The Yogic Studies Podcast
In-depth explorations into the traditions of Yoga, Sanskrit, Indian Philosophy, and South Asian Religions. Featuring candid conversations and interviews with scholars and educators from around the world. Hosted by Seth Powell.
The Yogic Studies Podcast
55. Anjali Rao | Yoga as Embodied Resistance
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In this episode, we speak with Anjali Rao, yoga educator, practitioner, and doctoral candidate at the California Institute of Integral Studies, about her recently published book, Yoga as Embodied Resistance: A Feminist Lens on Caste, Gender, and Sacred Resilience in Yoga History (North Atlantic Books, 2025).
The conversation ranges widely, exploring the entangled histories of yoga, caste, and gender; the contested question of whether yoga is "Hindu"; and the rich "heterodox" traditions—Bhakti, Tantra, and Śramanic renunciation—that have always existed in productive tension with Brahmanical orthodoxy. We also discuss Rao's methodology as a practitioner-scholar, her use of feminist historiography and the kathā storytelling tradition, her own complex relationship to Sanskrit and to the Hindu tradition in which she was raised, and her journey to becoming a scholar and author of yoga and feminist history.
Bio
Anjali Rao brings an intersectional and decolonial feminist lens to the study of philosophy and religion integrating storytelling, art and poetry. Deeply influenced by her dance training, her work emphasizes an embodied approach and explores how spirituality, power and politics intersect. Her first book, Yoga As Embodied Resistance: A Feminist Lens in Caste, Gender And Sacred Resilience in Yoga History, North Atlantic Books was named as one of the 10 most inspiring, insightful and seriously worthwhile books of 2025 by Yoga Journal and "a scholarly work and a deeply personal journey" by L.A Book Review.
She is on the faculty of multiple yoga education programs. She considers herself a first, foremost and forever a student and is currently pursuing a PhD in Philosophy and Religion (Women's Spirituality) at the California Institute of Integral Studies.
Links