The Yoga of Social Justice: So You Want to Start a Revolution?

Published on January 26, 2015

Let’s face it: 2014 was a difficult year on the home front and internationally, marred by bloodshed, loss, disease, heightening economic disparities and heartbreaking racial tension and injustice. Feelings of anger, hopelessness and apathy are natural responses to the overwhelming bombardment of painful stimuli delivered by our news feeds and in our communities. Yet amidst the world’s despair, hope abides within the refuge of our yoga and meditation practices.

In my younger years, I recall impassioned dialogue with peers who questioned whether contemplative practice (i.e., yoga/meditation) could do anything to change the world. How could sitting on our meditation cushions or doing yoga poses have any impact on systemic discrimination and inequality? In view of the world’s great need for action, wasn’t taking time for these practices passive, apathetic or even selfish?

While our view of activism commonly includes thoughts of marches, rallies and political banners, this participation is merely rhetorical without honest investigation of our own hearts and minds.  Meditation facilitates change from the inside out by cultivating wisdom, non-judgment and compassion that ripples beyond us.

There are several reasons this works. First off, every personality is an aggregate of conditioned ‘programs’ (samskara) accumulated through life experience. As a consequence of living in an inequitable and prejudiced society, we have all internalized beliefs about those different than us, which can, in the absence of awareness, guide our behavior and speech. According to Buddhist philosophy, unconscious beliefs guide actions that reinforce our own suffering along with that of our communities.

Committing to the path of liberation—i.e., practicing yoga and meditation—empowers us to be aware of these biases and to refrain from allowing them to result in unjust or unkind actions towards ourselves or others.

A second reason that meditation serves social justice relates to our over-identification with suffering. No doubt, connecting to and being touched by the world’s suffering is a powerful experience that can catalyze social action and change. Yet without the equanimity (i.e., holding this suffering in a balanced perspective) resulting from a regular practice, we may over-identify with and internalize the suffering, pain and prejudice that we witness. This process may result in a sense of despair or anger that spills into the world as self-righteousness or blame. As a result, rather than acknowledging the places within our own hearts and communities that support oppressive conditions, we externalize, labeling certain individuals and groups as responsible.

In such a way, hatred begets hatred, and prejudice, prejudice. Hatred and prejudice stem from hearts that are walled, defended, and closed to the world’s pain because they once learned it was unsafe to be open and connected, and because the injustice they experienced was too much to bear. In a cruel twist, it is these very hearts, exiled from their own capacity to be vulnerable and loved, that contribute to the suffering of others. Rather than meeting their hatred with our own, the most radical act is expressing of compassion toward the state of humanity that gives rise to these conditions.

So, then, you want to start a revolution? Liberate your heart from the conditioned prejudices and constraints that obscure you from seeing clearly and perpetuate your own, and others’, suffering. Start by unearthing these conditioned “programs” and recognizing their familial, cultural and historical origins.

When we can courageously face and own these biases and prejudices, not believe in these stories or let them guide our behavior, and speak our truth even though it may require social sacrifice or discomfort in our immediate communities, we come to embody deep and authentic social justice. As each individual node or consciousness module thus awakens or activates, the other nodes in one’s environment are impacted. And in such a way, the world can change, each liberated node activating the next.

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One response to “The Yoga of Social Justice: So You Want to Start a Revolution?”

  1. Plant Based Yogi Avatar
    Plant Based Yogi

    Thank you for writing this piece. Like many, I’ve been contemplating the aftermath of this highly divisive election. Whether we feel shocked, elated, fear, or triumphant…one thing became starkly clear this week: a lot of people want change and were unwilling to accept the way things are. This might actually be a new source of empowerment. We may have different opinions about the path forward, some of us may feel sad and fearful, but we have to ask: what can we do here and now to move toward love and curiosity and help those who are deeply sad, rise up and take action? I am hopeful that the aftermath of this election may inspire a new way of social political activism and progress, one we have not seen since the 60s. But this time we will go further and ensure that we do not leave anyone behind. We are more connected now on a global scale than ever. Perhaps we’re on the brink of a global revolution, beyond politics. As yogis it is our duty to take action, to unite and create a better, more just and peaceful world for all beings.

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Tosca Park Avatar
About the author
Tosca Park, a 200-hour Kripalu Yoga instructor and 500-hour Integrative Yoga Therapist, is a doctoral student in Clinical Health Psychology at the University of Connecticut, where she conducts research on yoga, mindfulness, and health with her mentor, Dr. Crystal Park, and collaborators. Prior to UConn Tosca spent five years as a research intern and project manager with Kripalu’s Institute for Extraordinary Living, an organization devoted to the scientific study of yoga-based curricula. She holds bachelor’s degrees from Reed College and SUNY Empire State College in history and health psychology, respectively, and has more than 2,000 hours of training in yoga, Ayurveda, and the mind-body connection.
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