Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

“When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.” ~ Thomas Jefferson (attributed)

This too is practicing yoga

We are living through a time when cruelty is no longer hidden in shadows, it is celebrated. Children are detained in cages. Families and communities are torn apart by ICE raids. Politicians look away (and profit). And millions cheer them on from behind screens, fed a steady diet of disinformation, hate, and fear.

At such a moment, many feel overwhelmed. Yogis, too. In our studios, online sanghas, and personal practices, a quiet question arises: Is it enough to sit and breathe when others can’t breathe at all?

For those of us committed to yoga as more than fitness, this is a moment of spiritual reckoning.

The Western commodification of yoga has long encouraged inward focus on breathwork, flexibility, and personal peace. But yoga in its deepest sense is not about perfect poses or inner peace. Its about integration. About union.

Union with what? With truth. With justice. With all living beings. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna does not tell Arjuna to sit out the war. He tells him to engage it with clarity and compassion. To act without attachment to outcome, but never to abandon the work of dharma.

This is not a time to hide in our practice.

What we are witnessing is not accidental. As I have written elsewhere, the rise of cruelty in the United States has deep roots: decades of elite impunity, economic dispossession, racialized propaganda, and a digital attention economy that profits from division and outrage. Cruelty has become structural, an embedded feature of governance and entertainment.

When migrants are dehumanized and framed as invaders, when LGBTQIA+ people are legislated out of public existence, when truth itself is drowned by floods of talking heads and AI-driven disinformation, the aim is not merely control. It is demoralization. To break our bonds. To numb our compassion. To isolate us from each other.

Faced with this darkness, many retreat. Compassion fatigue. Doomscrolling. Cynicism disguised as sophistication. But these are not spiritual responses; they are symptoms of moral injury. And yoga, when practiced with intention and awareness, is an antidote.

Yoga teaches us that we are not powerless. It teaches that our attention is sacred, that presence is a form of strength. To be present amidst suffering without turning away, is itself an act of courage. As Buddhist teacher Joanna Macy says, “The heart that breaks open can hold the whole world.”

In the yoga tradition, dharma is not just duty. It is the right action in the right moment, anchored in clarity and love. In an age where ICE raids tear families apart and trans children are denied medical care, the dharmic path is not neutral. It is fiercely compassionate.

Yogis must move from passive peace to active peacebuilding. From self-regulation to structural resistance. From meditating for the world to standing up in it.

A Way Forward

So what can yogis do in this time of moral collapse?

  • Breathe consciously, but not just for calm. Breathe so that you can speak truth even when your voice shakes.
  • Meditate daily, not to avoid the world but to return to with clarity.
  • Practice asana, not for escape, but to strengthen your vessel for service.
  • Show up at school board meetings, protests, city councils, or mutual aid kitchens.
  • Protect the vulnerable with your body, your platform, your resources.
  • Reject spiritual bypassing. Refuse the myth that “everything happens for a reason” when cruelty is a choice.

As my friend Roger Wolsey said in his book Discovering Fire: Spiritual Practices That Transform Lives: “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”

We can be both grounded and outraged. Both loving and unyielding. Both yogic and revolutionary.

This is not a time for “good vibes only.” It is a time for deep embodiment and radical care. It is a time for Karma Yoga, the yoga of action. Not action fueled by ego or hatred, but by luminous, disciplined love.

Let our yoga be more than solace. Let it be sanctuary. Let it be resistance.

Let us not just seek inner peace. Let us become agents of collective liberation.

Namaste, and don’t look away.