Challenging white supremacy culture characteristics
Yoga as the antidote to supremacy culture
Embodied Liberation Sangha
ABOUT
Nothing comes out of nothingness. (From Samkhya karika- 9)
The effect is within the cause. What does not exist cannot be bought into existence.
Effects are related to cause. Effects are similar to cause.
The seed has in it the tree and the fruit.
If we look into the causes of the suffering I see the Supremacy thinking and colonial conditioning as the seed to the misery of this monstrous society with its wars, divisions, its ugliness, brutality and greed.
I am deeply grateful to this resource we all have available to learn from and as we start this cohort it is important that we honour the immense amount of labour and love that is gone behind creating the workbook/ website.
https://www.whitesupremacyculture.info/characteristics.html
We will be using this in our journey and it is important to respect the requests of the folks who have made this available for all.
What is white supremacy culture charecteristics?
https://www.whitesupremacyculture.info/characteristics.html
‘Tema Okun - wrote the original article on White Supremacy Culture in 1999.These characteristics are not meant to describe all white people. They are meant to describe the norms of white middle-class and owning class culture, a culture we are all required to navigate regardless of our multiple identities.One of the ways that white supremacy gets us is how we internalize these characteristics into our very personalities’
It is important that as we use this resource which is a labour and experience of several people we honour their work by also taking time to study the resource and not just brush through this by taking time to study it.
https://www.whitesupremacyculture.info/
This website is actually a book.
My name is Sangeeta and I am committed to sharing and practicing yoga as a path to liberation. I have been on this journey for over two decades. A decade ago I recognised that social justice and yoga are interconnected and yoga offers us practical tools to understand suffering, what causes it and the obstacles that keep us trapped in a state of suffering and limits us from moving towards kaivalya (liberation). I am also convinced the change we wish to see in the world starts within. And the transformation is not an intellectual process but one in the body. As J Krishnamurti said in his book freedom from the known: Only when we realise, not intellectually but actually as we would recognise that we are hungry or in pain, that you and I are responsible for all the existing chaos, for all the misery throughout the entire world because we have contributed to it in our daily lives and are part of this monstrous society with its wars, divisions, its ugliness, brutality and greed- only then will we act.
Atha yoga anushasanam (yoga sutra 1.1)
We start with and change through practice.
And this sangha is a container for us to practice together and enable each other and hold each other through the process of chance through practice (Kriya yoga).
This program is developed with the intention that we can understand the roots of the problem through Abhyasa (understanding white supremacy culture characteristic), Tapas: deconstruct internalised patterns and use yogic wisdom to practice the antidote in the body, breath and mind. (through Asana, Pranayama, Dhyana, Svadhyaya, Tapas, Pratyahara and Dharana)
While the practice helps us deconstruct individual patterns, the cohort is also challenging individualism and offering collective (sangha) to practice and transform collectively. Because we are interconnected and interdependent.
Embodiment is about being present in your lived experience—feeling your body, breath, emotions, and sensations as they are, moment by moment.
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Liberation is about freedom within that experience—not being controlled or trapped by patterns, fears, or conditioning.
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Sangha is a community of mutual support that nurtures practice, awareness, and liberation—together rather than alone.
Embodiment is about being present in your lived experience—feeling your body, breath, emotions, and sensations as they are, moment by moment. · Liberation is about freedom within that experience—not being controlled or trapped by patterns, fears, or conditioning. · Sangha is a community of mutual support that nurtures practice, awareness, and liberation—together rather than alone.
Our Process
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Month 1 - Sense of urgency
White Supremacist characteristic : Sense of Urgency
How does this cultural trait affect us and our body, breath and action?
Urgency is a core characteristic of white supremacy culture, disconnecting us from our bodies, our intuition, and each other. We will explore how urgency upholds disconnection and burnout and takes our breath away.
Yogic Practice: Understanding your natural rhythm, practicing slowing down.
In this month we will begin to slow down and honor our natural rhythm. This will allow us to listen, feel, and reconnect with the wisdom of the body. Daily practice supports recognising and breaking old patterns.
Through breathwork, mindful movement, and stillness practices, we learn to slow the breath, the body, and the mind. In doing so, we will practice presence as a portal to liberation.
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Month 2 - Understanding Either/or thinking
Yogic tool- Increase capacity
White Supremacist Ideology: Either/or thinking
How does this cultural trait affect us and our body, breath and action?
Binary thinking limits our capacity to be with nuance and difference, leading to separation.
Yogic practice- We practice increasing capacity of the breath and through that learn to break the pattern of either or thinking . This month we will continue what we have learned about challenging urgency and add to it the practice of increasing capacity. Through pranayama, dhyana and dharana we experience oneness/ non duality.. We explore the internal obstacles that create separation and division within ourselves and between each other. This will allow us to cultivate emotional and energetic spaciousness. We will learn how to use the breath and asana practice to move in alignment and open space for nuance, courage and relational presence. This will allow us to expand our tolerance for discomfort in service of growth and collective truth.
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Month 3 — Challenging the Fear of Open Conflict
White Supremacist Ideology: Fear of open conflict
How does this cultural trait affect us and our body, breath and action?
Fear of conflict often prevents truth-telling, accountability, and deeper connection.
Yogic Perspective: Understanding fear as a kleshas (root causes of suffering) and moving beyond fear
This month we will examine fear as a klesha (= an obstacle to liberation) by learning to stay present, see clearly, and use conflict as a pathway toward truth, relationship, and transformation. We will practice to name truth, honor difference, and envision collective liberation by moving through the fear of messiness.
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Month 4 — Challenging Individualism
White Supremacist Ideology: Individualism, capitalism, power-hoarding
How does this cultural trait affect us and our bodies?
Individualism strengthens the myth of independence and centres „me“ over „we“.
Yogic Perspective: Collective care, interconnectedness, and shared transformation.
In our final month we will explore collective care as an antidote to individualism. Yogic philosophy reminds us that liberation is relational, meaning that our healing is intertwined. Through shared practice, reflection, and community support, we root into the power of collective repair and collective dreaming.
This will include partnered or group somatic practices, in which we are seen, held, and hold space for others.
Self-Practice:
Journaling prompts:
Together we are cultivating awareness, challenging supremacy characteristics in the body, breath, actions.
In this 4-part journey we will create a collective space to dismantle characteristics of white supremacy culture from the inside out, while grounding in yogic tools that help us recognize internalized patterns, shift behaviors, and cultivate embodied transformation. Over four months, we will move through a journey to awaken awareness, unlearn harmful patterns, and practice new ways of being in community.
Creating a world in which all people are truly free is not an intellectual concept or ideology but it is an embodied practice and requires action to connect with our bodies rather than staying in thought patterns in the mind.
Each month we engage with a cultural characteristic that roots in white supremacist ideology and explore a corresponding yogic practice as an antidote to that.
This course aims to
Make transformative, embodied tools accessible to every body
Practice collective liberation
Reclaim spaciousness, relational ways of being, and embodied resistance
Dismantle supremacy culture traits through compassion, community, and practice
Investment Options
Standard price- 450
C
Supporter price- 460-550