Understanding Yoga Exclusion, Fatphobia + Racial Trauma | Leah Saliter

Welcome to the Liberating Yoga Podcast. My guest today is Leah Saliter (she/her). Leah is a Death Doula, Digital Creator, Yoga enthusiast, and certified Yoga-Asana instructor who teaches Yoga as a source of healing for Black and Brown, abundant bodies. She is the founder of Unity in Healing, an organization that creates safe spaces where folks can experience the power of healing in community through movement practice, tarot, divination work, and ancestral practices. Leah's mission is to create accessible healing communities that support the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual exploration of self. Find Leah https://www.joywork.online https://www.instagram.com/leahlaughed 00:00 - Intro 01:17 - Meeting Leah Saliter 02:52 - What Yoga Means to Leah 04:02 - The Importance of Safety in Community 07:46 - Profit-Driven Wellness Spaces vs. Authentic Healing 10:04 - Reducing Yoga to Fitness 13:27 - Discovering Yoga as a Path to Survival and Peace 17:03 - Teaching Tools and Encouragement for Students 20:02 - Reconnecting to Accessibility in Yoga 24:05 - Teaching Restorative Yoga Amid Studio Resistance 29:00 - Letting Go of Capitalist Measures of Success in Yoga 33:00 - Body Acceptance and Embracing What Is 37:42 - The Violence of Beauty Standards 40:54 - Practising Ahimsa (Nonviolence) with Ourselves 43:04 - Speaking Kindly to Ourselves 47:04 - More Ways Fatphobia Shows Up in Yoga 49:01 - Disordered Eating "Perfect" Bodies 52:30 - Yoga as Stillness, Listening, and Deep Work 56:01 - The Challenge and Rewards of the Inner Work 01:02:51 - What Led Leah to Reach Out 01:08:56 - Working Together in Community, Not Hierarchy 01:10:49 - How to Connect with Leah and Unity & Healing 01:12:29 - Outro Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/@harpindermannyoga?sub_confirmation=1 Resources Thank you for watching this video and checking out the channel. My practice is rooted in my spiritual background of Sikhism and Buddhism and ancestral roots in Panjab, India - this informs my desire to teach yoga authentically as a spiritual practice. To learn more, please find all of our resources below. Online https://www.harpindermann.com https://www.facebook.com/harpindermannyoga https://www.linkedin.com/in/mannharpinder https://www.instagram.com/harpindermannyoga Liberating Yoga Book https://www.harpindermann.com/book Work With Me https://www.harpindermann.com/work-with-me #yoga #yogapractice #yogainspiration