07/25/2025
Lesson 7 (of 10) - there is no hierarchy in yoga
*this is a bit of a longer one because it’s deep and an integral part as to why The Space was born 🪷🌵
Over the past decade of teaching and practicing yoga, I’ve had the privilege of stepping into so many different studios and sanghas (communities) - some that felt like warm, open circles, and others where a quiet undercurrent of hierarchy or cliquishness lingered in the air. 🫣
🇮🇳Traveling and practicing in India brought this lesson into even sharper focus. I saw the caste system - not as something from the history books, but alive and painfully present. Brahmans charging money to tourists hungry for “authentic” spirituality, while just outside temple walls, people in poverty were left without support from community or government. The contrast was heartbreaking and illuminating: when power, privilege, or profit creep into spiritual practice, something sacred is lost.
Yoga, in its truest form, is never about who is more enlightened, bendy, or devoted. It’s not about who knows the most Sanskrit or chants the loudest - and it’s definitely not about what brand of pants you wear or how sweaty you can get.📿
It’s about connection - to ourselves, to each other, and to the world around us. In my experience and perception, the yoga industry has moved far away from this essence… most ‘yoga’ shouldn’t even be called yoga.✨
The classes and communities that truly nourish the heart are the ones that dissolve these imagined walls - where everyone is seen, included, and valued just as they are. Where teachers sit among students, and students lift each other up. ⬆️
🪜Because no one pose, style, or teacher is better than another. And there’s no ladder to climb when we’re all already whole.
This is what I hope my students feel in every class: that yoga is a circle, not a pyramid. And there is always space for you here. 🏜️
Tell us what you look for in a yoga studio in the comments below! ⬇️🙏🏽
