13/02/2026
At Satyam we are carrying the visions and seeds of a decolonised world...
We recently saw a post on Instagram by author Matthew Remski, which was talking about yoga studios, and how many of them are moving down the fascism pipeline (yes, that's right folks, even Hi**er was a fan of yoga). Matthew identifies a number of 'red flags' to look out for in a yoga studio, that may indicate an inclination to fascist features. He lists things like, studios exhibiting photos of gurus or lineage leaders, who we now know were involved in fraud or sexual assault (meaning that studios haven't grappled with the shame and responsibility that comes with dealing with all of that kind of stuff); or spaces running 'divine feminine or divine masculine workshops' in ways that fall back on gender essentialism that endangers q***r or trans folks; or, places that celebrate International Yoga Day, without the awareness of the ethno-nationalist context in India, within which this event came about.
He then goes on to describe yoga spaces that have 'low fascist vulnerability' or are anti-fascist, in other words, 'green light spaces', that have:
~ Women of colour in charge
~ Sliding fees
~ Gender neutral toilets
~ Consent cards for physical touch and adjustments
~ Other ways in which the space is used, e.g for community and activist meetings, etc
Satyam ticks all of the above boxes! So we are proud to say that we are officially a centre of 'low fascist vulnerability' !!! Phew! ..
For those of you new to yoga, or new to these ideas, you might be wondering, 'why can't my yoga practice just be free of all of this political stuff?'. And that would be a very good question.
Is there a binary between Spiritual versus Political? Or Personal versus Political? Does our yoga practice or yoga class exist in a nice little bubble? Do we and our actions make a difference? Should they? Traditionally in India, yoga has not existed as separate from its social and political context. Since ancient times, there have been householder traditions, where spiritual practitioners continue with normal life and responsibility of family, work and community roles. And even in the renunciate traditions, where sadhus and monks dedicate their life solely to their practice, these roles have existed within a cultural context that served a purpose for the whole community.
Although our yoga class might feel like a nice little bubble (isn't that one of the nourishing beauties of why we do it?!), we would say that the nourishment it gives us is the perfect fuel to lead to action in the world.
The question then is, how much do we engage? How much do we use our practice to support the process of transformation that our society and this world so desperately needs?
Are we an upstander, or are we a bystander? Do we speak up about injustice and harm? Do we take some kind of action to intervene, create awareness, create change? Can we align our actions with our values? Can we live 'in purpose'?
As a yoga organisation, we endeavour to call out harm when we see it; and to act, to stand up for the oppressed peoples of this world, to use our voice, our platform, to create awareness and be part of the change that we wish to see. Change is coming. It's happening now. It feels slightly unstable right now (right?!!), whilst old systems collapse and new systems are birthed. Our yoga practice, and our yoga communities, can form part of the nourishment that we need to navigate our lives and to birth a new world...
