Susanna Barkataki (She/They): If folks would like to drop in the chat two words of how you're doing.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I'm really… Really excited and honored to welcome you to Office Hours for this month, for December 2025.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And looking forward to exploring some of the questions that folks shared, as well as anything that's arising, and perhaps begin a little bit of a…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): A year-end re-review and reflection on what is to come. Though…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): time is arbitrary. It's… can provide a nice moment for, reflection, and then review, and then moving… moving forward with intention.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Joanna, welcome, and always happy to have folks here, in whatever capacity is supportive to you. So, if you can have your camera on, it's always wonderful to see you if you have your camera off.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): We feel your energy, and yeah, just very grateful to you for being here.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): So we'll begin with a little bit of a drop-in. It's…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): you know, one of the themes that I wanted to bring forward is it's a lesser-known quality.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): It's not really talked about as much, even though it is mentioned in the Yoga Sutras.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And that is the quality of shrada. Shrada is, you know, a loose translation. It's not, like, a perfect translation, but a translation of it is faith.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And for those who maybe come from a religious background or religious trauma, perhaps a better translation for you might be trust.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Or another translation might be hope.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Right? So you can connect to whatever flavor of the quality of strata is supportive to you.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): But part of how, you know, in this exploration that we're in, and we will move into a practice in a moment, but I want to just preface this, because it's really important.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): In this exploration that they're on… that we're on together with yoga, There are… Because we're exploring
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): From the individual, the individual… each of our individual consciousnesses, or experience, or soma.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): We're exploring the absolute. We're exploring oneness. We're exploring… You know, no separation, interconnectedness.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): There are qualities or ways that this exploration happens that we cannot put into words. That there is not perfect language to describe.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): What that means is, some of the time, we're developing in our own lives, in our own practice, a felt sense.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Right? Or you're, for those who are here, also thinking about cultivating this experience for your students, or your classes, or your communities.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): We're cultivating…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): perhaps a field, or a quality. I feel like Gen Z, Gen A calls it the vibe, right? Like, the flow state. We're cultivating…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): the possibility of that.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Flow state, or the possibility of that energetic experience.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And so there's a way that what we're doing together, you know, we call this office hours, right? Trauma-informed, yoga social justice, but…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Part of what we're doing is not even… it's not the conversation we're having.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): it's not the concepts that we'll talk about. It's the attunement to that field, or that quality, that then, you know, we each take in.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Cultivate and then share and bring out in… into the world.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): that we touch, right? So… So the quality of Shrada
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): is sometimes the choice, or the move. It's not even necessarily a choice, it's like a… Psychodynamic… movement.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): to faith.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): To trusting that by being here, by showing up, by cultivating your practice.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): something will shift, right? Your field, the field around you. And…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): sometimes I shy away from talking about these things, because again, like, the language is imperfect, right, to capture what it is, and it… also, I want to be careful to say.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I'm not saying you have to be with Susanna Barcutaki to attune. Not saying that. I'm not saying you have to be with any teacher to attune, right? We have that attunement in us. It's not a hierarchy, it's not a access only through this pathway. It's…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): What are the practices, the qualities, the things, the spaces, the people that help you
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Come into that state of presence, more and more and more.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Right, so I do want to be very careful, and that's why I don't… I haven't talked about this much before, is…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): there's a way it can be misused, right? Because when we're in those states, or even us as teachers, being responsible for… if we're the ones that our students are kind of attuning to and feel… they feel really good around, we need to be responsible with that.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): That field, and make sure they know they can access it separate from us.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): separate from the conditions that we're creating, that it is theirs, you know, and that is part of what it is to do this work in a present and trauma-informed way, to not own it.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): But to be in a kind of surrender, that's another way to define Shrada. Shrada has all these facets, right? It's like we're kind of…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Illuminating parts of it, but faith, trust, hope, surrender.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Yes, and I'm just looking at your…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): what you all shared, Celine, though there's a lot to be said for community and supporting this. Absolutely. It's not… it's… Thich Nhat Han always used to say, you know, the next Buddha would be the community, not… not one incarnate being.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And yoga has always sort of had that perspective that it is not, it's not just one realized being. It's…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): a field, it's a group, it's a collective, it's a kula, it's, you know, this community. And this community is so beautiful, because in a way, it's ad hoc, meaning it changes. Each month, different folks can make it. Some months you can make it, some months you can't, right? And there's a kind of dynamic nature to that.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Louise, so incredible. This is exactly what I've been teaching all week over in the UK. I'm blown away. Thank you, universe. Wow, that's amazing. I can't wait to hear more if you want to share. I want to do a practice, and then I'll kind of open it up for… I'll share some of your questions, and then,
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And then, open it up just in general. But part of the… the practice, the shrada, is…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Even if we're taking just 5 minutes, In a non…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): non-intellectual, non-conversational way to move energy, whatever that might feel like, look like, be like for you, right? Whether you do the word… the guidance that I give, or you do your own thing.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): That is… it's like adding to the field of presence.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And I say that because, especially at this time of year, you know, it's sort of like, in the Northern Hemisphere, it's…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): It's darker, days are shorter, right? The rhythms around us are like, slow down, tune in.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And we move faster and faster and faster, and we have all the things to do to end the year, and the parties, and the this, and the that.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And… not to mention, like, the falling apart of…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): late-stage capitalism, right? Like, there's just so much.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And so, giving yourself the gift of even 5 minutes, or this time in presence, that is part of what it is to practice shrada, to practice yoga, and is so powerful.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): So, with… I wanted to just kind of, like, preface, preface our practice with that.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Okay.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): So we'll begin… with… Finding your ground, not the perfect ground, not…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): The groundedness of yesterday or tomorrow, but just right here and now. And that might mean sitting or standing.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Lying down… Taking a deep breath in… And out.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Letting your shoulders drop.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): On your exhale…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): On your inhale, lengthening.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Exhale, releasing.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I'm gently swaying a little bit left and right.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Maybe from your trunk, or…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Even shifting the weight from one hip to the other, or one foot to the other, if you're lying down.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): One side of your body to the other.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Noticing anything that's maybe pulled you off, or been a surprise?
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Something unexpected in your day or your week.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Letting that go.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And then shifting your sway, if you would like, forward and back. A little bit easier to do if you're standing, or…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Sitting… if you're lying down, maybe just rocking a little bit, however feels good, or…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Kind of lifting your toes, and then dropping them back down.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Noticing anything from the past that is…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Holding on to you, or that you're holding onto. Anything from the future that you're leaning towards or anticipating.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And if you would like… Gently…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Letting those things go as you move.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Making a circle with your own body.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Now, stirring the pot.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And we'll take the time to do…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): 4 or 5 circles in one direction, and then the other.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): There's a power in being in the present moment.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Letting go of past, the future, what's left, right?
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): But there's also a kind of disconnection that we don't always talk about.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): In these practices. And that disconnection, which is one of modernity and of colonization, which makes us
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Wants us to be timeless.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): To forget our histories, our lineages, the histories and lineages of the practices that we're connected to.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And now circling in the other direction.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): So, seeing… If you can hold this sort of seeming paradox.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Of both being a… a being of lineage.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): A time… a being in time.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Of acknowledging your history, your people's history, Known or unknown?
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And also being in the present moment.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And there is a kind of faith, a kind of move of trust, or hope, or surrender.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): That allows us to hold.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): The roots… And the present moment.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And this could be yoga's roots, And the people you're serving.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): This could be your personal historical roots.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): your experiences.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And the liberation that you're seeking, or hope to offer others.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And gently allowing the circles to get a little smaller.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Maybe 3 or 4… As you come to…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Your center in this moment. Not a perfect center.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): What about yours?
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Resting on the earth and lengthening up towards the sky.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): We'll take a few moments… In silence.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): To be with… the historical… The time bound, the past, the roots.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And the universal.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): the present… This moment… Interconnectedness.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Without needing it to be… Accessible in words, or makes sense, but just a feeling, sensation.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And I'll guide us.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): After some silence with my voice when it's time.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Opening your breath.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Knowing that there's no way to do this wrong.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Each of us is our own unique unfolding.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Of the small S-self towards… The unified self that yoga reminds us is always already present.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): We'll close this practice with a gentle chant.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Bringing your hands together at your heart, if you would like.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And perhaps taking Anjali Madra, or if you prefer, Hakini Madra, where each of your fingertips touch.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): A gesture of harmony and balance.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): of unification.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And one that both nourishes and transcends.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Our thinking mind.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And you can chant aloud with me if you would like, or just receive.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): We'll chant the wish for all beings to… Be free of their suffering.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): To be healthy, well… Full of everlasting joy.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Omloka samastasukino Bavantu.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Beginning and ending with OM.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Deep breath in, full breath out.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Not worrying about how you sound.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Connecting to the meaning, to the intention of this wish.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Inhale to chant.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Loca… Summer Star… Sukino. Vavanto.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Deep breath in… Full breath out.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Gentle bow, if you would like, to that wish for yourself and all beings.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And then stretching… Looking around your space, noticing form and color.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Let's see…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And perhaps noticing if there's anything in your space that helps you cultivate hope or trust.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Faith.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Shvada.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): We don't need to have any specific thing. It could be a leaf or a tree, could be water, sunlight.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Could be an object, or even some writing in your journal.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I'm just noting what are… what's supporting… U.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): In this exploration.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And then we'll come together with a little bit of time and space,
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): To share if there's anything that arose in that practice that you'd like to share out loud, or in the chat, or, of course.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): You're always welcome to journal.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I will just share that,
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): part of why I want to create this space is I definitely knew that I was going to talk about Trada, but I did not know everywhere that this is gonna go, and it felt like,
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): felt… for me synthesizing, so just…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Sharing that that was my experience of the practice, not that there was any… like…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): direct aha or insight in the practice itself, but… But overall…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): There was, like, a felt sense of…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): groundedness. Maybe a better word for it would be beingness. It's hard to explain, but a felt sense.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And then also inviting in…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): You know, sometimes in these practices, we're distracted, and you know, it's like we're hardly there, and that's why we record them, if you ever want to go back.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And watch, or listen, do the practice again.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): But sometimes there is an aha, or there is a loosening, or a softening, or an insight, and it could be for you, but it also could be for others in the space, and there may be something
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): That you received that is actually the thing that will unlock
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): someone else's journey, and so I just like to create a little softness and space for you to share in the chat or out loud.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): If you would like.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Hmm… Louise.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): This is a quote I've been sharing in class, and I just want to ask, Louise, do you want to read it?
Louise Brown (She/Her): Yes, my 3-year-old's here, so she might… she might join. Here she is.
Louise Brown (She/Her): It's an Albert Camus quote, so it's, in the midst of winter, I found there was.
Louise Brown (She/Her): within me.
Louise Brown (She/Her): An invincible summer.
Louise Brown (She/Her): And that makes me happy for… it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me.
Louise Brown (She/Her): Within me, there's something stronger.
Louise Brown (She/Her): Something better. Pushing right back.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Hi, baby! Oh, it's so sweet, this gift of that quote, Louise, your presence, and your little one.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Thank you.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Hmm… Wow, Karen, I have chills! You share that quote in the opening of your winter solstice retreat.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Oh my goodness.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): You know, paying attention to the synchronicities is one of the ways that, we can practice the energetics… the energetic qualities of yoga.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And we've had so many synchronicities in this circle, and, just, wow, so, so powerful.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Would anyone else like to share?
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Okay. You're always welcome to raise your hand or chime in. I'm going to…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Explore the questions we got, and…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): We just got two, so there'll also be space for folks to…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): To share, if you would like.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): So there was a question around… in the… and it's beautiful, both questions are around…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): reparations, decolonization, which makes me think, I think it's the right time
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): To bring in next office hours.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I think we'll talk about one of the…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): One of the books, because some of you are going through, you know, kind of
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And I know some of you have already read this.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): just saying for next… next office hours, I feel like it's not showing up well, but embrace Yoga's roots. Juliana, if you can grab from the,
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): From our syllabus, there's the book list with the hyperlinks, if you could just drop that in case anyone wants to get it.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): But there's been a lot of reflection and conversation on reparations and on colonization, and so for next time, if you want to delve a little more, we can kind of keep this thread going. You can read this book, which goes into
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): those themes, particularly with yoga. Obviously, colonization, decolonization are much broader topics than just yoga, but that's what this book shares about. And…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I'll also say, so no one, in case anyone's feeling, like, school pressure.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): You don't have to ever have read any of the readings to show up to a…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): a time where we talk about them. I'll always bring quotes, I'll share… in fact, I'll also share the free, chapter from this book, if someone's like, hey, I can't buy a book right now, like, no worries. And then…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): The free chapter is really substantial. Thank you so much, Juliana. Are you able to grab the free chapter? Let me know if you can. If not, I'll grab it in a second.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): So let me read this question.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): This person asked.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Coming from Switzerland, I'm dealing with another history or story around colonization, decolonization, than in the US or Great Britain.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): How can we deal with the background and traumas from different countries that we live in or come from?
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): What would be your advice to go deeper in the specific themes from each country, and how can we bring this into your yoga lessons, into our yoga lessons?
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): So I really love…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): this question. I think it's very important, and it's also an important sort of, like, reminder that
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I personally… we all have our lenses, right? We're the little S self in the big S soup, and I'm British, Indian, and American, so I have those lenses, meaning sometimes blinders, right, or focus.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): on, and so I always appreciate when people broaden out the conversation and bring in different experiences.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And I would sort of gently…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): flip the frame on that question, which, you know, every country, or most countries, especially European ones, have colonial stories.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Even when they look different from the US or Britain.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And so, though Switzerland did not hold, like, formal overseas colonies, it's been inextricably economically entangled in colonial systems, right? So banking, trade, textiles, missionary activities, tourism, scientific expedition.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): So it's very nuanced, and colonization isn't just about flags or armies or battles, it's also about who's benefited from extraction, and whose bodies or lands or knowledge or labor pays a cost, right? And trauma
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Flows along those routes in different ways for the, essentially, the privileged, or the beneficiaries, and extracted from.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): One really concrete way of
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): visualizing this is Utsa Pike, who's an economist, studied colonial records from, I think, 1700s through mid-1900s, when empire ended in India. And I understand these are British records, right? But just stay with me here for a concrete example.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And Britain…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): That money was not all staying in Britain, though, right? Britain extracted $45 trillion in wealth from India, and so when we look today, someone actually just
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): commented on a post that I made, like, something about, like, why would we honor yoga's roots when India is a, like, a dirtbag of a country? Like, a terrible quote, right? Terrible thing to say.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): But I was able to answer it with, hey, look, like, first of all, that's a misunderstanding, because India is very wealthy, and there's wealth inequity in many places, but second of all, there's also this extraction.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Switzerland, on the other hand, is one of the most wealthy countries in Europe and in the world, right? So…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): A country doesn't get to that sort of status in the colonial frame that our last, you know, our modern world has been in without participating explicitly in extraction.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And so…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I think the other piece, though, is it never helps to, like, do the compare-contrast. Like, oh, my situation is worse, England was worse than Switzerland. Like, it's not about…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): that so much. I think it's about recognizing that each place and culture and community
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): carries its own shadows, right? Its own challenges or inherited cultural wounds and privileges.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): So…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): to go deeper, I think, into those themes, and I want to invite in other people's thoughts, right, because there's so much here. I'm not the only one that has thoughts on this, and again, I named my particular lenses and biases.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): But I can share generally, learn whose land you're on.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Right? Like, wherever you are, even if you're traveling, or like me as a settler, right? I was born in England, lived in India, and now I live in the United States on…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Fernandeno, Tatavium, and Chumash land, right? So it's like, what has shaped this place? What harm has…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): been a part of this journey, and also my unique, like.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): let's get really specific. My unique lineage
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): personal, right? Which mine is so specific and nuanced. It's like, England, which was only possible because of, like, British colonial
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): projects in India, with my parents being who they are. But then.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): the blowback of that colonial project impacting my particular family that led us to emigrate to the United States, right? So, when I say, like, reparations, or exploring colonization and decolonization, I'm inviting us to get really specific.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And part of what that means for me is looking at the French and the British lineages of
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): pagan, earth-based, you know, practices that also were colonized. That is not left out. That is not just excluded because the British also colonized, right? So we're really inviting ourselves to get specific. And if you don't know.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): what…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): sort of tuning into… because some of us don't know our lineages at all, right? We have no idea. And, and so then it might be, like.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): spiritual lineage.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): imagine lineage, right? Like, So much of it, anyway, even if we do have, like, a…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Like, a gene tree or genealogy.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): has been cut off, and so there is an element of the creative, of the magical, of the imaginative there. And then.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): there's possibility for research, right? So listen to scholars, to artists, to other people who've, who are exploring your background.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And then you can ask questions about power, and that's a lot, you know, in this book and in the modules in Body Yoga's Roots, or Embrace Yoga's Roots. Who has power, right? Who had power? Who paid the price?
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): What traditions were suppressed, or reshaped, or exploited? Whose bodies were expendable?
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And then I'll talk about yoga, teaching yoga in a second, but I wanted to…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): just pause and see if anyone else wanted to jump in and share thoughts on this really, really lovely question. I'm grateful to you for asking it.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Okay… Yeah, and please just jump in in the chat, or I'll add a few.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): If you have thoughts.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): As they come up. I'm just checking if the person who asked is here. And don't worry, I know for the other question, I will not be.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): yeah, you're here if you want to share anything. But for the other person who asked the other question, I will not be inviting you to speak, because I know it was an anonymous question, which you are always welcome to submit. I saw Juliana, dropped it.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): the link. We always email…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I think a couple days before office hours with a link to drop your questions. That link is also in the portal, and it's, I believe, also on the syllabus. The syllabus, again, it's like the wall… my wallet that I… I always go into the syllabus for everything, the simple syllabus, optional syllabus.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And, we always check them, I prepare. I like… I'm both… I'm good at both preparation and extemporaneous, but if you… if you ask me a question like this.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): You can probably tell it's way more helpful if I have a little time to think about it.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Then if you just ask, like, live, I'll probably give a less deep or rich answer. So I love when you, share questions ahead of time, although you never have to.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Yes, and then when we… when… thank you, Juliana, for saying that. We ask you, would you like to be mentioned on the call or not? And we always honor that. I don't think I've ever messed that up, and we've run these for 6 years, I believe, now, and
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): That is a really important part, because sometimes people have questions that don't want to be, you know, they don't want to be named.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): So, okay, the second part of that question was, well, how do we bring all of this exploration into teaching yoga, right? Particularly in a place like Switzerland, or… I think a lot of European countries, you know, sometimes people are like.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): how can we even talk about diversity, for example, when everyone in the room is German, or everyone in the room, you know, is white, or whatever… whatever the situation, right?
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): So… and this, again, it's in… in…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): you'll find echoes of what I say here in the book and then in the course, so it's not, you know, something that you can kind of go and explore a little more. But naming the roots of yoga.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): particularly for teaching yoga, right? Like, at the beginning, doing a spiritual lineage acknowledgement, maybe a land acknowledgement as well, that can go really nicely together.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And doing it consistently and honestly. You can also, especially if it's new for you, say, I'm gonna begin doing… you don't have to be like.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): oh, I'm an expert. You can be like, I'm learning, I'm in a course where I'm learning about these things, and I'm going to start naming
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): the roots of the practices we're sharing. And, you know, you can be kind of transparent about it in that way. And…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): from… I just also had another student
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): right in and say, you know, I've started doing a spiritual lineage acknowledgement, and I expected a lot of pushback in my studio. But actually, people are thanking me for it. People really appreciate knowing that there's more depth, that there's a history to what we're learning.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And that it's something that they can learn more about, you know? And I was like, wow, that is so cool, and I never would have known what that person's lived experience was like if they hadn't shared, right? And then all those people that they're teaching.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): 20, 30 people, you know, each class, they had a bigger class.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): they're getting touched by that depth, right? So, again, it's like that opportunity for locating people in time, space, place, the specificity, but also the opportunity for universality.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): then framing practices through the themes of repair, right? You can bring it in thematically, too, like repair, or sovereignty, or belonging, or deep listening, right, or responsibility.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): A lot of yoga classes fall into the default mode of optimization.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): of essentially instrumentalizing us as humans, of saying, come to class because it will make you more productive, blah, blah, blah, all those things, right? Like, you might not do that, but, like, the majority of, kind of, normative yoga classes in the West, Europe, US,
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): do that. And it's so kind of counter to actually what the spirit of yoga is, which is not to operationalize us, not to turn us into tools, but to remind us of our infinite nature, right? So, bringing that in thematically.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And then, kind of like I did in the meditation in the beginning, offering moments of reflection, like.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): How does my ancestry, or how does the cultures that I've been raised with, brought up with, live in, shape my experience, or how I move in this world?
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): You can think about collective healing, right? Personal healing. And then it's, like, really concrete stuff, like, who are you quoting?
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): literally who, right? Like, I remember, oh my gosh, teaching English
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): some of my examples are not yogic, but it's okay. I mean, teaching English 10, and I had a student visitor, like, someone who's training to be a teacher, and he pointed out to me that all of the quotes and the passages I had pulled were white men.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And I'm, like, here thinking, I'm such a great teacher, I'm empowering young women and men of color, and like, wait, what? What did I just do?
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Right?
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And sometimes it's so helpful to have… take that fresh look, like you're observing yourself, or invite a friend, a peer, someone here, to observe what you're doing, and see, like, oh, does who I'm quoting, does who I'm holding up as an example match the values that I want to share?
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): In… in class. And then I'm just looking at my notes to myself.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Yeah, I think the other piece is, like.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): it doesn't have to be a lecture so much as, like, a woven theme, or, like, something that you kind of bring in, because it is hard, especially if you're teaching in a studio setting or a gym or something. It's not like we can be like, let's talk about decolonization of yoga, you know? But maybe, maybe it depends, but it might be a little bit more of a through line, or at the beginning, or at the end.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Or in a story you tell.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): So I will pause again. Anyone have thoughts or things to add? Jill, I saw you put I, but I'm not sure. Yes, Miriam, hi.
Miriam: Hi, Ed, thank you for…
Miriam: bringing up the question. I'd just like to share the story, how I came to that question, because I was talking to another yoga teacher about this course I'm having. I just told her the title.
Miriam: And she… her reaction was, oh, wow, this sounds really American.
Miriam: But they have a whole different trauma than we have, something like this.
Miriam: And then, first, I felt a bit offended, and I was like, oh, maybe she's right, maybe I'm not the right person to do this course, because I'm not American, I'm not English.
Miriam: And then I realized, but she's right to talk about it, and she's right to tell me that, and it…
Miriam: brought that question up, and I think it's really important to talk about it.
Miriam: But I'm in the right place, so…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Ugh, I love that.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I mean, I don't love that she said that.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I love that you're receiving it as I'm in the right place, because…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): it's so tricky, you know? It's in a way, without realizing it, and without demonizing
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): her, it's a spiritual bypass move to be like, oh, but we don't have those problems here. We don't have race problems. We don't have, you know, inequity problems. And yeah, Switzerland is pretty awesome. I've been there once, and I loved it. And…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): it was beautiful. And oh yeah, there's still racism, right? There's still patriarchy, there's still inequity, and, you know, kind of like we were talking about at the beginning, there's all those historical
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): things that have fed into Switzerland being what it is, and you know, it's sort of like…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): an oversimplification, but perhaps it operates as, like, a savior, right? A white savior country. And so, in a very general sense, rather than a white aggressor country.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Are they both?
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): challenging or problematic, or things that can be shifted into accompliceship and allyship? Absolutely, right? And so, I think often people don't realize
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): because they don't understand that historical and ultimate dimension, or systemic inequity, or the role they might be playing. But,
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): But it can be an easy move.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): a sort of comfortable move to say, oh, but that's an American thing. I get… I also just want to name… I sometimes get that from Indian folks in India, and so if there's anyone here who is, you know, a person of color, Indian person, who's like.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): well, our communities don't have that, right? Like, we can't appropriate yoga because we're…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Indigenous, or we can't appropriate yoga because we're Black, or because we're South Asian, you know?
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): It's tricky, it's a move to…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): it's that comparing thing, right? And it's complex, it is different, but
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): There's still a space to look at history, nuance, identity, right, and the ways that we can show up that are extractive or regenerative.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Yeah, thank you.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Jill, I'm just reading. I'm always very put off when the way something is shared does not allow space for there to be other viewpoints or expansion. So in leading, I often talk about my practice and my experience, the way it lands for me lately, on my radar now, rather than absolutes. Yeah, I love that.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Thank you, Jill.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): That's such a nice way to also bring in these things into a class, these themes.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): how different…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Karen says, as a tool for activism, yet not for other human benefits. As you mentioned, how to discern, yet speak to benefits. If I can share screen, I'd be happy to share the three slides in my introduction to the graduate student in the mind-body-Spirit integration seminar. Yes, I would love to see your example.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And thank you, Tani Sinan.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Karen, can you write more about what you mean or say more after Celine shares?
Selene Kumin Vega (she/her): I'll unmute and talk a little bit about this. This is a bunch of graduate students from all over, mostly the U.S. We do occasionally get a foreign student.
Selene Kumin Vega (she/her): But, I'm introducing them to the mind-body medicine
Selene Kumin Vega (she/her): graduate program at Saybrook University, and it's been an interesting experience for a lot of them, because they come thinking, this is graduate school, they're going to take notes, and instead we throw them into actual experiential work, and we're going to do this, and we're gonna talk about ourselves, and how it impacts us, and all of that.
Selene Kumin Vega (she/her): For some of the students, when we do this land acknowledgement, what we get in the chat is, oh, I'm so, so pleased you're doing this. They've clearly heard of it, they know what it is, they're really appreciative that we're doing this. Other students have never even heard of anything like this. This is a whole new concept for them, so we feel like…
Selene Kumin Vega (she/her): We're not just doing the land acknowledgement, we're introducing them to the concept of doing that. And then often what they'll do, like looking at this slide, a lot of them click on that and start showing in the chat where they are, and whose lands they're on.
Selene Kumin Vega (she/her): So this first slide is really just talking about what is the land acknowledgement, and why we might do it. And we're talking, I'm not just reading from this slide, we actually talk about why we would do this, and how important it is, and all that.
Selene Kumin Vega (she/her): And then my next slide.
Selene Kumin Vega (she/her): is where I am. This is where I am, and okay, we're all on Zoom, but this is me and where I'm sitting, and so I share about the Amamots and tribal band and the Sayanta tribe that are
Selene Kumin Vega (she/her): that were here on these lands, and that some of whom are still around, actually not the folks who are right here, but the Amamutsen Tribal Band is including this area.
Selene Kumin Vega (she/her): with the folks who aren't even around from this particular tribe, but from surrounding tribes. And I talk a little bit about them and what they're doing. And then, Susanna, this is what I share for the cultural acknowledgement.
Selene Kumin Vega (she/her): When I first encountered your book, and what the work you were doing, I thought, this is perfect. It's not just about yoga, it's about how do we think about
Selene Kumin Vega (she/her): the… the… the…
Selene Kumin Vega (she/her): the practices and ideas that we're working with, and because we're working with mind-body medicine, a lot of it's coming from other traditions, from a lot of other places, and so how important it is to acknowledge that and to bring all these in, and so we talk a little bit about that, and I do open it up to discussion.
Selene Kumin Vega (she/her): I was gonna bring in one thing that has come up.
Selene Kumin Vega (she/her): as we've done our work here. In particular, it's come up with one of our faculty who has a lot of Buddhist practice in his life, I mean, decades of Buddhist practice, and so when he leads a loving-kindness meditation, or introduces some of the meditation practices.
Selene Kumin Vega (she/her): He will usually, start with some of his spiritual lineage and acknowledge his teachers.
Selene Kumin Vega (she/her): And we've gotten some pushback, like, for some of the really…
Selene Kumin Vega (she/her): more fundamentalist Christian folks who come to our program, and we never know where they're coming from and what they're holding, they have a reaction to that. It's like, oh, this is from…
Selene Kumin Vega (she/her): you know, something that isn't in my tradition, and my Christian tradition says this isn't okay, this is, like, the devil's work. I mean, really, we've gotten some interesting reactions.
Selene Kumin Vega (she/her): We've, moved towards doing the spiritual lineage at the end of the practice, so they get a chance to actually have the experience before they get the honoring of the teachers who it came from. That seems to go over better because they're not…
Selene Kumin Vega (she/her): they don't have some preconceived idea about how this is going to lead them down some path away from Christianity. Having had the experience, they can see that it's just leading them into their own spiritual connections, whatever those are.
Selene Kumin Vega (she/her): And so they're more accepting of the spiritual lineage later, so…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Thank you. Thank you so much, Celine, for sharing those. And what I love, and what I want to encourage folks, especially if you're newer to this.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): is have the slides, or, like, for me, I…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): often teach in person, so I'm… you know, I teach online, but I also teach in person, so it's… I'm not developing slides, but I have, like.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): you know, the land acknowledgement written down, the lineage acknowledgement written down, so it's just easy for me to look at my notes. And again, you don't have to pretend like you're an expert. You can say, I'm exploring, acknowledging these things. And then for the community you're in, and teaching, I love that, like, figuring out…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): you know, when I used to teach in certain communities, I'd be like, let's try something. You know, hey, I have this practice that helps me feel more peaceful or more focused, do you want to try it, right? So it's much more… I wouldn't, in high school, lead in with a spiritual lineage acknowledgement. It's like, what? You know, no, no, miss, not doing that, right? So, yeah, knowing our audiences.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And working with that.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And then, our next question… is…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): About studying reparations, and it's interesting to think about reparations specifically to yoga.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I started thinking about the bigger picture of how I move with ease through day-to-day and community, and then about what reparations I could focus on for this month.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): would reparations be different if we're in a student role versus a teacher role? And we share yoga in every day, and I'm more in a learning phase than I am sharing, haven't done a teacher training yet, so I'm wondering how that might shift.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And this is such a beautiful inquiry, and I think is, like, exactly where reparations stop being… stops being abstract and, like, becomes something that we live, right? Which really is what we hope for. It's not like, oh, I've checked off my reparations for the week or the month, but, like, it's a part of a daily life.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I think I say it in the video, I hope I do, but reparation, I know I say it in the book, reparations in yoga always sits alongside
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): reparations, other forms of reparations. So, for example, for me, as a settler and a non-Black person in the United States.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): reparations and yoga sits alongside reparations to Black folks and reparations to Indigenous folks, right? Because it's not disconnected. I think what yoga's helping us see is our interconnectedness. So I'll give a concrete example in a second.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I do think it's a little different as practitioners. It can overlap, you know, but when we're students, I think it's studying… like, you're here, right? You're studying from a South Asian teacher, or from historically marginalized teachers, queer teacher,
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): if it's accessible to us to invest our time, energy, money, right? Like.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): in learning from those teachers. Like, for example, every year I probably buy
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Let's say, 3 to 5 yoga books.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): who were the authors of those books? For a very long time, you know, and because I've been buying yoga books for a while now, it was not authors of color. It just wasn't. And at a certain point, maybe 8 years ago, I started to really look at that. Like, why? Why am I investing in
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): You know, who am I investing in, right? And we can apply that to workshops, to courses, right?
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And then I do think, also, reparations is, like, letting the practice
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Work on us and change us in how we listen, how we interrupt harm, how we redistribute attention.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): As teachers, and we'll get way more into this
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Kind of later on, but I'll just…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): drop a preview of it. It's like, who you amplify, right? Who you're partnering with, or bring people in, who you refer to students to, what resources you share, how you price and share your resources, and then specifically doing some form of, what do you call that? Like, like,
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Let me just… bring up the example. And I know we're almost at… time.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Mmm… Hmm… -Oh. Is it down?
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Hmm…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I hope it's not. Jeez, I think it might be.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Might be not up anymore. So…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Okay, I'm gonna just talk it through then instead of showing you, which is too bad. I'll find a good example in a minute, but…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): when I offered a workshop that was a community gathering for South Asian folks, we had…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): the direct price, which I think was $200, we had a half price scholarship, and then we had, so it was, like, 50% full price, 25% half, 25% full scholarship, right? Then, we had an invitation for white folks, or non-South Asians, to support our work.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): and donate.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Then, we also had, of the total amount that came in.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): we were going to do 10% of the profits to Dignity and Power Now that works on Black liberation, and 10% to Equality Labs that works on, caste equity in the U.S. and the world, but particularly the U.S. And so.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): to me, that's not a perfect example, but just an example of a specific program with very explicit, like, reparations goals, right? Like, we're doing this work, but we're also naming the privilege that we have, and then found specific orgs that do the work around
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): changing the inequities.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And we've highlighted them. So, some people just donated directly to those organizations. We were able to, send about $150 to each org, plus fund the scholarships.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Plus, each of us made a couple hundred bucks, right? Like, the, the… for running a… it was a six-week program. So that's like a…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): really specific way, of saying.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): nobody… we're… reparations is also an exercise in undoing white supremacy culture. We're not going to do it perfectly, but we can explore it, and work with it, and, and consider how we might
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): explore. I hope that's helpful and answers your question. And then we'll come back and talk a lot more about this in the upcoming…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): weeks.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And then… We're at time. Jeez, I feel like we could just spend…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Hours and hours explaining these things and practices.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And I just want to anchor you back in Traddha, in what you'll bring through this week, this month.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): where is your hope located? Where is your faith nourished and fulfilled?
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): What is that lineage or that history that, you know, you can explore that helps you connect more with oneness, with…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): you know, from your unique position, the little S self to the big S.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): So we'll close with 3 sounds of OM. Deep breath in.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And a full breath out.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Thank you so much for your presence. Thank you so much for your practice.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I also just want to… I forgot to say this, but I'm gonna quickly share with you. We have a live teacher registry on the Ignite site. You can apply to be on it.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): And it is awesome and fun, and, you know, there's lots of great projects to explore. And then today, I don't know if…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Juliana, you can… it's very… I'm giving you a lot of work today. But,
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): the RSVP link for the… we're having a…
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): project… live Project Skillshare at 4 p.m. Pacific, if you would like to come. This will be mostly students sharing their projects, for students, and I'm excited to… to see folks there. We will have more of these
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Through… through the year. And you are welcome to always attend, you're welcome to sign up to share a project. Let me see if I can grab the,
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): I should have had this prepared, but I just realized that you may not know. So, so sometimes not everyone gets, gets all of our
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): our emails. Oh, shoot.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Let me see, I think this is it? Yes, okay.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): So, here is the link, if you would like it, to come to the Skillshare. And it's just a simple, it's a community Skillshare, it's a party for 10 years of Ignite, but mostly, more than anything.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): We're sharing the registry, and then there'll be students sharing their projects, right, out loud. And, part of the goal is really just to
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): Center the amazing work that you all are doing, and so we can connect and continue to learn from one another.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): All right. Thank you so much, and really appreciate each of you, and see you maybe later today, or maybe soon. Have a wonderful day.
Susanna Barkataki (She/They): You can unmute and say goodbye if you'd like.
Selene Kumin Vega (she/her): Bye, everybody!