Fiery, caring, passionate.<\/p>\n
About you- Where are you from and\/or where do you live? <\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\nI am from England and India. I was born in Middlesbrough, UK – to an Indian father and British mother. My whole life has been shaped by large geopolitical influences! I was born at a time when Indians and White people didn\u2019t marry, let alone date. Despite this, my parents felt an undeniable chemistry and decided to marry – but they couldn\u2019t find anyone to perform the ceremony! They were told they would have to adopt – or they\u2019d have \u201chalf-breeds.\u201d Luckily, they decided to have me anyway – but as I was growing up there was so much violence against mixed race families that they had to leave England for a place of more tolerance and chose to move to the United States. This landed us in Los Angeles, where I grew up. Through a few twists of fate, I am now living not far from Kino and your wonderful yoga center in Orlando, Florida on unceded Seminole land.<\/p>\n
What is yoga to you?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nTo me, yoga is unity.\u00a0 Just like people, yoga has a place. It has roots. It has culture. It is from somewhere. You know where you are from. You can probably name the block, city, town, state, country and continent.\u00a0 And those elements, aunts and uncles, foods, climate, environment – have been a huge part of shaping you for better or for worse. Similarly, yoga is from somewhere. We can\u2019t just surgically remove yoga from its context. From the people, places, religions and society that influenced and influences it. Even though yoga is unity, we have to look at all the places that it\u2019s been used to separate in order to create the true unity it promises us.<\/p>\n
How did you feel after your first yoga class and how do you feel this influences or impacts the space you create for your students? <\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nOne thing I learned while teaching high school students that all true learning comes from the inside out from an internal, intrinsic motivation. I try to create a space that invites, inspires, opens this curiosity within a person, to be intrinsically motivated to learn how to honor, rather than appropriate yoga.<\/p>\n
What impact has yoga had on your life? Who were you before you started practicing and how have you changed, evolved and transformed?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n\u201cSpeak up, miss,\u201d my ESL students used to call out over the lesson I was attempting to teach. I was SO shy when I first started teaching (my first real job after college – I had to put that Philosophy degree from Berkeley to good use!) that my students literally could not hear me! As a quiet, shy, small mixed Indian girl from the UK growing up and then teaching in LA schools, I never imagined I\u2019d be here – one of the go-to people for when people have questions about yoga and cultural issues! But back to me standing there sweating and petrified, I had important things to teach but I was afraid to speak them – those were some of the hardest moments of my life. Because I cared so much about empowering my English as a Second Language students with knowledge (after all, they were immigrants, just like I was, and I wanted them to have a fair chance at success in this brave new world) I simply had to learn to speak up! So I sought out great teachers to learn from and also taught myself how to teach all while learning and practicing the yogic traditions of my roots. Yoga and meditation was such a solace during that hard first year of teaching in LAUSD. And since then, I\u2019ve been speaking up around issues of peace, harmony, nonviolence, equity and inclusion everywhere I can. So now, people look to me sometimes for answers to their questions around cultural issues and yoga. My goal now is the same as it was with those early students in my ESL 1 and 2 classes. To share the best knowledge to empower us all to make a difference and create a better world with yoga.<\/p>\n
Why did you decide to start teaching yoga and what qualities do you feel are important to build and work on as a yoga teacher? <\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nI had no idea when I first started learning yoga, reclaiming and practicing the spiritual technologies of my ancestors how much inner power I was about to tap. I simply didn\u2019t realize that I could transform from a shy, quiet, insecure person into a leader that doesn\u2019t flinch at getting on camera or speaking on international stages. But you know, it wasn\u2019t always this way. I used to be terrified to speak in front of a few people, let alone the hundreds and thousands I now teach. Pencils bouncing off desks, voices echoing off walls, one afternoon, my AP English 12th grade class was completely out of control. I\u2019d had it. I took a deep breath and said \u201cAlright, y’all. Shakespeare isn\u2019t working for us right now. Get up, everyone.\u201d I almost couldn\u2019t believe I was about to do this. I\u2019d never shared yoga with anyone else before. \u201cWe are going to try something new.\u201d We entered into a 15 minute session of yoga, breathing and ended with meditation. \u201cLet\u2019s just see how it goes,\u201d I said to the students. At the end of the session, they looked at me. Dez, one of the most active and goofy students said, \u201cMiss, I didn\u2019t realize my mind could get so quiet. I\u2019m going to do this every day.\u201d Instead of hiding away the practice that gave me the greatest inner power, I realized part of my job, no matter what I was sharing, was to teach yoga as a practice to inner and outer power and transformation. My teaching and life was completely different after that.<\/p>\n
What has been your biggest struggle and your biggest milestone in the practice, in teaching and within the yoga community? <\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nSomething I\u2019ve been thinking about a lot is how we are sold yoga in the West. How it is watered down and how that robs us, and future generations of the depth of this powerful practice. And right now – diversity, inclusion & representation are seemingly \u201con trend.\u201d But addressing representation and appropriation in yoga is \u201cnot a boxed to be checked\u201d but rather an exploration to be undertaken, learning to be had, connections to be made!<\/p>\n
Why do you practice, and why do you teach?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nAs a child my father chanted in Assamese (our regional language from Assam in North East India) and Sanskrit to help me fall asleep at night. As I lay there, tense, sleep eluding me, I’d try without success, to relax. My dad would smooth my brow, invite me to practice pratyahara and dhyana, mindfulness and meditation. He would invite me to envision a glowing ball of blue energy at my forehead and sing a beautiful chant that his own mother had sung to him. Engulfed in waves of sacred sound and blue light energy I would drift off to sleep. I am a reverent student of the practices from my roots that bring more peace and more power. So much more than asana is part of the fabric of yoga and lends important context to our yoga practice. I’m always so curious to learn! Honoring the spiritual lineage we practice within is so key.<\/p>\n
What is the single most defining issue facing the global yoga community today?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nHow to honor and not appropriate yoga – so we can practice the full expanse of what yoga has to offer us.\u00a0 I BELIEVE IT IS time for yoga to restore the authenticity and diversity it deserves.\u00a0 Yoga has so much potential. It means unity. But today, it is anything but this. I speak for my ancestors when I say \u201cWe are no longer here to allow this corruption and lack of diversity of this healing path. We all lose.\u201d Instead, we can lean back while practicing forward to a future that includes everyone.<\/p>\n
Do you have any recommended yoga reading?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nI always have a copy of the Bhagavad Gita<\/a><\/span> and the Yoga Sutras somewhere close at hand. I read from them in the morning and in the evening. I prefer these texts translated and with commentary by spiritual teachers. Through your own personal journey, what do you feel is your path and offering to the community- local and global? I\u2019m a teacher, inclusivity promoter, and yoga culture advocate first and foremost. As an inheritor of yogic wisdom, I am passionate about bridging cultural connections and healing with yoga for us and generations to come to experience all that this incredible practice has to offer us. My work is how we can bring the roots of yoga in action with diversity and inclusion. I invite us to explore together as modern day yogis, purpose seekers, coaches, adventurers, mystics, spiritual practitioners, and people who know there is more to the story.\u00a0 I see a world where yoga is unity and excludes no one. I feel yoga is here for us to cultivate power and transcend our very limitations, personally and socially. Not to create more separation but as a way to connect, dissolving separation within and without.<\/p>\nWhat advice would you give to someone who is just starting out on their yoga journey?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nAlways be a student, practice yoga ethics and cultivate your sadhana, or personal practice.<\/p>\n
Are there any current projects you’re working on that you can tell us about?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nYes! I am finishing up my upcoming book Honor Yoga\u2019s Roots: Courageous Ways to Deepen Your Yoga Practice<\/a><\/strong><\/span> for folks who teach, practice, or want to learn yoga. I\u2019m excited to share this invitation to truly bring your practice alive in a way that deepens and honors yoga\u2019s roots. You can find the book and free resources at susannabarkataki.com\/book<\/a><\/span><\/p>\nBy Susanna Barkataki<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\")
<\/a><\/p>\nDeepen and Honor your Yoga Practice Here<\/b><\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/h3>\nAn Indian yoga practitioner in the Shankaracharya tradition, Susanna Barkataki supports practitioners to lead with equity, diversity and yogic values while growing thriving practices and businesses with confidence. She is founder of Ignite Yoga and Wellness Institute and runs 200\/500 Yoga Teacher Training programs. She is an E-RYT 500, Certified Yoga Therapist with International Association of Yoga Therapists (C-IAYT). Author of the forthcoming book Embrace Yoga\u2019s Roots: Courageous Ways to Deepen Your Yoga Practice. With an Honors degree in Philosophy from UC Berkeley and a Masters in Education from Cambridge College, Barkataki is a diversity, accessibility, inclusivity, and equity (DAIE) yoga unity educator who created the ground-breaking Honor {Don\u2019t Appropriate} Yoga Summit with over 10,000 participants. Learn more and get your free Chapter from her book on indigenous roots of trauma informed yoga at embraceyogasrootsbook.com\/ <\/a>\u00a0Complimentary masterclass to embrace yoga\u2019s roots without appropriation: www.namastemasterclass.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I had no idea when I first started learning yoga, reclaiming and practicing the spiritual technologies of my ancestors how much inner power I was about to tap. I simply didn\u2019t realize that I could transform from a shy, quiet, insecure person into a leader that doesn\u2019t flinch at getting on camera or speaking on …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3497,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1451],"tags":[1078,1083,1079,1084,1077,1080,1081,1082,677,1075,1085,308,1076],"class_list":["post-3493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-cultural-appropriation","tag-dare-your-yoga","tag-honor-dont-appropriate-yoga","tag-honor-yoga","tag-honor-yogas-roots","tag-mantra","tag-mudra","tag-om","tag-sanskrit","tag-susanna-barkataki","tag-yoga-inspiration","tag-yoga-teacher-interview","tag-yoga-transformation"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/susanna-featured-imagev2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3493"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3760,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3493\/revisions\/3760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
To me, yoga is unity.\u00a0 Just like people, yoga has a place. It has roots. It has culture. It is from somewhere. You know where you are from. You can probably name the block, city, town, state, country and continent.\u00a0 And those elements, aunts and uncles, foods, climate, environment – have been a huge part of shaping you for better or for worse. Similarly, yoga is from somewhere. We can\u2019t just surgically remove yoga from its context. From the people, places, religions and society that influenced and influences it. Even though yoga is unity, we have to look at all the places that it\u2019s been used to separate in order to create the true unity it promises us.<\/p>\n
How did you feel after your first yoga class and how do you feel this influences or impacts the space you create for your students? <\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nOne thing I learned while teaching high school students that all true learning comes from the inside out from an internal, intrinsic motivation. I try to create a space that invites, inspires, opens this curiosity within a person, to be intrinsically motivated to learn how to honor, rather than appropriate yoga.<\/p>\n
What impact has yoga had on your life? Who were you before you started practicing and how have you changed, evolved and transformed?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n\u201cSpeak up, miss,\u201d my ESL students used to call out over the lesson I was attempting to teach. I was SO shy when I first started teaching (my first real job after college – I had to put that Philosophy degree from Berkeley to good use!) that my students literally could not hear me! As a quiet, shy, small mixed Indian girl from the UK growing up and then teaching in LA schools, I never imagined I\u2019d be here – one of the go-to people for when people have questions about yoga and cultural issues! But back to me standing there sweating and petrified, I had important things to teach but I was afraid to speak them – those were some of the hardest moments of my life. Because I cared so much about empowering my English as a Second Language students with knowledge (after all, they were immigrants, just like I was, and I wanted them to have a fair chance at success in this brave new world) I simply had to learn to speak up! So I sought out great teachers to learn from and also taught myself how to teach all while learning and practicing the yogic traditions of my roots. Yoga and meditation was such a solace during that hard first year of teaching in LAUSD. And since then, I\u2019ve been speaking up around issues of peace, harmony, nonviolence, equity and inclusion everywhere I can. So now, people look to me sometimes for answers to their questions around cultural issues and yoga. My goal now is the same as it was with those early students in my ESL 1 and 2 classes. To share the best knowledge to empower us all to make a difference and create a better world with yoga.<\/p>\n
Why did you decide to start teaching yoga and what qualities do you feel are important to build and work on as a yoga teacher? <\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nI had no idea when I first started learning yoga, reclaiming and practicing the spiritual technologies of my ancestors how much inner power I was about to tap. I simply didn\u2019t realize that I could transform from a shy, quiet, insecure person into a leader that doesn\u2019t flinch at getting on camera or speaking on international stages. But you know, it wasn\u2019t always this way. I used to be terrified to speak in front of a few people, let alone the hundreds and thousands I now teach. Pencils bouncing off desks, voices echoing off walls, one afternoon, my AP English 12th grade class was completely out of control. I\u2019d had it. I took a deep breath and said \u201cAlright, y’all. Shakespeare isn\u2019t working for us right now. Get up, everyone.\u201d I almost couldn\u2019t believe I was about to do this. I\u2019d never shared yoga with anyone else before. \u201cWe are going to try something new.\u201d We entered into a 15 minute session of yoga, breathing and ended with meditation. \u201cLet\u2019s just see how it goes,\u201d I said to the students. At the end of the session, they looked at me. Dez, one of the most active and goofy students said, \u201cMiss, I didn\u2019t realize my mind could get so quiet. I\u2019m going to do this every day.\u201d Instead of hiding away the practice that gave me the greatest inner power, I realized part of my job, no matter what I was sharing, was to teach yoga as a practice to inner and outer power and transformation. My teaching and life was completely different after that.<\/p>\n
What has been your biggest struggle and your biggest milestone in the practice, in teaching and within the yoga community? <\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nSomething I\u2019ve been thinking about a lot is how we are sold yoga in the West. How it is watered down and how that robs us, and future generations of the depth of this powerful practice. And right now – diversity, inclusion & representation are seemingly \u201con trend.\u201d But addressing representation and appropriation in yoga is \u201cnot a boxed to be checked\u201d but rather an exploration to be undertaken, learning to be had, connections to be made!<\/p>\n
Why do you practice, and why do you teach?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nAs a child my father chanted in Assamese (our regional language from Assam in North East India) and Sanskrit to help me fall asleep at night. As I lay there, tense, sleep eluding me, I’d try without success, to relax. My dad would smooth my brow, invite me to practice pratyahara and dhyana, mindfulness and meditation. He would invite me to envision a glowing ball of blue energy at my forehead and sing a beautiful chant that his own mother had sung to him. Engulfed in waves of sacred sound and blue light energy I would drift off to sleep. I am a reverent student of the practices from my roots that bring more peace and more power. So much more than asana is part of the fabric of yoga and lends important context to our yoga practice. I’m always so curious to learn! Honoring the spiritual lineage we practice within is so key.<\/p>\n
What is the single most defining issue facing the global yoga community today?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nHow to honor and not appropriate yoga – so we can practice the full expanse of what yoga has to offer us.\u00a0 I BELIEVE IT IS time for yoga to restore the authenticity and diversity it deserves.\u00a0 Yoga has so much potential. It means unity. But today, it is anything but this. I speak for my ancestors when I say \u201cWe are no longer here to allow this corruption and lack of diversity of this healing path. We all lose.\u201d Instead, we can lean back while practicing forward to a future that includes everyone.<\/p>\n
Do you have any recommended yoga reading?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nI always have a copy of the Bhagavad Gita<\/a><\/span> and the Yoga Sutras somewhere close at hand. I read from them in the morning and in the evening. I prefer these texts translated and with commentary by spiritual teachers. Through your own personal journey, what do you feel is your path and offering to the community- local and global? I\u2019m a teacher, inclusivity promoter, and yoga culture advocate first and foremost. As an inheritor of yogic wisdom, I am passionate about bridging cultural connections and healing with yoga for us and generations to come to experience all that this incredible practice has to offer us. My work is how we can bring the roots of yoga in action with diversity and inclusion. I invite us to explore together as modern day yogis, purpose seekers, coaches, adventurers, mystics, spiritual practitioners, and people who know there is more to the story.\u00a0 I see a world where yoga is unity and excludes no one. I feel yoga is here for us to cultivate power and transcend our very limitations, personally and socially. Not to create more separation but as a way to connect, dissolving separation within and without.<\/p>\nWhat advice would you give to someone who is just starting out on their yoga journey?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nAlways be a student, practice yoga ethics and cultivate your sadhana, or personal practice.<\/p>\n
Are there any current projects you’re working on that you can tell us about?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nYes! I am finishing up my upcoming book Honor Yoga\u2019s Roots: Courageous Ways to Deepen Your Yoga Practice<\/a><\/strong><\/span> for folks who teach, practice, or want to learn yoga. I\u2019m excited to share this invitation to truly bring your practice alive in a way that deepens and honors yoga\u2019s roots. You can find the book and free resources at susannabarkataki.com\/book<\/a><\/span><\/p>\nBy Susanna Barkataki<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nDeepen and Honor your Yoga Practice Here<\/b><\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/h3>\nAn Indian yoga practitioner in the Shankaracharya tradition, Susanna Barkataki supports practitioners to lead with equity, diversity and yogic values while growing thriving practices and businesses with confidence. She is founder of Ignite Yoga and Wellness Institute and runs 200\/500 Yoga Teacher Training programs. She is an E-RYT 500, Certified Yoga Therapist with International Association of Yoga Therapists (C-IAYT). Author of the forthcoming book Embrace Yoga\u2019s Roots: Courageous Ways to Deepen Your Yoga Practice. With an Honors degree in Philosophy from UC Berkeley and a Masters in Education from Cambridge College, Barkataki is a diversity, accessibility, inclusivity, and equity (DAIE) yoga unity educator who created the ground-breaking Honor {Don\u2019t Appropriate} Yoga Summit with over 10,000 participants. Learn more and get your free Chapter from her book on indigenous roots of trauma informed yoga at embraceyogasrootsbook.com\/ <\/a>\u00a0Complimentary masterclass to embrace yoga\u2019s roots without appropriation: www.namastemasterclass.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I had no idea when I first started learning yoga, reclaiming and practicing the spiritual technologies of my ancestors how much inner power I was about to tap. I simply didn\u2019t realize that I could transform from a shy, quiet, insecure person into a leader that doesn\u2019t flinch at getting on camera or speaking on …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3497,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1451],"tags":[1078,1083,1079,1084,1077,1080,1081,1082,677,1075,1085,308,1076],"class_list":["post-3493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-cultural-appropriation","tag-dare-your-yoga","tag-honor-dont-appropriate-yoga","tag-honor-yoga","tag-honor-yogas-roots","tag-mantra","tag-mudra","tag-om","tag-sanskrit","tag-susanna-barkataki","tag-yoga-inspiration","tag-yoga-teacher-interview","tag-yoga-transformation"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/susanna-featured-imagev2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3493"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3760,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3493\/revisions\/3760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u201cSpeak up, miss,\u201d my ESL students used to call out over the lesson I was attempting to teach. I was SO shy when I first started teaching (my first real job after college – I had to put that Philosophy degree from Berkeley to good use!) that my students literally could not hear me! As a quiet, shy, small mixed Indian girl from the UK growing up and then teaching in LA schools, I never imagined I\u2019d be here – one of the go-to people for when people have questions about yoga and cultural issues! But back to me standing there sweating and petrified, I had important things to teach but I was afraid to speak them – those were some of the hardest moments of my life. Because I cared so much about empowering my English as a Second Language students with knowledge (after all, they were immigrants, just like I was, and I wanted them to have a fair chance at success in this brave new world) I simply had to learn to speak up! So I sought out great teachers to learn from and also taught myself how to teach all while learning and practicing the yogic traditions of my roots. Yoga and meditation was such a solace during that hard first year of teaching in LAUSD. And since then, I\u2019ve been speaking up around issues of peace, harmony, nonviolence, equity and inclusion everywhere I can. So now, people look to me sometimes for answers to their questions around cultural issues and yoga. My goal now is the same as it was with those early students in my ESL 1 and 2 classes. To share the best knowledge to empower us all to make a difference and create a better world with yoga.<\/p>\n
Why did you decide to start teaching yoga and what qualities do you feel are important to build and work on as a yoga teacher? <\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nI had no idea when I first started learning yoga, reclaiming and practicing the spiritual technologies of my ancestors how much inner power I was about to tap. I simply didn\u2019t realize that I could transform from a shy, quiet, insecure person into a leader that doesn\u2019t flinch at getting on camera or speaking on international stages. But you know, it wasn\u2019t always this way. I used to be terrified to speak in front of a few people, let alone the hundreds and thousands I now teach. Pencils bouncing off desks, voices echoing off walls, one afternoon, my AP English 12th grade class was completely out of control. I\u2019d had it. I took a deep breath and said \u201cAlright, y’all. Shakespeare isn\u2019t working for us right now. Get up, everyone.\u201d I almost couldn\u2019t believe I was about to do this. I\u2019d never shared yoga with anyone else before. \u201cWe are going to try something new.\u201d We entered into a 15 minute session of yoga, breathing and ended with meditation. \u201cLet\u2019s just see how it goes,\u201d I said to the students. At the end of the session, they looked at me. Dez, one of the most active and goofy students said, \u201cMiss, I didn\u2019t realize my mind could get so quiet. I\u2019m going to do this every day.\u201d Instead of hiding away the practice that gave me the greatest inner power, I realized part of my job, no matter what I was sharing, was to teach yoga as a practice to inner and outer power and transformation. My teaching and life was completely different after that.<\/p>\n
What has been your biggest struggle and your biggest milestone in the practice, in teaching and within the yoga community? <\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nSomething I\u2019ve been thinking about a lot is how we are sold yoga in the West. How it is watered down and how that robs us, and future generations of the depth of this powerful practice. And right now – diversity, inclusion & representation are seemingly \u201con trend.\u201d But addressing representation and appropriation in yoga is \u201cnot a boxed to be checked\u201d but rather an exploration to be undertaken, learning to be had, connections to be made!<\/p>\n
Why do you practice, and why do you teach?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nAs a child my father chanted in Assamese (our regional language from Assam in North East India) and Sanskrit to help me fall asleep at night. As I lay there, tense, sleep eluding me, I’d try without success, to relax. My dad would smooth my brow, invite me to practice pratyahara and dhyana, mindfulness and meditation. He would invite me to envision a glowing ball of blue energy at my forehead and sing a beautiful chant that his own mother had sung to him. Engulfed in waves of sacred sound and blue light energy I would drift off to sleep. I am a reverent student of the practices from my roots that bring more peace and more power. So much more than asana is part of the fabric of yoga and lends important context to our yoga practice. I’m always so curious to learn! Honoring the spiritual lineage we practice within is so key.<\/p>\n
What is the single most defining issue facing the global yoga community today?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nHow to honor and not appropriate yoga – so we can practice the full expanse of what yoga has to offer us.\u00a0 I BELIEVE IT IS time for yoga to restore the authenticity and diversity it deserves.\u00a0 Yoga has so much potential. It means unity. But today, it is anything but this. I speak for my ancestors when I say \u201cWe are no longer here to allow this corruption and lack of diversity of this healing path. We all lose.\u201d Instead, we can lean back while practicing forward to a future that includes everyone.<\/p>\n
Do you have any recommended yoga reading?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nI always have a copy of the Bhagavad Gita<\/a><\/span> and the Yoga Sutras somewhere close at hand. I read from them in the morning and in the evening. I prefer these texts translated and with commentary by spiritual teachers. Through your own personal journey, what do you feel is your path and offering to the community- local and global? I\u2019m a teacher, inclusivity promoter, and yoga culture advocate first and foremost. As an inheritor of yogic wisdom, I am passionate about bridging cultural connections and healing with yoga for us and generations to come to experience all that this incredible practice has to offer us. My work is how we can bring the roots of yoga in action with diversity and inclusion. I invite us to explore together as modern day yogis, purpose seekers, coaches, adventurers, mystics, spiritual practitioners, and people who know there is more to the story.\u00a0 I see a world where yoga is unity and excludes no one. I feel yoga is here for us to cultivate power and transcend our very limitations, personally and socially. Not to create more separation but as a way to connect, dissolving separation within and without.<\/p>\nWhat advice would you give to someone who is just starting out on their yoga journey?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nAlways be a student, practice yoga ethics and cultivate your sadhana, or personal practice.<\/p>\n
Are there any current projects you’re working on that you can tell us about?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nYes! I am finishing up my upcoming book Honor Yoga\u2019s Roots: Courageous Ways to Deepen Your Yoga Practice<\/a><\/strong><\/span> for folks who teach, practice, or want to learn yoga. I\u2019m excited to share this invitation to truly bring your practice alive in a way that deepens and honors yoga\u2019s roots. You can find the book and free resources at susannabarkataki.com\/book<\/a><\/span><\/p>\nBy Susanna Barkataki<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nDeepen and Honor your Yoga Practice Here<\/b><\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/h3>\nAn Indian yoga practitioner in the Shankaracharya tradition, Susanna Barkataki supports practitioners to lead with equity, diversity and yogic values while growing thriving practices and businesses with confidence. She is founder of Ignite Yoga and Wellness Institute and runs 200\/500 Yoga Teacher Training programs. She is an E-RYT 500, Certified Yoga Therapist with International Association of Yoga Therapists (C-IAYT). Author of the forthcoming book Embrace Yoga\u2019s Roots: Courageous Ways to Deepen Your Yoga Practice. With an Honors degree in Philosophy from UC Berkeley and a Masters in Education from Cambridge College, Barkataki is a diversity, accessibility, inclusivity, and equity (DAIE) yoga unity educator who created the ground-breaking Honor {Don\u2019t Appropriate} Yoga Summit with over 10,000 participants. Learn more and get your free Chapter from her book on indigenous roots of trauma informed yoga at embraceyogasrootsbook.com\/ <\/a>\u00a0Complimentary masterclass to embrace yoga\u2019s roots without appropriation: www.namastemasterclass.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I had no idea when I first started learning yoga, reclaiming and practicing the spiritual technologies of my ancestors how much inner power I was about to tap. I simply didn\u2019t realize that I could transform from a shy, quiet, insecure person into a leader that doesn\u2019t flinch at getting on camera or speaking on …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3497,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1451],"tags":[1078,1083,1079,1084,1077,1080,1081,1082,677,1075,1085,308,1076],"class_list":["post-3493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-cultural-appropriation","tag-dare-your-yoga","tag-honor-dont-appropriate-yoga","tag-honor-yoga","tag-honor-yogas-roots","tag-mantra","tag-mudra","tag-om","tag-sanskrit","tag-susanna-barkataki","tag-yoga-inspiration","tag-yoga-teacher-interview","tag-yoga-transformation"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/susanna-featured-imagev2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3493"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3760,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3493\/revisions\/3760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Something I\u2019ve been thinking about a lot is how we are sold yoga in the West. How it is watered down and how that robs us, and future generations of the depth of this powerful practice. And right now – diversity, inclusion & representation are seemingly \u201con trend.\u201d But addressing representation and appropriation in yoga is \u201cnot a boxed to be checked\u201d but rather an exploration to be undertaken, learning to be had, connections to be made!<\/p>\n
Why do you practice, and why do you teach?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nAs a child my father chanted in Assamese (our regional language from Assam in North East India) and Sanskrit to help me fall asleep at night. As I lay there, tense, sleep eluding me, I’d try without success, to relax. My dad would smooth my brow, invite me to practice pratyahara and dhyana, mindfulness and meditation. He would invite me to envision a glowing ball of blue energy at my forehead and sing a beautiful chant that his own mother had sung to him. Engulfed in waves of sacred sound and blue light energy I would drift off to sleep. I am a reverent student of the practices from my roots that bring more peace and more power. So much more than asana is part of the fabric of yoga and lends important context to our yoga practice. I’m always so curious to learn! Honoring the spiritual lineage we practice within is so key.<\/p>\n
What is the single most defining issue facing the global yoga community today?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nHow to honor and not appropriate yoga – so we can practice the full expanse of what yoga has to offer us.\u00a0 I BELIEVE IT IS time for yoga to restore the authenticity and diversity it deserves.\u00a0 Yoga has so much potential. It means unity. But today, it is anything but this. I speak for my ancestors when I say \u201cWe are no longer here to allow this corruption and lack of diversity of this healing path. We all lose.\u201d Instead, we can lean back while practicing forward to a future that includes everyone.<\/p>\n
Do you have any recommended yoga reading?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nI always have a copy of the Bhagavad Gita<\/a><\/span> and the Yoga Sutras somewhere close at hand. I read from them in the morning and in the evening. I prefer these texts translated and with commentary by spiritual teachers. Through your own personal journey, what do you feel is your path and offering to the community- local and global? I\u2019m a teacher, inclusivity promoter, and yoga culture advocate first and foremost. As an inheritor of yogic wisdom, I am passionate about bridging cultural connections and healing with yoga for us and generations to come to experience all that this incredible practice has to offer us. My work is how we can bring the roots of yoga in action with diversity and inclusion. I invite us to explore together as modern day yogis, purpose seekers, coaches, adventurers, mystics, spiritual practitioners, and people who know there is more to the story.\u00a0 I see a world where yoga is unity and excludes no one. I feel yoga is here for us to cultivate power and transcend our very limitations, personally and socially. Not to create more separation but as a way to connect, dissolving separation within and without.<\/p>\nWhat advice would you give to someone who is just starting out on their yoga journey?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nAlways be a student, practice yoga ethics and cultivate your sadhana, or personal practice.<\/p>\n
Are there any current projects you’re working on that you can tell us about?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nYes! I am finishing up my upcoming book Honor Yoga\u2019s Roots: Courageous Ways to Deepen Your Yoga Practice<\/a><\/strong><\/span> for folks who teach, practice, or want to learn yoga. I\u2019m excited to share this invitation to truly bring your practice alive in a way that deepens and honors yoga\u2019s roots. You can find the book and free resources at susannabarkataki.com\/book<\/a><\/span><\/p>\nBy Susanna Barkataki<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nDeepen and Honor your Yoga Practice Here<\/b><\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/h3>\nAn Indian yoga practitioner in the Shankaracharya tradition, Susanna Barkataki supports practitioners to lead with equity, diversity and yogic values while growing thriving practices and businesses with confidence. She is founder of Ignite Yoga and Wellness Institute and runs 200\/500 Yoga Teacher Training programs. She is an E-RYT 500, Certified Yoga Therapist with International Association of Yoga Therapists (C-IAYT). Author of the forthcoming book Embrace Yoga\u2019s Roots: Courageous Ways to Deepen Your Yoga Practice. With an Honors degree in Philosophy from UC Berkeley and a Masters in Education from Cambridge College, Barkataki is a diversity, accessibility, inclusivity, and equity (DAIE) yoga unity educator who created the ground-breaking Honor {Don\u2019t Appropriate} Yoga Summit with over 10,000 participants. Learn more and get your free Chapter from her book on indigenous roots of trauma informed yoga at embraceyogasrootsbook.com\/ <\/a>\u00a0Complimentary masterclass to embrace yoga\u2019s roots without appropriation: www.namastemasterclass.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I had no idea when I first started learning yoga, reclaiming and practicing the spiritual technologies of my ancestors how much inner power I was about to tap. I simply didn\u2019t realize that I could transform from a shy, quiet, insecure person into a leader that doesn\u2019t flinch at getting on camera or speaking on …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3497,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1451],"tags":[1078,1083,1079,1084,1077,1080,1081,1082,677,1075,1085,308,1076],"class_list":["post-3493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-cultural-appropriation","tag-dare-your-yoga","tag-honor-dont-appropriate-yoga","tag-honor-yoga","tag-honor-yogas-roots","tag-mantra","tag-mudra","tag-om","tag-sanskrit","tag-susanna-barkataki","tag-yoga-inspiration","tag-yoga-teacher-interview","tag-yoga-transformation"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/susanna-featured-imagev2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3493"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3760,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3493\/revisions\/3760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
How to honor and not appropriate yoga – so we can practice the full expanse of what yoga has to offer us.\u00a0 I BELIEVE IT IS time for yoga to restore the authenticity and diversity it deserves.\u00a0 Yoga has so much potential. It means unity. But today, it is anything but this. I speak for my ancestors when I say \u201cWe are no longer here to allow this corruption and lack of diversity of this healing path. We all lose.\u201d Instead, we can lean back while practicing forward to a future that includes everyone.<\/p>\n
Do you have any recommended yoga reading?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nI always have a copy of the Bhagavad Gita<\/a><\/span> and the Yoga Sutras somewhere close at hand. I read from them in the morning and in the evening. I prefer these texts translated and with commentary by spiritual teachers. Through your own personal journey, what do you feel is your path and offering to the community- local and global? I\u2019m a teacher, inclusivity promoter, and yoga culture advocate first and foremost. As an inheritor of yogic wisdom, I am passionate about bridging cultural connections and healing with yoga for us and generations to come to experience all that this incredible practice has to offer us. My work is how we can bring the roots of yoga in action with diversity and inclusion. I invite us to explore together as modern day yogis, purpose seekers, coaches, adventurers, mystics, spiritual practitioners, and people who know there is more to the story.\u00a0 I see a world where yoga is unity and excludes no one. I feel yoga is here for us to cultivate power and transcend our very limitations, personally and socially. Not to create more separation but as a way to connect, dissolving separation within and without.<\/p>\nWhat advice would you give to someone who is just starting out on their yoga journey?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nAlways be a student, practice yoga ethics and cultivate your sadhana, or personal practice.<\/p>\n
Are there any current projects you’re working on that you can tell us about?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nYes! I am finishing up my upcoming book Honor Yoga\u2019s Roots: Courageous Ways to Deepen Your Yoga Practice<\/a><\/strong><\/span> for folks who teach, practice, or want to learn yoga. I\u2019m excited to share this invitation to truly bring your practice alive in a way that deepens and honors yoga\u2019s roots. You can find the book and free resources at susannabarkataki.com\/book<\/a><\/span><\/p>\nBy Susanna Barkataki<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nDeepen and Honor your Yoga Practice Here<\/b><\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/h3>\nAn Indian yoga practitioner in the Shankaracharya tradition, Susanna Barkataki supports practitioners to lead with equity, diversity and yogic values while growing thriving practices and businesses with confidence. She is founder of Ignite Yoga and Wellness Institute and runs 200\/500 Yoga Teacher Training programs. She is an E-RYT 500, Certified Yoga Therapist with International Association of Yoga Therapists (C-IAYT). Author of the forthcoming book Embrace Yoga\u2019s Roots: Courageous Ways to Deepen Your Yoga Practice. With an Honors degree in Philosophy from UC Berkeley and a Masters in Education from Cambridge College, Barkataki is a diversity, accessibility, inclusivity, and equity (DAIE) yoga unity educator who created the ground-breaking Honor {Don\u2019t Appropriate} Yoga Summit with over 10,000 participants. Learn more and get your free Chapter from her book on indigenous roots of trauma informed yoga at embraceyogasrootsbook.com\/ <\/a>\u00a0Complimentary masterclass to embrace yoga\u2019s roots without appropriation: www.namastemasterclass.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I had no idea when I first started learning yoga, reclaiming and practicing the spiritual technologies of my ancestors how much inner power I was about to tap. I simply didn\u2019t realize that I could transform from a shy, quiet, insecure person into a leader that doesn\u2019t flinch at getting on camera or speaking on …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3497,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1451],"tags":[1078,1083,1079,1084,1077,1080,1081,1082,677,1075,1085,308,1076],"class_list":["post-3493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-cultural-appropriation","tag-dare-your-yoga","tag-honor-dont-appropriate-yoga","tag-honor-yoga","tag-honor-yogas-roots","tag-mantra","tag-mudra","tag-om","tag-sanskrit","tag-susanna-barkataki","tag-yoga-inspiration","tag-yoga-teacher-interview","tag-yoga-transformation"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/susanna-featured-imagev2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3493"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3760,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3493\/revisions\/3760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
What advice would you give to someone who is just starting out on their yoga journey?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nAlways be a student, practice yoga ethics and cultivate your sadhana, or personal practice.<\/p>\n
Are there any current projects you’re working on that you can tell us about?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\nYes! I am finishing up my upcoming book Honor Yoga\u2019s Roots: Courageous Ways to Deepen Your Yoga Practice<\/a><\/strong><\/span> for folks who teach, practice, or want to learn yoga. I\u2019m excited to share this invitation to truly bring your practice alive in a way that deepens and honors yoga\u2019s roots. You can find the book and free resources at susannabarkataki.com\/book<\/a><\/span><\/p>\nBy Susanna Barkataki<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nDeepen and Honor your Yoga Practice Here<\/b><\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/h3>\nAn Indian yoga practitioner in the Shankaracharya tradition, Susanna Barkataki supports practitioners to lead with equity, diversity and yogic values while growing thriving practices and businesses with confidence. She is founder of Ignite Yoga and Wellness Institute and runs 200\/500 Yoga Teacher Training programs. She is an E-RYT 500, Certified Yoga Therapist with International Association of Yoga Therapists (C-IAYT). Author of the forthcoming book Embrace Yoga\u2019s Roots: Courageous Ways to Deepen Your Yoga Practice. With an Honors degree in Philosophy from UC Berkeley and a Masters in Education from Cambridge College, Barkataki is a diversity, accessibility, inclusivity, and equity (DAIE) yoga unity educator who created the ground-breaking Honor {Don\u2019t Appropriate} Yoga Summit with over 10,000 participants. Learn more and get your free Chapter from her book on indigenous roots of trauma informed yoga at embraceyogasrootsbook.com\/ <\/a>\u00a0Complimentary masterclass to embrace yoga\u2019s roots without appropriation: www.namastemasterclass.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I had no idea when I first started learning yoga, reclaiming and practicing the spiritual technologies of my ancestors how much inner power I was about to tap. I simply didn\u2019t realize that I could transform from a shy, quiet, insecure person into a leader that doesn\u2019t flinch at getting on camera or speaking on …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3497,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1451],"tags":[1078,1083,1079,1084,1077,1080,1081,1082,677,1075,1085,308,1076],"class_list":["post-3493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-cultural-appropriation","tag-dare-your-yoga","tag-honor-dont-appropriate-yoga","tag-honor-yoga","tag-honor-yogas-roots","tag-mantra","tag-mudra","tag-om","tag-sanskrit","tag-susanna-barkataki","tag-yoga-inspiration","tag-yoga-teacher-interview","tag-yoga-transformation"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/susanna-featured-imagev2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3493"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3760,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3493\/revisions\/3760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Yes! I am finishing up my upcoming book Honor Yoga\u2019s Roots: Courageous Ways to Deepen Your Yoga Practice<\/a><\/strong><\/span> for folks who teach, practice, or want to learn yoga. I\u2019m excited to share this invitation to truly bring your practice alive in a way that deepens and honors yoga\u2019s roots. You can find the book and free resources at susannabarkataki.com\/book<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n By Susanna Barkataki<\/a><\/p>\n An Indian yoga practitioner in the Shankaracharya tradition, Susanna Barkataki supports practitioners to lead with equity, diversity and yogic values while growing thriving practices and businesses with confidence. She is founder of Ignite Yoga and Wellness Institute and runs 200\/500 Yoga Teacher Training programs. She is an E-RYT 500, Certified Yoga Therapist with International Association of Yoga Therapists (C-IAYT). Author of the forthcoming book Embrace Yoga\u2019s Roots: Courageous Ways to Deepen Your Yoga Practice. With an Honors degree in Philosophy from UC Berkeley and a Masters in Education from Cambridge College, Barkataki is a diversity, accessibility, inclusivity, and equity (DAIE) yoga unity educator who created the ground-breaking Honor {Don\u2019t Appropriate} Yoga Summit with over 10,000 participants. Learn more and get your free Chapter from her book on indigenous roots of trauma informed yoga at embraceyogasrootsbook.com\/ <\/a>\u00a0Complimentary masterclass to embrace yoga\u2019s roots without appropriation: www.namastemasterclass.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I had no idea when I first started learning yoga, reclaiming and practicing the spiritual technologies of my ancestors how much inner power I was about to tap. I simply didn\u2019t realize that I could transform from a shy, quiet, insecure person into a leader that doesn\u2019t flinch at getting on camera or speaking on …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3497,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1451],"tags":[1078,1083,1079,1084,1077,1080,1081,1082,677,1075,1085,308,1076],"class_list":["post-3493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-cultural-appropriation","tag-dare-your-yoga","tag-honor-dont-appropriate-yoga","tag-honor-yoga","tag-honor-yogas-roots","tag-mantra","tag-mudra","tag-om","tag-sanskrit","tag-susanna-barkataki","tag-yoga-inspiration","tag-yoga-teacher-interview","tag-yoga-transformation"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/susanna-featured-imagev2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3493"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3760,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3493\/revisions\/3760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/omstars.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Susanna2-200x300.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nDeepen and Honor your Yoga Practice Here<\/b><\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n