How women transformed yoga and found our voices in ancient wisdom
One year ago, on July 20th, 2024, I stepped into something that terrified and thrilled me in equal measure. Together with my dear colleague Nischala Joy Devi, I began recording “A Woman’s Gita Podcast” – our ongoing exploration of the Bhagavad Gita through feminine eyes. We chose that date intentionally, honoring the 176th anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention, the first gathering in the United States dedicated to women’s rights.
As yoga teachers, we carry forward ancient wisdom traditions, but how often do we pause to consider whose voices have shaped the interpretations we’ve inherited? How often do we ask ourselves: where are the women’s perspectives in these sacred texts that form the foundation of our practice?
And here’s what’s remarkable: we’ve already achieved something extraordinary. Women now make up at least 80% of the international yoga community. Think about that for a moment. An ancient spiritual tradition that once restricted women from advanced teachings has become a space where we are not just participants, but leaders, innovators, and wisdom-keepers.
An Adaptable Tradition
Women stand at the crossroads of yoga’s ancient roots and the modern world, and what we’ve accomplished is remarkable. The fact that yoga has flourished globally—spreading across continents, touching millions of lives – speaks to something profound about both the tradition itself and the women who have carried it forward. But as we celebrate this success, I find myself holding a deeper concern: can this ancient practice survive capitalism with its depth and existentialism intact?
We’ve taken a practice that was once the domain of male renunciants in caves and mountain retreats and made it accessible to busy mothers, working professionals, students, and seekers of all backgrounds. We’ve created studios, teacher trainings, retreat centers, and online communities. We’ve written books, developed curricula, and yes – we’ve begun to offer our own interpretations of the sacred texts that underpin this tradition.
This transformation has happened largely through women’s hands, and there’s something beautiful about that. Where other ancient practices have remained rigid or faded into obscurity, yoga has proven remarkably adaptable. But adaptability is both yoga’s gift and its vulnerability. As we navigate the demands of the marketplace, we must ask ourselves: are we preserving the essence of what makes this practice transformational, or are we in danger of losing its soul to commercial success?
The Courage to Speak – And the Right to Lead
But even with this success, even with our 80% majority, I’ll be honest with you, sisters. This year has been one of the most challenging of my spiritual journey – not because the work itself is difficult, but because stepping outside the safe, nurturing walls of the ashram where I spent years as a monastic has required a kind of courage I wasn’t sure I possessed.
In the ashram, my voice was welcomed, my insights valued. But sharing that same voice in the wider world – on social media, through podcasts, in public forums – has felt like standing naked in a storm. There’s something about claiming authority as a woman in spiritual interpretation that still feels radical, even revolutionary. And perhaps it is.
Nischaladevi has been my anchor in this work, encouraging me to trust that my perspective matters, that our perspectives matter. She reminded me that when we remain silent, we perpetuate the very systems that have kept women’s voices from sacred discourse for millennia.
The Weight of Tradition
The parallel between the women who gathered at Seneca Falls and those of us interpreting ancient texts today is profound. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her colleagues dared to draft “The Woman’s Bible,” challenging traditional interpretations that had relegated women to secondary status in spiritual life. They understood something we’re still grappling with: that how we interpret sacred texts shapes how we see ourselves, our worth, and our place in the divine order.
In traditional Vedic society, women were not permitted to interpret the Bhagavad Gita. This interpretation was reserved for Brahmin priests – men who held not just religious authority, but social and political power. When Nischala and I sit down to discuss Krishna’s teachings, we’re continuing a lineage of women who have dared to say: “Our understanding matters. Our insights have value. Our voices deserve to be heard.”
As Western women, we’re already considered mlecchas – outsiders to the Sanskrit tradition. But perhaps this positioning on the margins gives us something valuable: the ability to see with fresh eyes, to ask different questions, to find meaning that speaks to the lived experience of women navigating both spiritual practice and modern life.
What We Bring to the Mat
When I teach yoga, I’m not just guiding students through asanas or breathing techniques. I’m part of a revolution that has already happened – a quiet, powerful transformation where women have claimed not just participation in an ancient tradition, but leadership within it. We are the ones filling the teaching roles, opening the studios, writing the books, and yes, offering new interpretations of the texts.
The fact that women have so thoroughly embraced yoga tells us something profound about both our spiritual hunger and the tradition’s capacity for growth. Unlike religious structures that have maintained rigid hierarchies, yoga has proven flexible enough to honor its roots while flowering in new soil.
Where Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Women
The feminine perspective isn’t about creating division or claiming superiority. It’s about wholeness. It’s about recognizing that spirituality belongs to everyone, regardless of gender, that devotion (bhakti) makes us all equal in the eyes of the divine. As Krishna tells us in Chapter 9, verse 32:
“No matter your birth, race, gender, or caste, even if you are scorned by others, if you take refuge in me, then certainly you will attain the Supreme goal.” – BG 9.32
And perhaps this is why yoga has thrived under women’s stewardship: because we’ve intuitively understood this message of inclusion. We’ve created spaces where everyone belongs, where spiritual authority isn’t about hierarchy but about service, where wisdom is shared rather than hoarded.
The Distinction That Changes Everything
Through this year of deep study and vulnerable conversation, I’ve come to understand a crucial distinction that I believe can liberate us all: the difference between religion as an institutional force and spirituality as our inherent birthright.
Religion, with its rules and hierarchies, has too often been wielded as a tool of control, determining who can speak, who can interpret, who can access advanced teachings. But spirituality – that spark of the divine that exists in every living being – knows no such boundaries. It flows freely, speaks through any willing vessel, and recognizes no artificial barriers based on gender, race, or social status.
When we step onto our mats, when we guide our students into meditation, when we share the wisdom of these ancient texts, we’re engaging with spirituality in its purest form. We’re not bound by the limitations that patriarchal religious structures have tried to impose. We are inheritors of wisdom, carriers of light, voices in an ongoing conversation with the sacred.
The Sisterhood of Courage
To my fellow yoga teachers, especially those who struggle as I have with stepping fully into your voice: we are not alone in this work. We stand in a lineage of women who have refused to accept that wisdom belongs only to others. We are part of a sisterhood that spans centuries, connecting us to the bold women of Seneca Falls and extending forward to the students we serve today.
Your voice matters. Your interpretation of these teachings, filtered through your lived experience as a woman, brings something to the tradition that has been missing for too long. When you teach, you’re not just sharing poses or breathing techniques – you’re offering a perspective that includes, that nurtures, that sees the sacred in the margins as clearly as in the center.
The yoga community is predominantly made up of women, yet for too long we’ve received these teachings primarily through masculine interpretation. It’s time for us to trust our own understanding, to share our insights with confidence, to know that our spiritual authority is not something we need to earn or apologize for – it’s our birthright.
Moving Forward with Trust
As Nischaladevi and I continue this podcast, as we keep exploring these ancient texts through contemporary feminine eyes, I’m learning to trust that this work is not just worthwhile – it’s essential. Every time we offer a different perspective, every time we find new meaning in familiar verses, every time we speak with authority about our spiritual experience, we’re creating space for other women to do the same.
The path forward isn’t about rejecting tradition, but about expanding it. It’s about recognizing that spirituality is vast enough to hold all our voices, wise enough to be enriched by our diverse perspectives, and sacred enough to deserve our full participation.
Don’t be afraid of your own power, dear sisters. Wrap it in love, share it with compassion, but don’t hide it. The world needs what you have to offer. The students in your classes need your authentic voice, your unique insights, your willingness to stand in your voice with grace and confidence.
Trust each other. Support each other. And remember: in this work of preserving and sharing sacred wisdom, you are not alone. We are part of something larger than ourselves, something that began long before us and will continue long after. Our voices matter. Our perspectives are valuable. Our courage to speak creates space for others to find their voices too.
The conversation continues, and there is room for all of us at the table.