The Yogic Studies Podcast

19. Theodora Wildcroft | Post-Lineage Yoga: From Guru to #MeToo

In this episode Dr. Theodora Wildcroft discusses her new book, Post-Lineage Yoga: From Guru to #MeToo (2020). We explore the historical shifts that have been reshaping yoga in the west: from the ways schools of yoga have been forced to pivot after the deaths or public denouncements of their charismatic founder-gurus, to the need of modern practitioners to seek out eclectic sources in their education beyond a single voice of authority, and how both recent historical research and social movements have undermined old systems of power in the yoga world, leaving us to wonder if we are indeed in a "post-lineage" era of yoga?

Speaker Bio

Theodora Wildcroft is a teacher, trainer, writer and scholar, and the author of the new book Post-Lineage Yoga: From Guru to #MeToo (Equinox 2020). Her research considers the democratization of yoga post-lineage, and the many different ways yoga communities are responding to concerns about safety in practice. She is at the forefront of the movement for trauma sensitivity, diversity and inclusion.

In 2019, she completed her PhD with the Open University in Religious Studies, with the thesis title: Patterns of authority and practice relationships in ‘post-lineage yoga.’ An accomplished writer with two decades of experience in group facilitation, she not only delivers compelling lectures and inspiring writing, but holds careful and thoughtful spaces for groups and individuals to deepen their knowledge, share experiences and acquire new skills. 

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