Yoga for Social Change: Study & Support Group

Yoga for Social Change is a year-long course of study and a community-building support group. It is a space for practitioners of all persuasions to set aside time each month to reflect on how our practice can be engaged to support healing in the world.

Yoga is a Sanskrit term derived from two words — one means unite and the other means discipline. Far beyond the bizarre and insular ways that it is often presented in yoga studios, yoga is, at its heart and its origin, a praxis and a philosophy for engaging the work of self-integration and relational integration. To do yoga is to develop a discipline of study and practice towards realizing wholeness, not just within yourself but within the entire web of life.

We live in a time when realizing the truth of interconnectedness is critical to survival. How we choose to engage this moment determines not only our own well-being but the well-being of so many. Spiritual practitioners from all traditions have a moral imperative to recognize the intersection between self-care and community care, self-development and eco-social development, self-liberation and collective liberation.

Through monthly reading selections, contemplative reflection, and open discussion, we commit to growing our capacity to listen well, see clearly, understand well, love well, and live more skillfully as mindful stewards, allies, and protectors of our inner spirit, our local communities, and our global family.

What to Expect

🌈 Year-round series begins February 2025 and runs through February 2026

🌈 An introductory session will be held on Monday February 3rd 6pm – 7:30

🌈 Participants receive a monthly newsletter introducing the reading and themes for the coming month

🌈 A shared online space is available for ongoing written reflection

🌈 Monthly Tea & Chat takes place on 2nd Sundays 3:45 – 5pm (participants come and go as they wish —arrive late/leave early as needed)

🌈 Contemplative Speakeasy is held on the final Monday of each month from 6pm – 7:45. A short period of meditation and mind-body practice drawn from the month’s reading selection and/or themes is followed by a period of journaling and an opportunity for mindful group sharing and reflection on the month’s themes. “Speakeasy” in this context means to speak whatever is on your heart.

Cost & Registration

In the interest of accessible community care spaces, this is a donation-based series.

Participants are asked to consider the value of the facilitator’s time and energy (particularly as a working disabled person) in shaping and facilitating a year-long program. Please make a donation that feels like a healthy exchange for your participation according to your own budget.

Those with extra to give are encouraged to consider a greater contribution to offset those who need to respect their limited resources.

Make a donation that covers the entire year or make a quarterly contribution (quarterly reminders will go out with group communications).

Select a suggested donation amount or create a custom donation of any amount by clicking on the box that reads $0.00 and entering a contribution of your choice.

No one will ever be turned away for lack of funds. All are welcome ❤️

Themes & Reading Selections

Many of the monthly reading selections are available to read or print for free online. A handful of reading selections will need to be purchased through your local bookstore. The reading list will be provided in advance as we move through the series. I will include excerpted readings in our monthly mailings for those who want to engage with the themes but may not have the time or funds to read all selected books.

Selected essays from Thich Nhat Hanh, bell hooks, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thomas Merton, and others on Engaged Spirituality

Lama Rod Owens. Love & Rage: The Path of Liberation Through Anger.

Michelle Cassandra Johnson. Skill in Action: Radicalizing Your Yoga Practice to Create a Just World.

Sonya Renee Taylor. The Body is Not an Apology.

Jenne Sluder. Notes on How to Save the World.

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism.

Dr. Larry Ward. America’s Racial Karma.

Howard Thurman. Jesus & The Disinherited.

Joanna Macy & Chris Johnstone. Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in Without Going Crazy.