8 YOGA JOURNAL
Tasha Eichenseher
BRAND DIRECTOR, CONTENT & AUDIENCE ALLISON BANCES/UNSPLASHPlaces You’ll Go
You know that feeling the night before a big trip? Excitement and anticipation, maybe
tinged with a little anxiety. You have an itinerary, but you can't plan everything that will
happen along the way. That's what it felt like making this issue, and that's how I feel
now, as we release it into the world.
We set out on a journey to explore yoga travel and culture. It started with the
predictable—picks for classic and up-and-coming yoga retreat centers, festivals, and
towns. Then we realized we needed more; we needed to research which destinations are
working toward environmental and social responsibility so that you can land somewhere
with integrity (page 54). An India guide was a must, but one sourced by local experts who
can speak to the country's spiritual and historical locations with authority (page 82). The
farther down the road we went, the more clear it became that yoga travel, along with
Western yoga, is complex and full of contradictions. The questions started piling up: Is
most yoga travel escapist? Exploitative? Appropriative? Does it cause harm?
That's when we turned to social justice advocates and Indian-American teachers and
academics for perspective. The journey turned from international adventure to hyper-local
inquiry. We asked yoga and Buddhism teacher Jacoby Ballard to reflect on when to venture
out, when to stay put, and how to do the work that makes you a better global citizen (page
104). And we reached out to folks like Susanna Barkataki, the creator of the Honor (Don’tAppropriate) Yoga Summit, to help us
understand the ways in which the West
has glamorized, sterilized, and capitalized
on a self-realization practice that was
codified in the Indus Valley thousands of
years ago (page 106). Some of the answers
(and even questions) aren't easy. In fact,
they are downright messy. But, here's the
deal: learning more about how the Western
yoga experience is, let's face it, dominated
by a white, privileged perspective and how
deeply painful that can be for Indians, and
more broadly people of color, is core to
yoga culture and should give us all pause.
There's everything to learn from the voices
in this issue about the roots of yoga and
how to practice with respect.
Plus, Oprah Winfrey offers inspiration
on how to find your path and purpose
(page 14). Wanderlust Cofounder Schuyler
Grant shares an inversion practice that will
shift your perspective on the mat (page
22). Meditation teacher Sally Kempton
tells us what yoga says about indulging
(page 42), and experiential anatomist Mary
Richards breaks down how to keep your
knees healthy, so you can walk the path for
decades to come (page 37).
It’s not lost on us that much of what
Yoga Journal does and features could be
considered appropriation. We are still
learning, and still asking questions: Is
it OK to be rooted in a lineage, but then
innovate? Do we start calling asana-only
classes “stretching”? How do you share yoga
teachings in a capitalist system? Will the
symbolism on this cover be interpretted
as appropriation, instead of a nod to the
spiritual roots of the practice? Ultimately,
this issue became a guide for how to
navigate more mindfully—around
the planet and deeper into yoga and
self-inquiry. We hope it inspires you
to explore, study, and ask your own
questions. Just like travel, the experience
will be uncertain, marked by moments of
discomfort and frustration, but it will be
so worth it, leaving you with a profound
sense of awe and new ways of relating
with the world.EDITOR’S LETTER