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Yoga as Embodied Resistance: A Feminist Lens on Caste, Gender, and Sacred Resilience in Yoga History
What does yoga have to do with caste, gender, and power?
This groundbreaking work explores how yoga can be a vital path to resistance, agency, and collective liberation.
Yoga as Embodied Resistance illuminates the essential—but often unseen—relationships between caste and gender in yoga. Bridging scholarship, history, and cultural analysis, yoga educator and practitioner Anjali Rao exposes how caste oppression, patriarchy, colonization, and the right-wing Hindutva movement impact contemporary practice and offers readers radical ways to re-envision a yoga grounded in liberation, inquiry, discernment, and even dissent.
Rao calls upon us to realize the work of co-creating a compassionate and courageous world, uplifting the stories of women and gender-expansive people who confront caste and gender dominance. The stories, or kathas, reflect different parts of yoga history from the Upanishads, the Puranas, and the Bhakti renaissance—and highlight the seismic shifts in consciousness about the potential of spiritual teachings for social change. She
Foundational histories of yoga, caste, and HinduismThe tensions among yoga, nationalism, anti-colonialism, and IndigeneityThe impacts and intersections of yoga, gender, caste, and cultureBrahminnical appropriation and its relationship to eros, spirituality, and loving devotionSanskritization, vernacularization, and the impact of patriarchy on bodily expressionBhakti as a subversive tool of personal agency and anticolonial resistance
With provocative chapters like “Is Yoga Hindu?” and “Ethnonationalism and Meeting the Moment,” Rao’s work is both an invitation and a force of nature that lights up the path of yoga toward brighter, just, and more liberated futures.
This groundbreaking work explores how yoga can be a vital path to resistance, agency, and collective liberation.
Yoga as Embodied Resistance illuminates the essential—but often unseen—relationships between caste and gender in yoga. Bridging scholarship, history, and cultural analysis, yoga educator and practitioner Anjali Rao exposes how caste oppression, patriarchy, colonization, and the right-wing Hindutva movement impact contemporary practice and offers readers radical ways to re-envision a yoga grounded in liberation, inquiry, discernment, and even dissent.
Rao calls upon us to realize the work of co-creating a compassionate and courageous world, uplifting the stories of women and gender-expansive people who confront caste and gender dominance. The stories, or kathas, reflect different parts of yoga history from the Upanishads, the Puranas, and the Bhakti renaissance—and highlight the seismic shifts in consciousness about the potential of spiritual teachings for social change. She
Foundational histories of yoga, caste, and HinduismThe tensions among yoga, nationalism, anti-colonialism, and IndigeneityThe impacts and intersections of yoga, gender, caste, and cultureBrahminnical appropriation and its relationship to eros, spirituality, and loving devotionSanskritization, vernacularization, and the impact of patriarchy on bodily expressionBhakti as a subversive tool of personal agency and anticolonial resistance
With provocative chapters like “Is Yoga Hindu?” and “Ethnonationalism and Meeting the Moment,” Rao’s work is both an invitation and a force of nature that lights up the path of yoga toward brighter, just, and more liberated futures.
224 pages, Paperback
Published October 14, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 30, 2025
In this book, Rao provides a thorough overview of the origins of yoga, Hinduism, and the caste system. Rao applies a critical lens to primary and secondary sources (texts) and examines hierarchies of caste and gender as tools of oppression. Rao argues that there is an amplification of elitist Brahmanical aspects of yoga which is expressed in the ways Hinduism is seen as central to yoga as well as the notion that Hinduism is a monolithic religion. Rao discusses the ways this process of simplification occurred following British colonialism despite there being diversity among Hindu traditions and practices. In addition, the author critiques the view of Sanskrit as the language of yoga due to its limited accessibility to cast-oppressed groups. Thus, Rao asserts that yoga can be weaponized to support ethnonationalist agendas when power dynamics and systems of oppression are ignored. Rao concludes the book by arguing that yoga is not apolitical and offers readers, gurus, and practitioners pathways toward liberation and embodied resistance as acts of collective care.
This book consists of six chapters and each chapter concludes with key takeaways, summaries, and lists of questions as an introspective exercise for readers. The conclusion chapter is followed by a glossary of terms. It is recommended for anyone wanting to be critical of the power dynamics within yoga and certainly the ways modern yoga has become a white dominated space.
Thank you to Netgalley for the digital version of this book in exchange for my honest review.
This book consists of six chapters and each chapter concludes with key takeaways, summaries, and lists of questions as an introspective exercise for readers. The conclusion chapter is followed by a glossary of terms. It is recommended for anyone wanting to be critical of the power dynamics within yoga and certainly the ways modern yoga has become a white dominated space.
Thank you to Netgalley for the digital version of this book in exchange for my honest review.
August 2, 2025
Book Review: Yoga as Embodied Resistance: A Feminist Lens on Caste, Gender, and Sacred Resilience in Yoga History by Anjali Rao
Rating: 4.8/5
A Radical Reimagining of Yoga’s Legacy
Anjali Rao’s Yoga as Embodied Resistance is a seismic intervention in yoga scholarship, dismantling neoliberal and Hindutva narratives to recenter the practice as a tool for collective liberation . Bridging feminist theory, caste analysis, and decolonial praxis, Rao exposes how yoga’s commodification has legitimized oppressive systems—from Brahminical patriarchy to right-wing nationalism—while uplifting obscured histories of resistance by women and gender-expansive practitioners.
I was struck by Rao’s unflinching critique of how spiritual bypassing perpetuates caste and gender violence under the guise of transcendence. Her chapter Is Yoga Hindu?—a provocative interrogation of religious appropriation—left me reeling with its juxtaposition of Bhakti poetry against modern yoga’s sanitized, capitalist iterations. The kathas (stories) of marginalized yoginis, like the Bhakti saints who used devotional dissent to challenge hierarchy, were particularly stirring; their voices, as Rao notes, light up the path toward just futures.
Yet Rao’s brilliance lies in balancing scholarly rigor with visceral urgency. Her analysis of Sanskritization’s erasure of vernacular bodily expression evoked my discomfort witnessing elite studios co-opt mudras while policing “unruly” bodies. The foreword by Thenmozhi Soundararajan (a Dalit activist) amplifies this tension, framing yoga as both a weapon and a sanctuary.
Constructive Criticism
While Rao’s multidisciplinary approach is laudable, the dense theoretical scaffolding (e.g., debates on Upanishadic hermeneutics) may alienate casual readers. A glossary or simplified case studies could enhance accessibility. Additionally, the abolitionist frame promised in promotional materials feels underexplored; concrete examples of how studios might dismantle casteist pedagogy would strengthen the call to action.
Summary Takeaways:
- A gut-punch of a book that exposes yoga’s complicity in oppression—and its radical potential to undo it.
- Rao decolonizes yoga with the precision of a scholar and the fire of a Bhakti poet.
- Essential reading for anyone who’s ever wondered: Who is wellness really for?
- The Silent Spring of yoga studies—a wake-up call to practice with political teeth.
- Merges the heart of A Queer Dharma with the rigor of Caste—a masterpiece of embodied scholarship.
Gratitude
Thank you to Edelweiss and North Atlantic Books for the advance copy. Rao’s work is a compass for those navigating yoga’s contradictions—a reminder that true practice demands both introspection and insurrection.
Final Verdict: A transformative, if occasionally dense, manifesto that redefines yoga as sacred dissent. Required for teachers, scholars, and practitioners committed to justice-rooted practice.
Why Read It? To unlearn the myth of apolitical spirituality—and reclaim yoga as a revolutionary tool.
Rating: 4.8/5
A Radical Reimagining of Yoga’s Legacy
Anjali Rao’s Yoga as Embodied Resistance is a seismic intervention in yoga scholarship, dismantling neoliberal and Hindutva narratives to recenter the practice as a tool for collective liberation . Bridging feminist theory, caste analysis, and decolonial praxis, Rao exposes how yoga’s commodification has legitimized oppressive systems—from Brahminical patriarchy to right-wing nationalism—while uplifting obscured histories of resistance by women and gender-expansive practitioners.
I was struck by Rao’s unflinching critique of how spiritual bypassing perpetuates caste and gender violence under the guise of transcendence. Her chapter Is Yoga Hindu?—a provocative interrogation of religious appropriation—left me reeling with its juxtaposition of Bhakti poetry against modern yoga’s sanitized, capitalist iterations. The kathas (stories) of marginalized yoginis, like the Bhakti saints who used devotional dissent to challenge hierarchy, were particularly stirring; their voices, as Rao notes, light up the path toward just futures.
Yet Rao’s brilliance lies in balancing scholarly rigor with visceral urgency. Her analysis of Sanskritization’s erasure of vernacular bodily expression evoked my discomfort witnessing elite studios co-opt mudras while policing “unruly” bodies. The foreword by Thenmozhi Soundararajan (a Dalit activist) amplifies this tension, framing yoga as both a weapon and a sanctuary.
Constructive Criticism
While Rao’s multidisciplinary approach is laudable, the dense theoretical scaffolding (e.g., debates on Upanishadic hermeneutics) may alienate casual readers. A glossary or simplified case studies could enhance accessibility. Additionally, the abolitionist frame promised in promotional materials feels underexplored; concrete examples of how studios might dismantle casteist pedagogy would strengthen the call to action.
Summary Takeaways:
- A gut-punch of a book that exposes yoga’s complicity in oppression—and its radical potential to undo it.
- Rao decolonizes yoga with the precision of a scholar and the fire of a Bhakti poet.
- Essential reading for anyone who’s ever wondered: Who is wellness really for?
- The Silent Spring of yoga studies—a wake-up call to practice with political teeth.
- Merges the heart of A Queer Dharma with the rigor of Caste—a masterpiece of embodied scholarship.
Gratitude
Thank you to Edelweiss and North Atlantic Books for the advance copy. Rao’s work is a compass for those navigating yoga’s contradictions—a reminder that true practice demands both introspection and insurrection.
Final Verdict: A transformative, if occasionally dense, manifesto that redefines yoga as sacred dissent. Required for teachers, scholars, and practitioners committed to justice-rooted practice.
Why Read It? To unlearn the myth of apolitical spirituality—and reclaim yoga as a revolutionary tool.
November 30, 2025
5 stars, game changing
A much needed antidote to neoliberal capitalist yoga as well as an extremely necessary contextualisation of the texts and concepts through the lens of caste.
Teacher trainings should all include this and teach the sutras and the gita alongisde it.
The first few chapters and conclusion had me more than the middle chapters on the different figures but i will be revisiting and delving back into this for many years to come and excited for impressions to shift!
A much needed antidote to neoliberal capitalist yoga as well as an extremely necessary contextualisation of the texts and concepts through the lens of caste.
Teacher trainings should all include this and teach the sutras and the gita alongisde it.
The first few chapters and conclusion had me more than the middle chapters on the different figures but i will be revisiting and delving back into this for many years to come and excited for impressions to shift!
November 1, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley and North Atlantic Books for the eARC.
5 🌟
A short but concise guide exploring the history of yoga, its true origins, caste systems, religion, and spirituality, amongst many other topics. I was impressed with how informative this novel is, despite its short length. I definitely learned a lot, as much of this was not covered in a YTT-200, but it feels like vital information.
Recommended for any yoga teachers or practitioners.
5 🌟
A short but concise guide exploring the history of yoga, its true origins, caste systems, religion, and spirituality, amongst many other topics. I was impressed with how informative this novel is, despite its short length. I definitely learned a lot, as much of this was not covered in a YTT-200, but it feels like vital information.
Recommended for any yoga teachers or practitioners.
April 23, 2025
An informational packed read that is great for anyone willing to learn about the honest heart of yoga. For breath is the foundation of consent” was a beautiful way to begin a foreword. This is a well researched piece on the historical and political influences of yoga. This really breathes the notion that colonialism has made such practices as Yoga a less flavored version to demean its traditional and historical contexts. Our limitations are set in place by colonialist ideals that denied our ancestral histories and connections.
I love the way they define gender constructs and how this changes the stories. The power of language sets the tone through mythologies, stories, and the fabric of the society. Gender constructs are created through language and lost in complexity in the context of English and American culture. The high-quality breadth of this information is written with a passionate yet eager tone to truly inform people about the essence of yoga.
As someone who has not dived much into yoga this was a highly informative read. I appreciate the form of resistance beginning in education and beginning to learn how to decolonize our mindset further. Thus, understanding that the fabric of our language is an accomplice to the danger of the gender binary and how it misinforms practices and beliefs.
Thank you NetGalley and North Atlantic Books/Penguin Random House for the digital arc in exchange for an honest review!
I love the way they define gender constructs and how this changes the stories. The power of language sets the tone through mythologies, stories, and the fabric of the society. Gender constructs are created through language and lost in complexity in the context of English and American culture. The high-quality breadth of this information is written with a passionate yet eager tone to truly inform people about the essence of yoga.
As someone who has not dived much into yoga this was a highly informative read. I appreciate the form of resistance beginning in education and beginning to learn how to decolonize our mindset further. Thus, understanding that the fabric of our language is an accomplice to the danger of the gender binary and how it misinforms practices and beliefs.
Thank you NetGalley and North Atlantic Books/Penguin Random House for the digital arc in exchange for an honest review!
August 23, 2025
Our vision of yogis is often of god-like, authoritarian teachers who hold the keys to the wisdom of the ages. Unfortunately, this wisdom often comes with a price. We've all seen the stories of nefarious gurus with a knack for identifying easy marks with big pockets. In a world increasingly menaced by war, fascism, income inequality, and high levels of stress, giving one’s body and mind over to a guru can feel like a very welcome dose of Soma.
In Yoga as Embodied Resistance, South Asian-American yoga practitioner Anjali Rao invites practitioners to question how yoga is taught, and practiced, in our studios today. In the process, she tells the story of the evolution of yoga and how it became contained, and appropriated, by Hinduism. Today, there are South Asian castes that are not permitted to participate in practices that were appropriated by Brahmins, the highest class in the Hindu caste system. Rao asks us to question how this mindset has affected our yoga practices, and how it’s mirrored in yoga studios in our cities and towns.
Using biographical sketches of yoga rebels across the centuries, including trailblazing women who defied caste and gender prejudice, Rao shows that although yoga became associated with Hinduism, it drew from indigenous Indian practices; people who migrated to India across the centuries; women and men with varied gender identities; and rebels who fought the Hinduization of South Asian culture—only to be subsumed by the Brahmin class who appropriated centuries of physical, spiritual, and oral teachings and claimed them as their own “pure” teachings. It’s a story as old as time, and one told across continents. Rao asks us to be brave and imagine a practice that is inclusive and expansive—like the origins of yoga itself.
Although Yoga as Embodied Resistance is heavy on history and light on ways in which white, western yogis can focus less on the purity and exclusiveness of their practices and more on understanding that yoga is an evolving organism, it’s a book that new and old yogis will return to again and again. This timely book invites us to question our assumptions, our hierarchical thinking, our need to feel special and better than, and to join the brave yoga rebels who forged the practice we continue to evolve today. I’m in.
Many, many thanks to NetGalley for an ARC.
In Yoga as Embodied Resistance, South Asian-American yoga practitioner Anjali Rao invites practitioners to question how yoga is taught, and practiced, in our studios today. In the process, she tells the story of the evolution of yoga and how it became contained, and appropriated, by Hinduism. Today, there are South Asian castes that are not permitted to participate in practices that were appropriated by Brahmins, the highest class in the Hindu caste system. Rao asks us to question how this mindset has affected our yoga practices, and how it’s mirrored in yoga studios in our cities and towns.
Using biographical sketches of yoga rebels across the centuries, including trailblazing women who defied caste and gender prejudice, Rao shows that although yoga became associated with Hinduism, it drew from indigenous Indian practices; people who migrated to India across the centuries; women and men with varied gender identities; and rebels who fought the Hinduization of South Asian culture—only to be subsumed by the Brahmin class who appropriated centuries of physical, spiritual, and oral teachings and claimed them as their own “pure” teachings. It’s a story as old as time, and one told across continents. Rao asks us to be brave and imagine a practice that is inclusive and expansive—like the origins of yoga itself.
Although Yoga as Embodied Resistance is heavy on history and light on ways in which white, western yogis can focus less on the purity and exclusiveness of their practices and more on understanding that yoga is an evolving organism, it’s a book that new and old yogis will return to again and again. This timely book invites us to question our assumptions, our hierarchical thinking, our need to feel special and better than, and to join the brave yoga rebels who forged the practice we continue to evolve today. I’m in.
Many, many thanks to NetGalley for an ARC.
December 30, 2025
As a recent graduate of a yoga teacher training program, I am so so glad this book came out just as I was finishing my program. I was lucky enough to be a part of a teacher training program that emphasized the role of social justice in yoga practice as well as exploring appreciation versus appropriation. But I always felt like something was missing from those discussions, specifically critical discussions about the role of caste and gender in the roots and development of modern yoga. Well, this book hit the nail on the head of those internal questions I had! Rao's writing is thoughtful and clear and I really appreciated how she told stories of different people in South Asian history and mythology to emphasize how yoga has been changed by the development of the caste system, exclusion of people of different genders, colonialism and capitalism, and Brahmanism/Sanskritization throughout South Asian history. The historical lens depicting the heterogeneity and mixing of different religions, cultures, and beliefs was eye opening for me and really showed me that the practice and development of yoga is not as monolithic as we may believe it to be. This book is thought-provoking and really got me thinking about the multiplicities that I hold as a caste-privileged person, but also as a woman of color in a White dominated yoga space in the West. This book is relatively short, but quite dense. I think it might be challenging for a beginner practitioner to dive into without some prior knowledge of traditionally-taught yogic texts, the caste system, and South Asian history, culture, religions, and belief systems. However, I do think this would be a valuable text for all teacher training programs to incorporate into their syllabi and for all current yoga teachers to read.
November 7, 2025
As a South Asian Yoga Educator that grew up in the U.S., I have been craving a deep dive into the conversations that Anjali Rao invites us to explore.
Yoga as Embodied Resistance is a tapestry of yoga history and stories through a critical lens. In the western world, yoga scholars and activists have begun to question the appropriation of yoga as a watered down physical activity. In the east, yoga has become a political propaganda by its association with a national Hindu movement. Anjali is asking us to look more critically at the origins of yoga philosophy and its relationship to the rise of Hinduism to ask who is left out? If yoga is a path to connection and liberation, why does it manifest as a tool of oppression? Caste and gender bias have historically excluded many along the path of yoga.
The book then moves toward the untold stories of Sulabha, a woman ascetic who uses the notions of Atma, the self, to assert gender is fluid. We see Radha and the practice of bhakti through a new lens and Mahadevi sheds light on the radical practice of embodiment. These stories passed down by oral traditions are the stories we don’t learn through our yoga education in the east or the west! Anjali opens up a world of discovery where we hold space for complexity, critical thinking and embody resisting norms that have shackled and excluded many along the path to liberation.
Yoga as Embodied Resistance is a tapestry of yoga history and stories through a critical lens. In the western world, yoga scholars and activists have begun to question the appropriation of yoga as a watered down physical activity. In the east, yoga has become a political propaganda by its association with a national Hindu movement. Anjali is asking us to look more critically at the origins of yoga philosophy and its relationship to the rise of Hinduism to ask who is left out? If yoga is a path to connection and liberation, why does it manifest as a tool of oppression? Caste and gender bias have historically excluded many along the path of yoga.
The book then moves toward the untold stories of Sulabha, a woman ascetic who uses the notions of Atma, the self, to assert gender is fluid. We see Radha and the practice of bhakti through a new lens and Mahadevi sheds light on the radical practice of embodiment. These stories passed down by oral traditions are the stories we don’t learn through our yoga education in the east or the west! Anjali opens up a world of discovery where we hold space for complexity, critical thinking and embody resisting norms that have shackled and excluded many along the path to liberation.
October 18, 2025
A fantastic read, giving insight into a worldi didn’t know much about. If you think it’s purely for Yoga-academics/practitioners, it isn’t. I was wondering the same when I read it - whether I would be able to follow it, and would it hold my interest.
I was extremely pleasantly surprised to find it did, and more; it is a fascinating foray into many aspects beyond what the title suggests - history of the development (of yoga, but also many other aspects of culture in the Indian subcontinent), feminism, how patriarchy has all but subdued the voices of women scholars, stories of four heroines from diverse eras/backgrounds who shone & broke barriers despite this - two very well-known, two others not as much , all equally fascinating etc..
All in all, I found it to be very interesting and engaging, and in my book, was definitely a page-turner (I was surprised too). Get your copy today; you’ll thank me later.
I was extremely pleasantly surprised to find it did, and more; it is a fascinating foray into many aspects beyond what the title suggests - history of the development (of yoga, but also many other aspects of culture in the Indian subcontinent), feminism, how patriarchy has all but subdued the voices of women scholars, stories of four heroines from diverse eras/backgrounds who shone & broke barriers despite this - two very well-known, two others not as much , all equally fascinating etc..
All in all, I found it to be very interesting and engaging, and in my book, was definitely a page-turner (I was surprised too). Get your copy today; you’ll thank me later.
October 5, 2025
thank you to netgalley and north atlantic books for providing me for an epup advance copy to read and provide my honest feedback.
simply put i really enjoyed this book. it’s absolutely rich with information and stories. while yoga becomes a much more commodified, almost separate version from its source origin, i found it refreshing to explore yoga through marginalized groups and the core of the practice. this was great!
simply put i really enjoyed this book. it’s absolutely rich with information and stories. while yoga becomes a much more commodified, almost separate version from its source origin, i found it refreshing to explore yoga through marginalized groups and the core of the practice. this was great!
November 13, 2025
One of the best books I’ve ever read. Beautifully written and covers the important issues such as caste & gender in context of yoga history which so vital to understand. A must read for all folks who want to unlearn & relearn. Definitely a must book for all people looking to facilitate yoga spaces.
I loved every page. Thank you!
I loved every page. Thank you!
December 10, 2025
This gets better as it goes on with the later chapters telling stories rather than hectoring in sanctimonious academese. As much as it discusses identity, it doesn't get into how dissolving it works in the context of the historical categories (namely caste) which it is keen to preserve for upliftment of the downtrodden and troddening the historically advantaged.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews