Anjali Rao’s Yoga as Embodied Resistance is an invitation to pause and look beneath the surface of a practice that, for many, has become synonymous with physical postures and wellness culture. She reminds us that yoga carries with it centuries of history, shaped by social, political, and spiritual forces that are often invisible to modern practitioners.
Drawing on Vedic texts and Brahmanic traditions, Rao traces how hierarchies of class and gender were woven into yoga’s foundations. For instance, the practice was initially reserved for the male Brahmin class, and women and lower castes were excluded. These problematic aspects manifest in modern yoga, with its entanglements with capitalism, commodification, cultural appropriation, and Hindu ethnonationalism.
For those seeking a practice intentionally grounded in justice, spirituality, and authenticity, this book is a must-read. Rao carefully reminds us that asana yoga is just one facet of a much richer, more complex tradition, and invites readers to engage with sociohistorical issues on both personal and intellectual levels.
Yoga as Embodied Resistance: A Feminist Lens on Caste, Gender, and Sacred Resilience in Yoga History inspires yoga practitioners to consider an anti-colonial lens for cultivating compassion, humility, and self-awareness in their relationships with others. The book is at once a scholarly work and a deeply personal journey. I appreciated learning about Bhakti yoga, the spiritual path of devotion and love. Rao invites readers to consider it as a powerful way to reconnect with yoga’s deeper essence.
Editor's Note: This review was originally published in Los Angeles Book Review.
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