We are living in times of increasing and extreme polarization, crisis and genocide against humanity and the planet. It’s easy to react to the suffering from hate, division, fear, avoidance, isolation, numbness or other fight, flight, freeze, appease responses.
We can fortify our resilience through deepening our connection to sacredness.
Through contemplation, practice and embodiment of mystical traditions of South Asia, we can counter painful ideologies of separation.
In this space, we will call in Yoga, poetry, expressive healing arts and contemplative practice to engage with the south asian mystical traditions of Bhakti Yoga, Sufism and Sikhism that hold steadfast an underlying universal principle of LOVE.
EMBODYING BHAKTI:
The Yoga of Love
space to contemplate and practice South Asian mysticism in community with women and non-binary activists
Mondays from June 3rd - August 19th
5pm PT - 6:30pm PT / 6pm - 7:30pm MT via Zoom
THIS is FOR YOU IF you…
Identify as a women and non-binary activist who is willing to center BIPOC lineage practice and experience
Feel burned out and disconnected, are wanting to cultivate or deepen your relationship to Spirit, the divine or what is sacred
Need spiritual connection, grounding and play
SOME OF WHAT YOU’LL RECEIVE…
A container to practice and embody another way beyond our automatic threat responses, and to regulate our individual and collective nervous systems
Education in indigenous practices and models for generating the energy of love in our collective web
A community of like-hearted people who want to be Lovers of the World
The Bhakti tradition was…
a revolutionary movement of reclaiming Spirit from Brahminical gatekeepers. It was a movement by women, Dalits, Shudras, and indigenous peoples, the disabled, trans peoples and all those who were and continue to be excluded and oppressed by dominant forces in society that hoard power and privilege.
The Bhakti movement was beautifully and raucously audacious
in its declaration that God belongs to everyone and everyone
belongs to God.
We all deserve to dance, play, tumble, melt in and with the Divine Essence. Barriers are social constructs. The Divine pays no heed to the walls we build to keep people apart.
We use the word “God” in some of these titles and through this series which is meant to be shorthand for the universal essence that we each can have an intimate, personal relationship TO. This space is inclusive to any other words that resonate best with you.
attend one, four, eight or all 12 sessions
SESSION 1:
What is Bhakti?
Monday, June 3rd
We will set our space and share:
What is Bhakti?
What is Ishtadeva?
SESSION 2:
The Divine Love Relationship
Monday, June 10th
We will reflect on the Divine through relationships of our choice like Divine Mother, Father, Child, Lover, etc.
Muse: Hafiz
Session 3:
How Does the Divine Speak to You?
Monday, June 17th
We will acknowledge and share stories about divine signs and synchronicities
SESSION 4: Raising Our Voices to Sing to the Sacred
Monday, June 24th
We will engage in Kirtan practice
Muse: Parvathy Baul
SESSION 5: Dancing Our Love to Life
Monday, July 1st
We will explore devotion through the movement of our bodies
Muses: Mirabai and Sufism
SESSION 6: Breaking the Rules and Casting Off Shame
Monday, July 8th
We will reflect on how Bhakti subverts casteism
Muse: Kannappa Nayanar
SESSION 7: God in the Grind
Monday, July 15th
We will recognize how the divine accompanies us in our daily grinds
Muse: Janabai
SESSION 8: Nekkid for God- Vulnerability as Sacred Practice
Monday, July 22nd
We will dance and move,
and remove layers by choice
Muse: Akka Mahadevi
SESSION 9: Rejecting Labels and Breaking Barriers
Monday, July 29th
We will name religion hypocrisy, contemplate limiting labels and barriers between us
Muse: Kabir
SESSION 10: Polyamory with the Gods and Spiritual Inclusion
Monday, August 5th
We will explore how we integrate different spiritual and religious traditions that allows us to embody love
Muse: Guru Nanak
SESSION 11: Imagining a World of Divine Love
Monday, August 12th
We will imagine, dream and share our visions for a world of Divine Love
Muse: Ravidas
SESSION 12: Integration
Monday, August 19th
We will commit to carrying these experiences forward, and practicing love in action
your facilitators
Lakshmi Nair (she/her)
Hello, my name is Lakshmi Nair (she/her) . I have been teaching yoga for 20 years in the lands of the Nuché, Tsisistas, and Hinono’ei peoples known colonially as Denver, CO. I have been offering a yoga immersion/teacher training program for BIPOC since 2014 and in 2018, i co-founded Satya Yoga Cooperative, a yoga co-op by and for BIPOC healing.
I like to say that yoga saved my life. When I say that, honestly I mean it was Bhakti Yoga…an intimate personal experience with the Divine that lifted me out of an abusive marriage over 20 years ago. Nurturing that relationship has been at the center of my life ever since. I believe we are in a time when we need to collectively immerse in and call forth Radical Love. I look forward to supporting you in your own unique and intimate relationship with the Divine. .
Chetna Mehta (she/they)
Peace! It’s Chetna. I’m so grateful to be able to co-host this space with my Yoga teacher and dear friend, Lakshmi, whom I trained with via Satya Yoga in 2020.
I’ve been practicing yoga for the last 15 years, teaching yoga for the last 4 years, and facilitating group process for 7 years. I am a student alongside you and eager to amplify Bhakti with the wisdom, graceful accountability and embodied exploration that this series offers.
If you’re here as someone who is willing to do the work to nurture and open your heart (and our hearts together), I am so grateful for you and hope to share space with you soon!
INVESTMENT options
drop-in (1 SESSION): $45
(available for sessions 1-11 only)
4 SESSION-Package: $170
($10 savings)
8 SESSION-package: $325
($35 savings)
Full series (12 SESSION): $450
($90 savings)
This fee structure is set up to create a sustainable work model based in principles of resource redistribution and financial accessibility; covering the curriculum development,
class preparation, communication/administration, and facilitation of sessions.