 h training that was centered on yoga biomechanics.
Bonnie Walker (she/they): I kind of had gotten what I needed out of it.
Bonnie Walker (she/they): It helps me displace a lot of unhelpful narrative from a method that I had been previously really entrenched in. and then I realized
Bonnie Walker (she/they): I was kind of falling on the other side, where unhelpful narrative from mainstream. Vinyasa was kind of taking over, and I didn't need that. So I think there is a balance here.
Bonnie Walker (she/they): I think also, people are kind of getting burnt out on only Asana like they. They don't
Bonnie Walker (she/they): maybe not know it, but it's like. But there's been such an over-emphasis, and it's practically synonymous. Yoga and Asana. That we do these things to compensate like. Bring in the puppies. Bring in the goats. Make it more interesting rather than you know, going deeper or expanding by using the 8 limbs. So
Bonnie Walker (she/they): I think in terms of meeting people where they're at, if it.
Bonnie Walker (she/they): you know if it helps the puppies right? If we're just like abusing or exploiting the puppies, then no, but if it's helping the puppies and it gets people involved, and maybe we can bring them to that point of.
Bonnie Walker (she/they): you know, expanding the Yoga practice as an 8 limb practice. Then, yeah, II also have been on that balance of
Bonnie Walker (she/they): playfulness versus you know everything else. The method of Yoga that I was previously trained in was really not playful at all. So
Bonnie Walker (she/they): I actually put little Kitty cat statues on my altar to remind me to be playful in my practice. So
Bonnie Walker (she/they): there's definitely a balance here, and I don't think it means we have to exclude it, but we just do need to be mindful of how we are including it. So
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): thank you, Nicole.
Nichole Beiner (she/her): Thank you. I really like that last part of what you said Bonnie, about. We don't necessarily have to exclude it, but we have to be
Nichole Beiner (she/her): okay. I would add the word extra mindful when we include it.
Nichole Beiner (she/her): I
Nichole Beiner (she/her): I guess if
Nichole Beiner (she/her): the way I think about it is, if part of the purpose of Yoga is to go inward.
Nichole Beiner (she/her): And so I it does make me wonder like, are we really just giving into kind of capitalist?
Nichole Beiner (she/her): Distractions when we include these other things. And are we kind of catering to the way that society. you know, likes distractions? And so I would wonder. I guess my question would be like, okay, if you're
Nichole Beiner (she/her): you know, it's a intent over impact kind of question. If your intent is the playfulness. And you're saying, Oh, well, we're focusing on Santosha. And we're also doing like this good by getting the puppies a home. Are you communicating that intent
Nichole Beiner (she/her): and that actual? Those limbs like are people learning that. Where are you just saying like, I know this as the teacher. And
Nichole Beiner (she/her): and you know we're everyone else. Just thinks they're going to puppy yoga and I think II mean, I guess that is some way I'm trying to be open and mindful to it. I think what's
challenging
Nichole Beiner (she/her): is that I don't see very many studios or teachers who go those extra steps and actually
Nichole Beiner (she/her): figure out, how do I incorporate the teachings here?
And so it's just.
Nichole Beiner (she/her): you know, an experience. That maybe some people really like. But I
Nichole Beiner (she/her): really struggle. And I'm really grateful for virtual realms.
for this reason, because, like these are where I do get that enrichment.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Thank you. Farah.
Farrah Khan (she/her): Hi! And
Farrah Khan (she/her): I don't know if I remember everything you said about the like context of the situation.
Farrah Khan (she/her): But I think you know, because there are so few studios that
Farrah Khan (she/her): engage in a practice of decolonizing Yoga. We do have to like stopping question and push back.
Farrah Khan (she/her): not saying that like, Oh, you must stop this right now, like, you know.
Farrah Khan (she/her): in that kind of way.
Farrah Khan (she/her): I don't know that I'm I'm not the best person to say how one would, you know, push back, or you know, just like you know, critique it
Farrah Khan (she/her): and ask questions, and
Farrah Khan (she/her): because I feel like, just like I don't know my emotions would get in the way. So I'm not the best person for that. But I do think we need to push back
Farrah Khan (she/her): cause there are so few spaces, and if we're not doing it, who is going to do it?
Farrah Khan (she/her): So I don't know
that.
Farrah Khan (she/her): Thank you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Thank you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yeah. Really appreciating the perspectives here and and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): think I end up feeling protective
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and sort of defensive of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): South Asian folks. And Yoga practices. So I'm just noticing that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): impulse and feeling
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): because it's almost like I could often say
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): when I'm teaching in in Yoga teacher training like, learn a structure for teaching, and then you learn it, and then you can improvise. You can change, you know. But learn the structure first. So it's almost like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): we're saying, if we understand decolonization, and we're really practicing.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): then even something like bringing, you know, puppies, or whatever in
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): can still be going into the limbs. But but we're II think I feel like we're not there yet
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): as a Yoga community.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and so I think my impulse is to say. you know, could they be separate right? But in the same events? So perhaps, like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): we gather with puppies or goats, or whatever, and then we have an ass in a class, or we have a meditation class or printing on a class separately. So it's not.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you know. I don't. Actually, it would be like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): fun with puppies or goats, and you know Yoga like. For me, it would be helpful to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): still have the energy of playfulness and fun, but separate the 2 things, because the thing, the thing I often say.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and I do think this is like Yoga's, complete in itself as a system like it doesn't need things added on. Maybe we, though, need things added on like, that's what I'm hearing from what some of you are sharing
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to help us in. But I still think we can, especially if the studio is, is honoring, and it is trying to decolonize and really take that to heart.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I think it does mean going that extra step to do it differently, and to do it more intentionally.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to even take that as a opportunity to educate the community about why, it's not puppy, yoga, or go yoga, but it's, you know, fun with puppies or fun with goats.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): connect with goats and have fun, or whatever it is, you know.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then go basin us separately. yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Nicole.
Nichole Beiner (she/her): do you have any sense of like? Do these things exist in Asian countries that are practicing yoga like if I went to, you know, like, if I actually went to where people are practicing and where it originated
Nichole Beiner (she/her): and asked for like a goat. Yoga class? Are they going to be like, you know, like, is that something that has made its way back? Is that something that doesn't exist. People are like, Oh, my God, those Americans like, where? Where does it rank in like actual? When you trace back Yoga's roots?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yeah, I mean, I can say culturally, like my family
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): who are SMS and Bengali, it's gonna be different in different regions but in general, animals are not. They're they're respected and revered, and they're seen sometimes as like symbols of the divine.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): But they're not even like pets or in our houses, in the same way that they are in in the West like my family do not like. I adopt 2 dogs, and they don't like the dogs. They're not happy about the dogs being around and in our lives it's it's seen as a white thing, or more like Western thing, like just to be real from from that II don't know. I mean I haven't.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It'd be really interesting. I don't know if anyone here is more tuned into what's happening in India or in parts of South Asia, like in Sri Lanka, or Nepal or Bhutan. I don't think there's Puppy Yoga, or or Goat Yoga. Now there may be goats around or dogs around. But they're not a feature of the class.
Nichole Beiner (she/her): Yeah. So I guess that's where my, that's what I was anticipating. But I guess my question is how much of that reality should inform
Nichole Beiner (she/her): the decision here in the West to do it or not. So if that is like yes, you can make things your own. But how? When does it start becoming appropriation? Knowing the climate that we live in, and knowing that we are trying to build upon and expand the
Nichole Beiner (she/her): the offering that we have already taken from another culture.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Great question.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Okay? Alright.
Farrah Khan (she/her): Oh, it is cultural appropriation, is it not? I mean.
Farrah Khan (she/her): I think you know, like
Farrah Khan (she/her): you want to have goats around and
Farrah Khan (she/her): bring joy. You don't have to call that yoga.
Farrah Khan (she/her): you know, like just don't call it yoga, cause that's not what Yoga is
Farrah Khan (she/her): period. and if you want to do asymptotic.
Farrah Khan (she/her): I don't know. I mean, I think.
like they don't they? It doesn't need to be together. And I think, like.
Farrah Khan (she/her): if if that's
Farrah Khan (she/her): like, I get like, Hey, like, that might be an access point to someone
Farrah Khan (she/her): getting into like learning more about Yoga. But no, it's it's not. It's like, yeah, you don't need that like. So then I like what you said. It's it's complete, like on its own.
Farrah Khan (she/her): So yeah, that's definitely in my mind, cultural appropriation.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yeah. thank you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Konstina. Yes.
Constina: I'm just gonna add to what was just said. By far, it is definitely cultural appropriation. I
Constina: I do hear. I heard what you said as well, Susanna. I think that there are people who have good intentions and who are trying to attract
Constina: different people. Maybe those who
Constina: may not have tried yoga, but they're like really into animals. I think that's great.
Constina: But coming from a person who is in a section of Costa Rica where you're sitting down and having lunch, and while you hear is, you know, I'm like, I'm already immersed in it, and the chickens are loosing, and all this kind of stuff, and and it's beautiful and in its own way.
Constina: And I would say to somebody who is trying to start a practice like that?
Constina: there are farms. There are struggling farmers out there who are looking to have visitors to help them with their animals, and the animals need their help. And that's one way to do it.
Constina: partnering up. And that's that's a beautiful way. It's like, if you're maybe you're a studio that wants to show people where you know far food to farm armed, you know, table to whatever that is right. Farm to table. Kind of thing. It's like, take people as a as a, as a retreat to a farm, and say, Let's bond with nature, you know, and let's get into the earth and think to that nature. And that could be sort of like Yoga with
Constina: fill in the blank for animal, and that's great. But to actually bring it to a studio, I don't think it's
Constina: II agree. I think it's a cultural appropriation in many different ways, and I mean from a person who is
Constina: who was born in America and is obviously black brown. By pop! I've seen it all the time, and people would say, Well, it's just, for
Constina: I don't mean any harm. It's it's why are you taking it so hard?
Constina: It's for fun, anyway. It admits it's kind of crunchy after a while, but you know, so we just own, I say.
Constina: I just will not attend that particular studio.
Constina: so I'll say that as my final comment.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yeah. Oof, we've got some interesting perspectives here. It's like, and I appreciate what Bonnie said and wait said in the chat, it sounds like we agree. It's not authentic. Yoga. We have a different approach to handling it.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And then we says, good intentions without conscious awareness of appropriation, ultimately disguises, white supremacy and colonial mentalities of taking without question. Yeah?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): where, as we explore to me, it's even more useful for us to share ideas like this.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): then any one of us like have an absolute answer, right? Because then
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): we can go and apply our critical thinking.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): 2, to how we would handle these situations. And and I do think more and more.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): There's just so much
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): more we can do to practice
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): like the heart of Yoga and and authentic Yoga in the ways that we each are aspiring to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that. I also think of what, like the Buddha said around substances, which is like the mind is confused enough, as it is right, like we don't need to be doing, and that like again, everyone's mind is different. Right? So take that with a caveat on that as well of how we engage. But for me it's like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yoga is already so watered down. We don't need to be adding to that's my perspective. And I also probably I mean, I chose in Florida there was a really the one like closest thing to a a more aligned studio.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): had a lot of puppy and and Kitty yoga. And so I just I didn't feel like personally like I wanted to teach there or even really practice there, and that was
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): hard.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And also I understand that, like, we have a way to go, and that we can create change. You know, in the ways that we do, and sometimes that means divesting. And and I did talk to the studio owner. Sometimes it means advocating.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): it's not always easy.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So I'm really grateful. The person who asked us didn't want to be named. I'm grateful for the honesty, right? Because it it allows us to really all explore.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yeah. I really hope this changes over the next few years. I think we are. I do have hope that we are changing it. There's a lot of us now, you know, in various ways, like out there doing the work that we do
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): suffering through practice. Yes, and then I know we're a little bit over, but II wanna honor this request, and so if you need to go, please do. And then we'll close.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Cleo's comments.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Didn't see that in a conversation I was having earlier today, someone was saying how they met another Yoga teacher that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the loves to make the students suffer. We're discussing how they're mislabeling the class as yoga. That's not what Yoga is about, even if the class is successful, but that doesn't make it. Yoga Union alignment.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): This is big and Body says, that sounds like my entire time in the younger method.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So this is complex and we can open it up. I will have to go in about 5 min, so perhaps this will be a to be continued.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): because there is a historical precedent for dupus practices, meaning practices of choosing to suffer
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): for a higher purpose. Like I forgot the name of the bubba, but the he would hold his right hand up and left his hand up for
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): think it was a couple decades
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and it just atrophied and stayed there right? So this is a practice of suffering for
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the spiritual attainment for spiritual growth.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I do think that's very different than what we're talking about here, which is like fitness, culture, or like no pain, no gain. You know that kind of fat phobia, diet culture, all of those things.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So I just wanna again say, like, there's depth, and there's nuance. And sometimes people misunderstand that. Oh, suffering is part of Yoga because of that. But that's
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): specifically, for, you know, a a purpose practice not like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): fitness. Culture. So yes.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): what did you want to right? Isn't that his choice to choose the suffering? Exactly. Yes.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that's right.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yeah. I wholeheartedly agree. It's like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yoga should be guiding us to agency, self agency, not not to like suffering, because the teacher said so. It's really disturbing
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to me.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yeah. And I think students need to know what they're walking into and make that choice. Right? So perhaps. And this is also where it gets tricky.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Someone might want a teacher to bring them into a state of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): having to tolerate something in order to move through right, but because of the power dynamic.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): What I see happen in a lot of Yoga classes is we're just. We come to take Yoga, but no one says, you know, follow your body or trust your body or move with your edge.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and they just guide
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and say things like, you know, suffering is part of the practice, or whatever it is. So it's it's not trauma informed. Does anyone want to comment on this. Yeah, not from
yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Wade. Yes.
wade: Yeah. It makes me reflect on practitioners. And like medicine people. And like.
wade: ultimately, you're there to help help people heal to enable healing.
wade: and that requires like also knowing
wade: When people have had too much
wade: like observing and folding, that you know, knowing when to say, Okay, like
wade: I'm gonna use the context of like ceremony
wade: and like, in particular, poly meetings, any native American church services like
wade: the old school way you stayed up all night. You didn't go. You had to ask for permission to go, go to the bathroom and stuff. But even like the way it's administered, it's ultimately that practitioner's responsibility to know when it's time to let people out
wade: and like when medicine is administered, like how much medicine people can handle. That's
wade: all of that initiation and protocol that that practitioner has gone through to be able to hold that space
wade: hold that container so that the healing can come through, but if it gets conflated by ego
wade: it gets distorted, and then harm
wade: can be caused.
wade: you know, and so it sounds like if someone's just trying to push people push people that that's ego driven. And that's not like acknowledging your responsibilities as a practitioner holding a practice to take care
wade: of those who are coming to you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yes, thank you for bringing that perspective in. And it. It is very similar in like the model.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): complicated also by
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the lack of ethics exhibited by many teachers within those models because
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): of systemic trauma. So
wade: my, my thought.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): this is like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): for us today.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It's I feel like my role as a as a teacher of teachers or someone that people look to is to say.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): our our job is to be trauma-informed, and not to to ever be the kind of teacher that says like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): unless we're realized or trained in other ways, right or come from wisdom traditions that give us that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that space that our job is to really guide folks to their their own agency in a trauma informed way, just because of seeing so much that has gone awry
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): within. Also the traditions that i've that the limit yoga lineages, that are around.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yeah.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): wow I was so appreciative of each of you, and for the folks listening, you know, the depth and the nuance that we can have here
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): is like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): it's really really powerful, and I'm very grateful for this Sangha and to each of you
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and I just want to invite us to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Take a moment to anchor in whatever it is that you need to connect back to your energy
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): self-care.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Thank you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Deep bow to each of you, and if you'd like, we can unmute and say goodbye. I'll see you in a couple weeks.
Nichole Beiner (she/her): Thank you. Thank you so much. Have a beautiful day evening.
Constina: Thank you. Everyone.
Justine (she/her): You
jen green (she/her): right.
Farrah Khan (she/her): Hi, Suzanne, I'm gonna email you?
Farrah Khan (she/her): Oh, yes, yes, you emailed me. And I meant to email back. But I.