Yoga Revolution – A Path Forward
How can we make real change in the world toward a more just, humane and democratic future? Join Jivana Heyman as he shares how yoga is truly revolutionary — creating an inner revolution in our heart and mind, as well as an outer revolution in the form of service and social justice.
Jivana Heyman is the author of Accessible Yoga: Poses & Practices for Every Body, and the book being discussed in this episode, Yoga Revolution: Building a Practice of Courage & Compassion. He is the founder and director of the Accessible Yoga Association, an international non-profit organization dedicated to increasing access to the yoga teachings. He’s also the co-founder of the Accessible Yoga School, an online portal focusing on equity and accessibility, and the co-host of the Accessible Yoga Podcast. You can find more info at his website JivanaHeyman.com and on FaceBook at Jivana Heyman.
THE YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: The conversation with Jivana Heyman was flowing and impactful. Jivana said yoga is seeing God in others and if everyone in the world lived that way it would be a revolution. He began by sharing that he wrote the book to help unearth the central truths of yoga, make the teachings more accessible, and promote living yoga in daily life (off the mat). I loved the story that he was introduced to yoga early when as a young child he walked into the room to find his grandmother doing a headstand. Both he and Dr. Trujillo shared the comparison and impact of how the COVID pandemic resurfaced the pain and suffering from the AIDs pandemic. It was heartfelt and gave insight on how inner work caused by suffering can then, with courage and in community, be used in seva and social action. I highly recommend this episode.
DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: I enjoyed our conversation about the potential for both inner and outer revolution that yoga philosophy and practice provides. As I mentioned, I love the way Jivana begins his book Yoga Revolution: “Modern yoga is finally growing up, and the time has come to address the dissonance between the superficial way yoga is currently being practiced and the depth of yoga’s ancient universal spiritual teachings.” It was lovely to explore some of that depth with him. We spoke about the importance of not just studying yoga, but living yoga, bringing it off the mat or cushion and seeing all the ways that we can live the principles of Oneness that yoga teaches. We spoke about the ethical principles that make up one of the eight limbs of yoga, the Yamas, including harmlessness and truthfulness. We also discussed the need to practice self-compassion, as our vision clears and we begin to embody harmlessness and truthfulness more deeply.