Episode: 7

How yoga teachers can appreciate yoga with Jesal Parikh

Welcome to Episode 7 of Let’s Talk Yoga!

Today’s episode is an informative, spontaneous discussion with Jesal Parikh from the Yoga is Dead Podcast. We chat about ways in which yoga teachers can appreciate yoga more & do better. We also have a serious discussion about what’s at stake and where the yoga industry is headed in the future. Jesal gives us some tips on how to do better as yoga teachers, especially after you’ve been properly educated. If you’re a yoga teacher or aspiring to be one, this episode is a really valuable listen.

Jesal’s first exposure to yoga as a kid was in Hindu camp where she experienced yoga as a practice and not as a culture. She found herself not resonating but she did yoga again when she worked at corporate jobs. Since then, she kept coming back. She had a lot of one-on-one classes before the pandemic hit but eventually gave them up as she moved from New York City to the suburbs. She now teaches online.

She co-created the Yoga is Dead podcast with Tejal Patel. She also serves as Co-Director of Yoga Teachers of Color, a grassroots movement that celebrates diversity in yoga and advocates for inclusivity, equity, and representation in wellness.

She is an industry leader, disruptor and a champion when it comes to fighting cultural appropriation of yoga.

Episode Highlights

  • Jesal talks about disrupting the yoga industry
  • Who gets to decide who becomes a yoga teacher
  • The need to change the yoga industry
  • Yoga teachers: Music on or music off
  • Cultural appropriation vs. appreciation
  • What has been appropriated in yoga
  • The easy first step for a yoga teacher to start appreciating yoga
  • Jesal’s advice on rebranding
  • The importance of learning the culture, context, and history of yoga
  • Dāna and seva yoga practices
  • Jesal talks about building financial resources and equity into offerings
  • Jesal as an anatomy geek

Resources and links mentioned

Connect with Jesal Parikh:

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Featured Guests

Jesal Parikh

Jesal (she/her/hers) is a yoga teacher, movement educator, podcaster, author, and disrupter working on creative solutions for equity in yoga. She is one of the co-hosts of the Yoga is Dead podcast and is the Co-Director of Yoga Teachers of Color. Jesal’s mission is to uplift those of us who are feeling isolated and marginalized by the yoga industry.

 


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