Yoga as Collective Care with Tejal Patel

Tejal is an Indian American yoga teacher, writer, podcaster, and community organizer. She advocates for yoga through a social justice lens through her online studio, the abcdyogi global community, and the Yoga is Dead podcast. We talk about our respective journeys to becoming yoga teachers and the issues we see in the yoga and wellness world. From spiritual bypassing to centering physical movement to the co-opting of words like namaste, what is presented as yoga here in the west is an extracted and appropriated version of a spiritual practice.  Tejal shares with us that creating community has always been a part of her life, and that the point of yoga is to care for the collective and for those who are most at risk. She encourages us to go beyond living a life that is simply fine and to do what we are passionate about. She also reminds us of the importance of rest — of finding the savasana in our day.  Tejal is an example of what it means to be a true yogi. Tejal IG Leah IG