If you’re ready to apply yoga philosophy to your own life—or teach it with clarity and feeling—my classes and workshops create space to sharpen your thinking, steady your inner life, and connect your practice to what matters now.
Our next FREE Community Conversation
|
Greetings Reader - Our free monthly series, Community Conversations, continues next week. This month, we're going to explore questions around the phenomenon of Identity Fusion. Identity fusion is a psychological construct where an individual’s personal identity merges with a social identity, such as a group, nation, or team, causing them to define themselves as being non-different from the group and think of the group as being non-different from themselves. Fused individuals maintain their personal identity while feeling so intensely aligned with the collective that an attack on the group feels like a personal attack, often leading to extreme pro-group behaviors, including self-sacrifice or defense of things they would find indefensible in other people or groups. This month, we’ll explore questions about identity fusion as it shows up in cults and culture, politics and warfare, and contemporary yoga spaces. What’s the difference between identity fusion and social identity or between identity fusion and familial loyalty? What are some examples of identity fusion and its impacts? How does the wellness industry leverage identity fusion to sell products? What role does identity fusion play in difficult discussions about Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, and violence in the Middle East? How does both left and right-wing media use identity fusion to engage and motivate their audiences? 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, April 8th TOPIC: "IDENTITY FUSION" 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.: In the D.C. area? Join me this Sunday, May 10th at 5:45 pm for Yoga Nidra at Luneh Yoga. I will be teaching a 60-minute in-person movement and guided meditation class at 5:45 pm. Enrollment is $30 — CLICK HERE to register. Luneh Yoga is located at 2000 S Street in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. |
Hari-kirtana das
If you’re ready to apply yoga philosophy to your own life—or teach it with clarity and feeling—my classes and workshops create space to sharpen your thinking, steady your inner life, and connect your practice to what matters now.
Hi Reader, Do any of these sound like you? → "I want to use Sanskrit in my classes but I'm worried that I won't pronounce it right." → "I'm afraid that I don't know enough about what the words mean to answer questions that my students might have about them." → "I don't know if it's appropriate for me to use Sanskrit in my classes because I'm not Indian and I don't want to offend anyone." → "I'm concerned that using Sanskrit terminology might make yoga sound like a religion or maybe even put...
Greetings Reader, There was barely enough room in the jumbled-up mess of an office to fit the desk, the one adult behind it, and the three pre-teens who were sitting in front of it. The furnace-level setting on the electric radiator’s thermostat approximated the sensation of sitting inside a combustion chamber. The smoke from the Rabbi’s cigar displaced every molecule of oxygen in the room and conspired with the radiator to remove every last drop of moisture from my eyeballs. But enduring the...
Greetings Reader, When I was a little kid, my parents took me on a trip from our home on Long Island to Washington, D.C. We went on tours of the Capital Building, the Treasury Building, probably a few other buildings, and the major monuments. I suppose it was all meant to be a civics lesson. When we got to the Washington Monument, I wanted it to be an endurance test: I suggested that we walk up the 550-feet worth of stairs to the observation deck rather than take the elevator. My parents, of...