Why is it worth studying the role women, specifically, have played in yoga?

It is clear that the majority of practitioners in the modern, global yoga industry are women – mostly white, able bodied, thin women – but this has not always been the case. It is important to ask, therefore, how have women been involved in yoga, historically speaking, and what sources reveal their roles? How and why has their place in the practice and dissemination of yoga changed, from the pre-modern to the modern?

Are we - you and I - women who do yoga or can we call ourselves yoginīs? And if not, why not? How can we honour the roots of yoga whilst practicing in the modern world?

These four women - starting top left (clockwise): Yogini Sunita, Geeta Iyengar, Madame Blavatsky, Indra Devi - all helped shape modern yoga. Have you heard of them? This International Women’s Day, let’s celebrate and find out more.

Yoga is often talked about as being good for one’s well being but should we defend it, or its teachers, over the practitioners who have been traumatised by it? And when I say ‘traumatised’ I don’t mean that time you stayed in chair pose for too long whilst your teacher counted to 5 - I’m talking about serious sexual assault.

This is a rhetorical question but for anyone who’s not clear, the answer is: no, we should not.