Hari-kirtana is an author, mentor, and yoga teacher who shares his knowledge and experience of how the yoga wisdom tradition can guide us toward meaningful and transformative spiritual experiences.
Our next FREE Community Conversation
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Greetings Reader - Our free monthly series, Community Conversations, continues next week. This month, we're going to explore the concept of upādhi — temporary material identities — in the context of marginalized social experiences. The liberal conception of identity gives names to marginalized groups of people —BIPOC, queer, Trans, neurodivergent, Autistic, disabled, etc. — and encourages marginalized people to find of wholeness and belonging by stepping into such identities. The yogic conception of identity gives a name to all such identities: upādhi — the illusory identity that covers the true spiritual self with a mind and body made of matter — and encourages us to find completeness and connection by stepping out of such identities. Can both of these views coexist harmoniously in bhakti-yoga? Does yoga philosophy invalidate our lived experience and leave it at that or is there a constructive relationship to be found between our temporary material identities and our eternal spiritual identities? What impact does yoga philosophy’s conception of misidentification of the self as the not-self have on marginalized communities? How should yoga teachers and practitioners support marginalized people in their communities within the framework of traditional yoga wisdom? We'll explore these and other related questions in our next COMMUNITY CONVERSATION a free monthly study group Live via Zoom @ 12:00 pm Eastern Time NEXT CONVERSATION: Wednesday, November 12th, 2025 TOPIC: "YOGA WISDOM AND OUR CONCEPTION OF IDENTITY" Registration is free – CLICK HERE to get updates and the Zoom link! This conversation will be recorded - if you can't join us live you can watch the replay anytime. Community Conversation is a FREE monthly online gathering where we connect spiritual ideas to real life by talking about personal challenges we all share, difficult issues we all face, and how the ancient spiritual teachings of the yoga tradition offer practical guidance for navigating our way through life in the modern world. If you haven't registered for our free monthly Community Conversations yet, CLICK HERE to get updates and the Zoom link for the live discussion, and (usually) the recording link so you can listen to the replay if you can't join us live. If you're already registered, you'll get reminder emails with the Zoom link next week and receive a link to the recording soon after the live conversation. Hoping to see you next Wednesday, - Hari-k P.S.: My next in-person Yoga Nidra class at Luneh Yoga will be this Sunday evening at 5:45 pm. If you're in the D.C. area, please join us for 60-minutes of just enough movement to create some space and comfort in your body followed by a long, restorative guided meditation. CLICK HERE for complete information and registration. |
Hari-kirtana das
Hari-kirtana is an author, mentor, and yoga teacher who shares his knowledge and experience of how the yoga wisdom tradition can guide us toward meaningful and transformative spiritual experiences.
Greetings Reader, Here it comes: the biggest shopping day of the year! The day after American Thanksgiving, otherwise known as “Black Friday.” I prefer to call Black Friday by its other name: Buy Nothing Day. Which means that, for me, it’s also Sell Nothing Day. So don’t buy anything I’m selling this Friday. Every other day, every other day, every other day of the week is fine, yeah. And if you were thinking about getting on the boycott train, Buy Nothing Day is a great day to cancel your...
Greetings Reader, If you’ve been feeling like the world is moving faster than ever, you’re not alone. When life feels uncertain, the teachings of yoga philosophy offer something steady—timeless ideas that help us see clearly and respond wisely, no matter what’s happening around us. That’s exactly what we’ll explore in Yoga Philosophy Essentials – 3 Key Teachings for the Here and Now. In this 90-minute live workshop, we’ll focus on three foundational ideas that reveal how yoga helps us...
Greetings Reader, It was very nice to receive so many replies to last week’s email. Reading about the many songs that inspire happiness in so many of you made me . . . happy. I’m also glad so many readers took me up on the challenge to find all of the song titles and references I inserted into my email. The funniest thing was that someone (thank you, Cynthia) found a couple of song titles that I didn’t even intend to include! They were “I Want to be Happy” from the musical No, No, Nanette...