Reclaiming Tantra: Decolonizing Yoga & Spiritual Practices

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Join Banyen Books host Ross McKeachie in conversation with his teacher, Yogacharini Maitreyi. They will be exploring nuances around the importance of reclaiming Tantra - India’s science of liberation. Maitreyi will also share some personal stories about how she has applied Tantric principles in her own life.
Along with an in-depth and illuminating discussion, Yogacharini Maitreyi will guide the audience through some simple practices which facilitate the direct experience of the difference between an Indigenous approach and an industrialized or colonial approach. We will also see the difference between an exercise approach and an awareness based approach to yogic practices.
Tantra moves us from suffering to savouring life, despite circumstances. The colonization of spiritual traditions and practices has robbed them of their essence. This can be seen across the world. Yoga and Tantra have their roots in an Indigenous way of life.
This paradigm or framework is needed to fully imbibe the spiritual practices. When an artificial industrial construct is transposed onto these sciences, they no longer serve the individual, the collective, or spirit. They just become one more cog in the hamster wheel.
Yogacharini Maitreyi is an international master teacher, practical mystic and founder of Arkaya Awareness Center and Arkaya Foundation. For over 26 years she has been dedicated to sharing and teaching a full-spectrum, decolonized approach to Yoga, mindfulness, traditional Tantra and expansive life principles. Her grandfather was her first guru (Lakshmi Narasimha lineage) and then she studied and served in the Shivananda and Ananda ashram for many years.
Since 1997 in India, Maitreyi has been given titles: Yoga Chemmal (expert), Yoga Shiromani (gem), and Yoga Acharini (guide). In 2007 she was one of the youngest to be invited to the Advisory Board of the World Yoga Council, in Europe. She has shared the deeper dimensions of yoga, self management and sattvic tantra worldwide. This includes seeing and shifting within ourselves, deep rooted conditioning that is divisive, exploitative, colonial or disrespectful.
Maitreyi facilitates a variety of online programs through the Arkaya school, including the 500-hour Self-Awareness Yoga & Tantra Teacher Training and a weekly drop in Community Class and Satsangh. All are welcome. To learn more, go to www.arkaya.net/...
Maitreyi has over 100 published articles and has trained over 60 corporations in enlightened leadership, stress and self management. She runs a foundation in India for children living in the slums. She enjoys Ayurvedic food, being close to nature and lives in Vancouver now.
For more on her go to: www.arkaya.net/...
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Interview Host: Ross McKeachie
Event Organizer & Podcast Producer: Jacob Steele